MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Martin: 'It's the SWEET SPOT to compare energy prices, as finally your comparison result will show the real saving. Many can fix & save £200+. Check NOW!' 

With the sun shining, it may seem weird to talk energy again. Yet this is the perfect moment. Most people in Eng, Scot & Wales saw their energy costs rise an average 13% last week. That's because if you're one of the 60% of homes on your firm's standard (not fixed or special) tariff, then your rates follow Ofgem's Price Cap. That Cap moves every three months, 1 July being the latest change.

When you compare the full Price Cap predictions with the the cheapest fixes - which let you lock in a rate 16% cheaper than the current Price Cap - those fixes look a no-brainer, if the analysts are right. Though, as always, your exact winner depends on location and use, so use our whole-of-market Cheap Energy Comparison to get your exact results. As an indication, here's the team with the best buys (and no, you don't need a smart meter for most of them)...

PS: We're beta testing our new Pick Me A Tariff tool within Cheap Energy Club, which may make things easier. It's early days, but if you want to try it, please do - we'd love your feedback.

• What if a variable deal comes up cheapest? There can be cheap variable deals that just undercut the cheapest fixes. So you may choose to go with one and cross your fingers it'll stay cheap (it can move any time). Yet it's worth asking yourself how much you're willing to pay for the certainty of no price hikes for a year or more. It's your call.
   
• Already on a fix? Re-fixing right now isn't an automatic winner. Unlike people on the Cap, you're likely currently paying less than today's cheapest fixes, so you'd need to pay a premium to fix now. Whether that's worth considering depends on when your fix ends. If it has under 50 days to go, then at least you're free to switch, as they can't charge you early exit penalties. So if you're risk-averse and want the safety of locking in again, a comparison is worth a look.
  
  Yet if your fix has 50 or more days left to go, it'd feel odd to pay an exit fee in order to move to a more expensive tariff. So Martin says: 'My instinct (based on pure guesswork and without a crystal ball) is if your current fix is materially cheaper than you can fix for now, stick on it as long as you can, and hope new fixes will be a similar price or cheaper when you near your current fix's end. At the very least, you'll have saved in the meantime.'
  
  
• Very low user? A lower Standing Charge tariff may beat fixing for you. The daily charge just for the facility of gas or electricity makes up a huge chunk of many low users' bills. EDF's tracker tariff is essentially a Price Cap where the Standing Charges are discounted by £50/yr. It's good, but ONLY for very low users (eg, under roughly £80/mth use). A few customers may also be eligible for new limited trial low Standing Charge tariffs. PS: Watch Martin telling MPs the Standing Charge is a moral hazard.
  
  
• Specialist tariffs if you've got solar panels, an electric vehicle (EV), or are a sophisticated user. For most, a fix is the easy way to lock in a price. Yet there are specialist tariffs that may beat it - our solar panels energy tariffs, and EV tariffs guides are worth looking at. For sophisticated users, especially those with batteries, Octopus has two highly volatile tariffs which can sometimes be big winners when used right: Agile (electricity price changes every half-hour) and its dual-fuel or single-fuel Tracker tariff (price changes every day).
  
  
• Could it be cheaper to fix in a few weeks? Yes! It could be cheaper - or much more expensive. If the Middle East conflict properly ends, it's possible cheaper fixes will be available. Yet as you can now fix at far less than the current Cap, every day you wait is a day paying more. Focus on how risk-averse you are: the less you can afford big hikes, the safer it is to fix now. And if things radically changed in future and much cheaper tariffs became available, you could always pay your fix's early-exit fees and leave. 
  
  
• Struggling to afford my energy bills - what do I do? Start by cutting usage with our 70+ energy saving tips and energy mythbusting guides. If you still need help and may not be able to pay, it's always better to communicate in advance with your energy firm rather than not pay, as there can be hardship & debt grants. For far more guidance, see our full What to do if you're struggling to pay energy bills help.

New. 'Can you pass Martin's Good Debt, Bad Debt test? And, maybe more importantly, can your children?'
Financially educate yourself and your kids after the first-ever National Money Assembly

For over 30 years now, we've educated our youth into what we call a debt (student loans), but never educated them properly about debt. It's a disgrace I've long and loudly campaigned about - though it looks like things may change (see will financial education finally become compulsory?). For now, we've compiled financial ed resources from age 3+ you can use with your kids in the summer holiday - many grown-ups find them useful too - plus there's our adult-age MSE & Open University Academoney course.

• New. The Good Debt, Bad Debt test (part of the National Money Assembly). Suitable for age 14+. A few weeks ago, I was delighted to be invited to give charity Young Enterprise's first-ever National Money Assembly live from a 6th form, including taking questions. It was streamed to 300+ schools, and you can now watch the full assembly (40min) or the bite-sized bits below. PS: Teachers, feel free to show any of these in schools & colleges, with no copyright issues.
  
  - Take the Good Debt, Bad Debt test. (10mins). A good way to open a chat about money with teens.
  - Martin, does money make people happy? (2mins).
  - Buying a home starts with £1. (2mins).
  - Martin, what's the best age to start investing for my pension? (4mins).
  - How do I know if an advert on my socials is real or fake? (2mins).
  - I'm going abroad this summer and can't afford travel insurance - should I risk it? (2mins).
  
  
• FREE financial education teens' textbook. Suitable for age 14+. You can download the Your Money Matters textbook for free. It's the real deal: 150 pages, curriculum mapped - so there are separate England, Scotland, Wales (incl Welsh language) & Northern Ireland versions - with teacher training materials too. Topics include savings, borrowing, making the most of money, work, risk, reward, security and fraud. Many adults tell me they learnt lots from reading it too.
  
  
• Teach littler ones about money. Suitable from age 3+. We've compiled loads of free resources for children, here's just a few... Money Heroes (ages 3 to 11) from Young Money includes videos, downloadable activity sheets and online stories for children, and resources for children with special educational needs. The Cub Scouts and Beavers have a Money Skills Activity Badge, and the Guides have Live Smart skills badges and activities for older girls.
  
  
• MSE & The Open University's free Academoney. Suitable for adults of all ages.We've joined forces with the OU to produce six 2hr Academoney adult education modules (plus a Welsh language version too), covering spending, budgeting & tax, borrowing, mortgages, saving & investing, and pensions. It's been one of the most popular free OU courses since launch, with over 75,000 people enrolling.
  
  As Forumite retired19 told us a while back: "At 65 I thought I wouldn't need any further financial education, but it was lockdown and a free OU course was offered. So I did it, and was surprised how useful it was. Stuff I'd forgotten about, nudges to sort stuff out, etc. & confidence building. Thanks Martin for the Academoney, I even got a badge to download."