Good Morning Britain interrupted for breaking news – it’s awful for Andy Burnham_D

Good Morning Britain came to a halt for a breaking update, with Richard Madeley and Ranvir Singh telling viewers that Ofgem has announced a 4% rise in the energy price cap from October. This means typical household bills will rise to £1,723 a year – a three-year high – dealing a fresh blow to Prime Minister Andy Burnham as he faces mounting pressure to ease the cost-of-living burdens facing Brits.

Richard said: “This means that the cap is now at its highest level since the summer of 2023.” The presenters were joined by money saving expert Martin Lewis, who explained in further detail what Ofgem’s announcement means. He said: “This is a 3.6 per cent rise over the crucial start of the winter period. This price cap lasts from the 1st October until the end of the year. When we had the price cap that started in July, that was up 12.6 per cent, the mitigation for that is it was over the low-use summer period.

“This is a 3.6 per cent rise on top of the 12.6 per cent rise, meaning that when we go into October, prices will be 17 per cent higher than they were in April and that is over the winter period.”

The presenter described the update as “particularly bad news”, adding that the government had tried to mitigate this by cutting electricity VAT.

“Without that cut in VAT, we would have seen prices rising by about 6.6 per cent,” he continued. “But the fact electricity VAT has been cut means that this is a slightly more complex scenario than people understand.

“The price cap only applies if you are on your firm’s standard variable tariff. That’s the default tariff, the ‘I haven’t fixed’ tariff, the ‘I did nothing when my fix ended’ tariff.

“This applies to you and you will, in almost all cases, see your prices rise.”

Martin added: “If you’re already on a fix, if you’re already locked into a special deal, this does not affect you. You will stay on that price until that fix ends.”

When asked what people can do to mitigate this, Martin explained: “Currently, the prediction is that the January price cap rates will rise again by 9 per cent. This is because of what is going on in the Middle East.

“If you are on your company’s standard variable tariff, you can get a fix. Fixed rates are not brilliant right now. They are about 7 per cent cheaper than the current cap, but that cap is going up 4 per cent in October and is predicted to be going up 9 per cent in January, but if you fix, you lock in a rate.

“For those people who never do anything, get yourself onto market comparison sites, Cheap Energy Club is an example, put your details in, find what your cheapest fix is, and you can lock in and that will prevent the price hikes.”

Martin went on: “It’s worth noting, because wholesale rates due to the Middle East are so high right now, if things were to ease there, it may be in a week or two you could get a cheaper fix. This isn’t the best time to fix.

“You might want to hold a week or two and cross your fingers that things get a little better so you can lock in at a lower rate.”