Martin Lewis is urging everyone who has gas or electricity accounts in the UK to grab a slice of the £8billion currently owed by energy firms.
It comes as the money saving guru warned that this winter will be even worse than last winter for energy prices, with real terms bills being higher than ever thanks to the withdrawal of government support and another hike in prices.
That’s why Martin is advising everyone to check and make sure they get the money they’re owed from the cashpile that firms like E.On, EDF, British Gas, Scottish Power and Shell among others are sitting on.
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Martin Lewis began his most recent Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and ITVX with an ‘important update’ on taking back your share of the cash.
He told viewers: “I have an important update on how to grab back the £8Billion of credit firms are sitting on and the top deals to switch to to save.”
He then took his audience through what will happen to prices. This is because the energy price cap is going up again on January 1 – by about 5%. This is also coupled with a TINY drop in the standing charge worth literally two pence over the next three months.
He added: “The much hated standing charge I’ve got some good news everybody – is going down! 0.02p per day! Which is almost 2 pence across the entire three month period!
“So that’s really useful isn’t it, a big drop there.”
The financial expert then sounded a warning as he added that this year is going to be worse than 2022 for energy bills: “Last year was the winter horribilis, the choice between eating and heating, and after much political activity, the government intervened, they put a cap on the cap and they gave this £66 a month subsidy off everybody’s energy bills between October and March.
“So. Last January, for somebody with typical use (these are meaningless figures they are just to give you a scale of magnitude) you were paying £198 but you got £66 a month subsidy so total of £132 a month.
“There’s no £66 this year and the rates are £160, so in practical terms you have to be prepared this year, someone on typical use would be paying £28 a month more even than last year’s winter horribilis.
“So what do you do? First of all there’s over £8Billion in credit sitting in firms’ bank accounts, some of it should be in your bank account. Make sure your meter is up-to-date or you have a smart meter. Go online to do a Direct Debit calculator to check the DD you’re being charged is roughly the right rate.”
(Image: ITV)
Martin told viewers that you want to make sure you have two months’ worth of credit in your account, but no more than that.
So for example if your energy bill is usually £150 a month, you would want £300 in credit spare. If you have £600 in credit, you should ask for £300 back.
Martin added: “If you’ve got much more, you want some of it back and you’ve got a legal right to ask them.
“If your Direct Debit is 10% or more too high then you also want to ask them to lower that as well.”
Martin finished by outlining that the energy prices are set to rise even further – another 1% in the next year.
He concluded: “Based on Cornwall Insight’s current predictions over the next year, if they are right, you will pay 1% more than you do currently.
“Purely on that you would want to fix on a number that is no more than 1% above the current prices. And there are not any.
“The best fixes out there – OVO only for existing customers at 3%, EDF, British Gas, are all 4-5% more than the price cap. Now if you’re risk averse and you go, well actually we live in an uncertain world – and boy do we live in an uncertain world – I just want to lock in and know I won’t pay more for the coming year, it’s not the worst bet, but on current predictions it doesn’t look right so you have to make that decision for yourself.”
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live is still available to rewatch via ITVX
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