Martin Lewis urges action ‘at lunchtime today’ to | European Markets

Martin Lewis, the financial guru behind MoneySavingExpert.com, has issued a stark warning to households languishing on normal variable power tariffs: change to a fixed tariff immediately. This pressing advice follows Ofgem’s announcement that from April 1, power payments will leap by 6.4%, marking the third consecutive quarterly increase of its price cap.

The regulator attributes this hike, which is able to see the average annual invoice for these in England, Scotland, and Wales on a normal variable tariff rise from £1,738 to £1,849, to a current surge in wholesale costs. Households can count on to fork out an further £111 yearly or roughly £9.25 month-to-month over the cap’s three-month length.

Though that is a 9.4% (£159) increase from final 12 months, it is nonetheless 22% (£531) much less than the height of the power disaster at the start of 2023. Talking on BBC Radio 4’s Immediately Programme, Mr Lewis highlighted that probably the most aggressive fixed offers are at the moment about 4% cheaper than the prevailing price cap, a hole set to widen to roughly 10% after Ofgem’s imminent rise.

He cautioned: “Based on the predictions at the moment, once it goes up in April it isn’t coming back down to these levels for the next year. So as you can fix currently at cheaper than the current cap, never mind before it goes up, it is a no-brainer to fix.”

Mr Lewis has suggested shoppers to carry off till round lunchtime on Tuesday to scout for the best offers, emphasising the significance of utilizing comparability websites that embody the whole market. He highlighted that some platforms might exclude sure suppliers who do not pay to be featured, however he is conscious of some cost-effective provides set to launch this morning.

He defined: “And remember that when you do a comparison, remember that the savings you’re given on the cheapest fix are compared to the current price cap. So they won’t look big, they might say £30, £40 a year. But remember it’s going up by 6% so if you do nothing your price would rise whereas if you fix your price would drop.”

Ofgem’s chief govt Jonathan Brearley mentioned: “We know that no price rise is ever welcome, and that the cost of energy remains a huge challenge for many households. But our reliance on international gas markets leads to volatile wholesale prices, and continues to drive up bills, which is why it’s more important than ever that we’re driving forward investment in a cleaner, homegrown system.”

He additional addressed the growing concern of power money owed, saying: “Energy debts that began during the energy crisis have reached record levels and without intervention will continue to grow. This puts families under huge stress and increases costs for all customers. We’re developing plans that could give households with unmanageable debt the clean slate they need to move forward.”