Your Energy Bill Just Went Up — Here’s What You Can Still Do

If your energy bill looks like it crept up this month, you’re not imagining it. From 1 July the cost of gas and electricity went up again for millions of homes. But here’s the part the scary headlines skip: for a lot of people, this rise is more optional than it looks. So before you just grit your teeth and pay it, give this five minutes.

What actually happened

There’s something called the energy price cap. It’s not a cap on your total bill (a common myth), it’s a limit on the price you pay per unit of energy. It changes every three months, and on 1 July it went up.

For a typical household the cap went from about £1,641 a year to around £1,862. That’s roughly £221 more over a year, or about £18 a month. Most of the rise is on the gas side, which jumped around 24%, while electricity only went up about 5%.

One quick thing to clear up, because it trips people up. You might see a lower figure floating around, something like £1,663. That’s not a cheaper deal. The people who set the cap changed the way they work out what a “typical” home uses, so the headline number looks smaller, but the actual prices still went up by about 13%. Don’t let the lower number fool you into thinking nothing changed.

The bit nobody tells you: this might not have to apply to you

Here’s the thing that gets lost in all the doom. The price cap only affects people on their supplier’s default deal, the one you drift onto if you’ve never chosen anything else. It’s called a standard variable tariff, and it’s usually the most expensive one going.

Around 40% of homes are already on a fixed deal, and they weren’t touched by this rise at all. Their price is locked in.

And that’s the opportunity. If you’re on the default variable deal, you can move to a fixed one. A fixed deal simply means you lock in a price per unit for a set time, usually a year or two, so it can’t jump around on you. Right now, plenty of fixed deals are priced below the new cap. So switching to one could mean you pay less than you’re paying today, and you’re protected if prices rise again in the autumn, which they might.

Put simply: the rise you just got landed with is, for a lot of people, avoidable. You just have to actually make the switch.

How to check if you can pay less (about ten minutes)

1. Find out what deal you’re on. Check a recent bill or log into your energy account. If it says “standard variable” or you’ve never chosen a tariff, you’re on the default one, the one that just went up.
2. Grab a rough idea of your usage. Your annual kWh usage is on your bill. Don’t worry if you can’t find it, a comparison can estimate from your home size.
3. Run a comparison. Use a free comparison site (Uswitch, MoneySuperMarket and others are all free to use) to see the fixed deals available for your postcode. Or go straight to a supplier like Octopus or EDF and look at their fixed tariffs.
4. Look for a fix priced below the cap that ideally has low or no exit fees, so you’re not trapped if a better deal comes along later.
5. Switch. You don’t ring your old supplier, your new one handles it all. Your gas and electricity don’t get cut off, nothing physical changes, it’s just the billing that moves. It usually takes about five days.

That’s it. Ten minutes could genuinely knock a few hundred pounds off your year.

A couple of other easy wins

• Pay by monthly direct debit if you don’t already. People who pay when the bill arrives, or by cheque, are charged more. Moving to monthly direct debit gets you the lower rate.
• Send a meter reading. If your supplier is estimating your usage, you could be paying for more than you actually use. A quick reading keeps your bill honest.
• If you’ve a smart meter, ask about off-peak tariffs. Some deals give you much cheaper electricity at certain times, which can pay off if you can shift things like washing to the evening.

If money’s genuinely tight right now

Switching is great if you can, but if you’re already struggling to pay what you owe, there’s real help, and you shouldn’t sit in silence about it.

• Talk to your supplier first. They are actually obliged to help. Ask about a payment plan you can afford, and whether they have a hardship fund or grant, several of the big suppliers do.
• Check if you qualify for the Warm Home Discount. It’s a one-off amount knocked off your electricity bill over winter for people on certain benefits or low incomes.
• Get free advice. Citizens Advice and the government-backed MoneyHelper service (moneyhelper.org.uk) will both help you work out what you’re entitled to, for free.

And don’t panic

One last bit of perspective, because the headlines love a fright. This rise landed in July, which is about the lowest-energy time of the year. Most homes use only a small slice of their annual energy in summer, with the heating off. So the actual extra cost hitting you over the next few weeks is small, we’re talking a handful of pounds a month, not the full £221 all at once.

The reason to act now isn’t panic. It’s that sorting a fixed deal today locks in a better price before the colder months, when your usage climbs and the difference really adds up. Do it now while it’s calm, and winter looks after itself.

So: check what deal you’re on, see if a fix beats it, and grab any help you’re owed. Ten quiet minutes now can save you a small fortune by Christmas.

This is general information to help you get started, not personal financial advice. Deals change all the time, so always compare based on your own home and usage.

— Emma