Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert team have shared a loophole for how certain energy customers can beat April's price hike.
The average energy bill will rise by £693 next month when the price cap will surge by 54% due to the soaring cost of wholesale gas.
Martin Lewis branded the increase as "sickening" on an edition of this season's Money Show Live and has previously warned it could lead to millions being thrown into fuel poverty.
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In the latest edition of the Money Saving Expert newsletter, Martin's team explained how certain customers who prepay their energy bill can top up now to make savings next month.
The team said: "Many with older, non-smart meters on price-capped tariffs can legally 'stockpile' gas & electricity credit before prices shoot up. If you can afford to, it could mean big savings."
Andrew Capstick, an energy analyst for the Money Saving Expert team said the rates "won't change until the first time you top up following a price change, so any credit you've added before then will be charged at the old rates".
This means that customers on non-smart meters could top up with as much energy as they can afford before April 1 to delay the price hike.
The loophole will not work for those customers who have a smart prepayment meter as these are updated remotely on the day of a price change.
A spokesperson for Ofgem confirmed to the Money Saving Expert team that the loophole is legal.
They said: "Smart prepayment meters update prices automatically – so topping up in advance would not make a difference. With non-smart prepayment meters, the price customers pay is fixed at the point they top up.
"This means that any built-up credit is spent based on the price of energy... [when] that credit was purchased. So a price increase could temporarily be avoided by building up credit in advance, though this would also work the other way if the price went down."
You can read the full edition of the Money Saving Expert newsletter here
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