Aisc increase for us, Centamins will reduce!10 Sep 2021 14:32
Huge hikes are officially sanctioned. The price cap rises by £140/yr on 1 Oct - hitting millions. And it'll likely rise again after that
The majority of homes in England, Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland is different, see NI energy help) are on standard tariffs, dictated by the regulator Ofgem's price cap. In reality, this isn't actually a cap on price, but on rate, as the more you use, the more you pay.
On 1 Oct, the cap will rise by an average 12% for those on billed meters and 13% for those on prepay meters. All big-name energy firms are pushing their standard rates to the max.
To put that in context, for someone on typical use today the cap is £1,138/yr. From 1 Oct, it will be £1,277/yr. So £100 a month will be less than the average.
The cap lasts six months. It'll change again in April. It's set based on wholesale prices over an assessment period. That's already started for April, and so far it looks like it'll rise again. (See our price cap FAQs for more on how the cap works.)
TOP TIP: Did you compare when the price cap news was announced? If so, you will have been given the wrong price. When Ofgem announced the new rate on 6 Aug it made the news and newspaper headlines, so people rushed to do comparisons.
Yet for those on standard tariffs, the results would've been underplayed as the new prices weren't yet in the databases (comparison sites can't update prices until the firms announce their specific changes - normally a couple of weeks after Ofgem). So even if you did it then, compare now to see the real results.
3. Are you with British Gas, E.on, EDF, Scottish Power or SSE on a standard tariff? Even if savings are small, lock into a cheap fix now to protect against the likely FUTURE hike
The price given on all comparison sites is done over the next 12 months, but the price cap only lasts for six months. And as I've explained above, the mood music is that it will rise again then.
So if you do a cheap 1yr fixed comparison and you can lock in at a cheaper rate for a year, it's worth doing even if the saving is only a few quid, as the likelihood is over the next year the price cap will rise, so your real savings will be bigger.
At least Centamin AISC will be reducing as the open pit clear up continues and the solar power comes on stream , even more so if the POG rises as predicted in 2022!