Octopus Energy issues £138 message to customers and says 'good time'

Millions of Octopus Energy customers have been told they may be able to keep their bills lower than the Energy Price Cap rate from October. Typical bills are set to increase by £149 a year after Ofgem confirmed the price cap would be going up.

It means households will have to pay more for their gas and electricity heading into winter. But Octopus, one of the UK's largest energy suppliers, has told customers they could keep their bills lower by fixing their tariffs now.

It said its 15M Fixed tariff is currently £1,656 a year for a typical home, or £138 a month. That's lower than the price cap from October which will be £1,717 or £143 a month.

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Octopus said it was expected the price cap would stay above £1,700 for the next 12 months. They added customers could leave the account with no exit fees if average prices do come down.

The company said: "It may be a good time to fix your prices. We don’t know exactly what energy prices will do in January and beyond, but most analysts are predicting the price cap will hover above £1,700 for the next 12 months.

"Our Octopus 15M Fixed tariff is currently £1,656 per year for a typical home, and has no exit fees. This means if prices continue to fall, you can simply choose another tariff in your online account."

Consumer experts say fixing tariffs can be beneficial for households but it's always worth doing full research before signing up as they could be left paying more over a longer period if prices come down.