Overview

• More than 22 million households on default tariffs face an average annual bill of about £1,755 from 1 October, roughly £35 higher than now.
• Fixed-rate customers are not affected by the cap change, which only governs unit rates and standing charges on standard variable tariffs.
• Suppliers have published deadlines for manual reads, including Scottish Power on Oct 5, E.ON Next on Oct 6, Octopus on Oct 8, EDF on Oct 9, OVO on Oct 11 and British Gas on Oct 14.
• Homes with working smart meters do not need to send manual readings because the devices transmit usage automatically.
• USwitch says a typical household on a standard tariff may spend about £140 on energy in October versus £63 in September and advises considering fixed deals that can undercut the new cap by around £215.