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Hundreds of thousands of households could soon see their gas and electricity bills rise by up to 300% because they aren't protected by the energy watchdog's price cap, according to consultancy firm Ginger Energy, which has called on the regulator to act.

I've been calling for Government intervention to prevent an energy bill crisis before 1 April, when the price cap – which most bills are now based on – is predicted to rise 51%, adding typically £600/year to bills, a nightmare that'll throw millions into fuel poverty. Unsurprisingly, with this prediction many are asking me if they should now move off the price cap to fix?

From the reintroduction of costly European roaming charges to new rules around car and home insurance - here's a quick breakdown of five key events and changes that are set to impact your finances in early 2022 and, more importantly, what to do about them.

Many people whose old energy firm has gone bust are having direct debit payments taken by both their new and old firm. This shouldn't happen and is leaving many short of cash – so why is this happening and what can you do?

British Gas customers should ignore emails they have received from the UK's biggest energy supplier encouraging them to switch to fixed-price deals as it could make them £100s a year worse off. There are no fixed deals right now cheaper than providers' default tariffs, which are currently based on energy regulator Ofgem's price cap. 

The recent collapse of many UK energy companies will add an extra £94 to household bills from next year as the firms left in the market look to pass on the costs of taking on stranded customers, according to a damning new report from Citizens Advice that is also highly critical of the regulator. 

The energy price cap is now expected to rise by over 40% next April, MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis warned in the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show. But despite the "horrendous" projected increase, Martin explained that households are still likely to be better off "doing nothing" for now, given how expensive the cheapest fixed tariffs are currently.

Orbit Energy and Entice Energy, which have over 70,000 household customers between them, have become the latest energy providers to cease trading – meaning a total of 22 domestic energy suppliers have failed since September. If you're affected, your supply will continue and credit balances are protected. While it's likely you'll pay more now, there are no savings to be had by switching.

Bulb, which supplies more than 1.7 million households, has collapsed into a so-called 'special administration', becoming the largest firm to fail during the current energy crisis. This process, which hasn't been used before in the energy market, means Bulb will continue to operate as usual for existing customers for now. But it will no longer take on new customers and its future as a company is uncertain.

PayPoint has agreed to shake-up its services and donate £12.5 million to energy regulator Ofgem's redress fund, which largely supports vulnerable households, following a four-year investigation into market abuse.