Uswitch says households on standard variable tariffs face an average increase of £221 a year when regulator Ofgem raises the energy price cap by 13% next month.
British Gas, OVO, EDF, EON, Octopus customers have 24 days to save £221
UK households have 24 days to save £221 ahead of an energy price cap change. Energy comparison site Uswitch says households on standard variable tariffs face an average increase of £221 a year when regulator Ofgem raises the energy price cap by 13% next month.
Ben Gallizzi, energy expert at Uswitch, said: “For the millions of households on standard tariffs, this is your warning that your energy rates are rising on 1 July – unless you act now.
“The price cap is going up, but your bills don’t have to. There are 23 fixed deals available that are cheaper than the price cap, with savings on offer of up to £255. These deals might not be around for long, so take a few minutes to check online to see what deals are available to you.”
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The new energy price cap affects British Gas, EDF, EON, Ovo and Octopus – the biggest UK energy firms.
Tim Jarvis, Ofgem’s interim chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the rise in the cap was “almost entirely driven” by the rise in global gas prices resulting from the Middle East conflict.
“It is unfortunately now looking like a more long-term disruption to markets than we might originally have hoped,” he said.
“It is likely that we are going to see elevated prices this winter. We’re not at the moment seeing the sort of price rises that we saw following the Russia-Ukraine war, but it remains a very uncertain situation,” he said.
Labour Party energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said it was essential to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East to bring oil and gas prices down.
“The rise in the price cap because of a war we did not choose is deeply unwelcome news for households across the country … The way to get bills down for good and avoid these price spikes is to go further and faster with this government’s drive for clean homegrown power we control,” he said.