by 7%<\/a> from April. This usually only matters if you are on a default tariff, but this time the reduction applies to everyone because the government is removing green charges from bills.<\/p>\nAfter the announcement by the energy regulator, the consumer champion Martin Lewis said you could \u201cnever work out the perfect time\u201d to sign up to a fixed deal, but now was a \u201cpretty good time\u201d.<\/p>\n
The MoneySavingExpert founder said the cheapest fix available now was 14% cheaper than the current cap (\u00a31,758 a year for a typical dual-fuel customer), adding: \u201cYou\u2019re paying too much if you\u2019re on it. If you can get off it, get off it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cap restricts how much suppliers can charge a customer on a default tariff for each kilowatt hour of electricity and gas they use, and also standing charges. From 1 April the new unit rates will cut \u00a3117 from the average dual-fuel bill to \u00a31,641 a year.<\/p>\n
When the new cap comes in, Lewis predicted fixed rates would fall by 7%-9%, so the \u201cdifferential between the two, the 14%-ish you\u2019re going to save if you go for the cheapest fix, will remain\u201d.<\/p>\n
Analysts think energy costs will sit around the new price cap level for most of the rest of the year. \u201cSo the amount you save on a fix, should remain pretty constant if those predictions are correct,\u201d said\u00a0Lewis.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Richard Neudegg, the director of regulation at the price comparison site Uswitch.com, said households \u201cstuck on the price cap should not rest on their laurels\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single household can expect to see an adjustment in their bills from April, regardless of which supplier they\u2019re with or which tariff they\u2019re on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the real winners are households who are on, or get themselves on to, a cheap fixed tariff before April, as they\u2019ll benefit the most from lower rates on their heating right now, and a further fall in price from April.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy opting for a fixed deal, they could cut their heating bills right now when it matters most, and still see the benefit from the government\u2019s intervention in April,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Top of the Uswitch best-buy table at the time of writing was Fuse Energy with a 13-month deal priced at \u00a31,498 based on typical usage, which is \u00a3260 below the January price cap and \u00a3143 below the April figure. Outfox Energy has a 12-month deal priced at \u00a31,519, while Meanwhile, EDF has a price cap tracker, which matches the rate, but also offers \u00a3100 off standing charges for a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experts have told households whose energy bills are\u00a0pegged to the price cap not to \u201crest on their laurels\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-448238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}