Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has spoken out about the ‘absolute nightmare’ of what’s going on in the UK’s economy and with ‘energy prices’.
Earlier today (28 October), Chancellor John Healey revealed plans to abolish standing charges on gas bills – a dix daily fee added to bills – for around 23 million homes in the UK as per Wales Online. For a typical household, this is around £108 per year.
While Martin Lewis has praised the move, he has called for further action, bills expected to rise even further in January.
Energy regular Ofgem recently announced its latest Energy Price Cap and as of earlier this month, household energy bills have risen by an average of 3.6 percent, even after the Government’s VAT cut, as per MoneySavingExpert.
While the VAT cut shifted some cost of the bills, it hasn’t competed with the increasing wholesale rates as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.
Prices are now reportedly at the highest that they’ve been since winter 2023, with the energy price cap changing every three months.
And in January, Lewis has warned we’re looking at the energy price cap going up by ’27 percent’ which he told ITV is ‘about £450 on the typical bill’ and if you’re looking at between January to March specifically, that’s ‘about 100 pounds on energy bills’.
He continued: “That is the immediate bill shock in January alone. If you put the warm home discount up to 250 quid, that would just cover the January bill.”
Lewis has since called on the government for urgent support.
Martin Lewis is ‘pleased’ with the gas standing order scrap but hopes for more (James Stack/BBC/Comic Relief via Getty Images)
Martin Lewis’ call for urgent government support
During an appearance on BBC Radio 4, Lewis honed in on the price cap which will last from January to March.
“On a typical bill, 27 percent would add 100 pounds just in that three-month period, so I think there is going to have to be a support package put in place for January,” Lewis voiced.
He said he’d asked the chancellor about it and he was hopeful they they would be addressing the issue.
Lewis continued: “I’ve talked before about what I would do if I were him, and I’ve said this to him. Well, the problem with doing a warm home discount increase is it only affects people on benefits, and many people who are just above qualifying for that will find that very frustrating.
“I suggested a similar scheme to the one Rishi Sunak did, which was council tax bands A to D. You give a payment on that, and then you put a slush fund aside by the the council council’s resilience funds that people who are not in bands A to D can also apply for money if they’re still struggling too.”
Lewis reflected he’d been ‘looking for something like that to come out today, but that’s separate to standing charges’.
And how he feels about the latest update on standing charges?
Martin Lewis hopes for further changes soon (Scott Garfitt/BAFTA via Getty Images)
“Standing charges, long-term fairness, January support is frankly energy bills going up on an annualised basis, 450 pounds a year. But it isn’t an annualised basis because the price could only last three months. But of course, it could be even worse. It won’t come April,” he added.
Noting he’s ‘pleased’ by the scrapping of standing charges on gas bills, he reflected: “Look, what’s going on in the economy and what’s going on with energy prices, which feeds into that, is an absolute nightmare. But let’s not poo-poo doing some good on the side while we can. We’ve spent a lot of time with these smaller issues not being fixed.”
However, ultimately? “We need both to be done.”
Lewis resolved: “I’m a fan of big issues being dealt with. I’m a fan of small issues being dealt with. And if we can only get half of them done, it’s better than nothing.”
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