Last week, I wrote about how everything from council tax and TV licence to broadband and phone bills are going up from the end of March.
Well, more price hikes are on the way for customers of British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower and Scottish Power.
The price increases are as a result of the energy price cap going up from 1 April, as announced by industry regulator Ofgem earlier this month.
As a reminder, the energy price cap is the maximum energy providers are allowed to charge you if you’re on their standard or default tariff – basically the tariff you’re on automatically if you haven’t taken up any special offers or if your existing deal has already ended.
The energy price cap was actually lowered last year because of low wholesale energy prices, but it’s now going up because these costs have gone up.
When the energy price cap goes up, energy providers have the option to keep their prices the same, put it up slightly or up to the maximum.
British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower and Scottish Power have all said they will be increasing prices to the maximum allowed.
It’s important to note that this price increase only applies to those on default tariffs. If you’re on a fixed-price tariff, this price increase won’t affect you.
And in fact, even now, it’s possible to find a fixed-price tariff that’s cheaper than the default one offered so do shop around if you haven’t already switched.
