Martin Lewis urges British Gas and EDF customers to 'act' by Sunday

The star of ITV's The Martin Lewis Money Show, who frequently appears on Good Morning Britain and This Morning, shared his insights on his latest BBC Sounds podcast.

Mr Lewis advised listeners to take action by June 30 and secure a fixed rate ahead of the new Ofgem energy price cap. On his recent podcast, the Money Saving Expert referred to the ongoing standing charges as "I personally believe it is effectively an energy poll tax."

He stated: "It's a moral hazard that reduces the impact of reducing your usage on your energy bills, because you have these fixed daily standing charges. I've been campaigning to get them lowered. Both Labour and Tories have now spoken to me and said if they're elected they will work to lower standing charges - we'll see how much they deliver on that."

Regarding whether to fix or not, Martin added: "While the energy price cap is due to drop seven percent in July the current prediction is it will rise by 12 percent in October. So actually over the next 12 months if the predictions are right you will pay more than you do right now if you stick on the price cap."

Martin suggested that if you can find a good deal when your bills decrease in 10 days - at the beginning of July - it is worth securing before the rates increase again, according to Birmingham Live, reports the Express.

If you're not on a fixed tariff, you're almost certainly on a price-capped tariff, so that's what you need to compare against.

The price cap is expected to rise by 12 per cent in October and then remain unchanged in January. This forecast is based on a dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit and consuming 2,700 kilowatt hours of electricity and 11,500 kilowatts of gas.