Energy bills

The money-saving expert said earlier in the week that he expected energy prices to drop soon in some rare ‘good news’ for hard-pressed Brits

Martin Lewis says that energy deals are already becoming more affordable following an agreement between the US and Iran. The money-saving expert stated earlier this week that he anticipated prices would fall soon in some rare ‘good news’ for financially stretched British households concerning energy costs.

This followed an announcement of an accord between the US and Iran to cease hostilities and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz. The memorandum of understanding, which is now active, was signed on Wednesday by Donald Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

This has seen the cost of oil and natural gas decline, resulting in a reduction in energy prices. At the time of writing, Brent crude has fallen by approximately $7 a barrel and UK natural gas by roughly 14 per cent.

Mr Lewis confirmed that fixed energy deals were already being made available that were around 5 per cent more affordable. He stated: “Energy fixes have started to get cheaper, now 5% below April price cap.”

However, Mr Lewis cautioned earlier this week that people shouldn’t anticipate a substantial reduction in the next price cap, which runs from October to December.

The next price cap is expected to be announced on August 26 by energy regulator Ofgem. Approximately 60 per cent of households in England, Scotland, and Wales remain on a standard variable tariff, meaning their costs are governed by the price cap.

The current energy price cap is due to increase on July 1 by 13 per cent. This means that a home with typical energy consumption paying by direct debit will face charges of £1,862 annually.

That marks a rise of £221 compared to the previous price cap – and Mr Lewis cautioned it could climb even higher, despite the cessation of hostilities.

He stated: “The US and Iran signing a framework deal has pushed natural gas prices down. These wholesale prices are a key driver of UK gas and electricity bills. As the six-month graph shows, though, prices still have a long way to fall before returning to pre-conflict levels.

“The good news is that this could lead to slightly cheaper fixed tariffs being launched in the coming days. However, without substantial further drops the October price cap still looks likely to be significantly higher than it is today.”

He was subsequently questioned about why he believed the price cap would increase from October. He responded: “It’s the same reason the energy Price Cap HASN’T yet risen due to the Middle East crisis. It is time-lagged. So slow to rise, slow to fall.”

HANGING up the phone after her landlord told her he’d be selling her home, Melanie Bentley-Moore looked out at the pouring rain and decided to leave the UK.

The mum-of-one, from Manchester, has now packed her bags to move across the world. Her rent will be half of what she pays back home, and she can eat out for just £1 a meal.

“I got a call from my landlord saying he’s selling, and I said, ‘Do you know what? I’m just going to leave the UK,’” Melanie, 33, tells the Sun.

“I’m scared, but obviously I’m doing it anyway.”

She has booked flights to Thailand in early September, and is staying at a friend’s house until then.

Explaining why she’s so desperate to move overseas, Melanie explained how Asia is much more affordable than the UK.

“Petrol, energy, food, you notice the food goes up in price; however, they decreased the packaging sizes,” she says.

There, she explains, she will be paying significantly less rent, with a “really nice apartment” costing around £400 a month, compared to the £750 she pays at home, and an evening meal just £1.

Melanie left the UK in 2017 to travel around Asia, using Vietnam as her main base.

But she returned to the UK two years later because she was missing chip shops and Nando’s.

Then her son Antares was born in 2020, and she decided to stay.

But astrologist Melanie claims she has wanted to “get back out there” ever since.

And she has slammed those who also yearn to leave the UK for sunnier shores, but just “talk” about it, and never move.

She has now sold all her belongings, and she and her son will be jetting off to Asia to live their “best lives”.

“Here it feels like we’re surviving; however, I know in Asia, where I’m heading, I’d be able to thrive instead,” she says.

“I wouldn’t get anxiety paying for a food shop, the contrast is massive.

“Your money goes a long way.

“I could stay on the beach somewhere, and it would cost half my rent.

“When I used to live in Vietnam, I wasn’t really doing food shops there because it’s so cheap to eat out. I was having my tea for £1.

“After looking now, it will be around £400 rent per month, that’s for a really nice apartment.”

But the cost of living isn’t the only reason she’s quitting the UK.

“The energy here just feels heavy, it’s dark,” she says.

“There’s no room to grow. The majority of people are miserable because of all the stuff that’s going on, the cost of living, everything’s rising.

“I just don’t feel alive here, and I think that’s not just a ‘me’ problem either; everyone that I’m speaking to just feels soulless.

“I’m just bored, I can’t live ‘Groundhog Day‘, I can’t just continue this way.

“Just hearing everyone else complain, that weakens my spirit.

“Most people are miserable, and they’re always complaining; it seeps into everything.

“It’s like an infinite cycle of ‘rinse and repeat’ complaining. It’s just a feeling, I just don’t feel alive. It sucks the soul out of me.”

Explaining how she chose her destination, Melanie says “I lived in Asia for two years, so I’m very familiar with that area of the world.

“I was only meant to go for three months, but I ended up staying out there for a couple of years, travelling around Asia.

“My main base was Vietnam, I did some English teaching out there and came back home because it’s something random, I really wanted chippy and Nando’s.”

According to the single mum, she also wants to show her son “real life”, and she prefers the values in Asia.

And she has taken Antares out of school, as she prefers education systems where children start school later.

Discussing how she believes the move will positively impact her son, she says: “I’m going to do some charity work and volunteering with him. There is no better learning than real life.

“He’s only five, I prefer the Scandinavian way.

“In Scandinavia, there’s a reason why their children are the happiest and most successful because they don’t start school till they’re seven.

“With the values and stuff, life’s just better over there. It’s slower, it’s sunny, the scenes are beautiful, and you realise there is so much more to life than what I’m used to. It’s a completely different culture as well.”

Melanie has also said that she wants people to “follow their hearts”.

“It’s no good talking, there’s a lot of talkers out there – I ‘do’.

“I refuse to stay here in a life of struggle and misery. The energy is dark, it’s always raining, it’s grey.”

“I feel so soulless and miserable in this place, and I’m not doing it anymore, and I thought f*** this.”

“Life is for living and feeling joy and love and wonder, I don’t feel any of that here.

“There is something about England energy-wise that is just so off.”

A BBC expert has warned more than 270,000 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

More than 270,000 people across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have received letters through the post, according to a BBC expert – and those who ignore them could find themselves facing court action. Viewers of BBC Morning Live were recently warned about the thousands of letters connected to county court judgements that have been dispatched over the past 12 months.

Expert Laura Pomfret explained to viewers that a County Court Judgement (CCJ) is essentially a court order issued in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland when someone fails to repay a debt and the creditor pursues enforcement action. She noted it could come from a council, company, landlord or a private individual – and if left unpaid, it can appear on the person’s credit report.

She said: “I think that’s what a lot of people resonate with that they’ve heard of CCJs can be bad for your credit. They stay on your credit report for six years. It can impact you getting a mortgage, even getting um a rental property. Sometimes credit checks are done, even when getting a mobile phone contract.

“It’s definitely something to avoid if someone can avoid it, and worryingly, in the first quarter of this year, over 270,000 new CCJs were registered, and that’s 17.5% up on last year. So this is obviously showing that people are struggling and in the energy industry is something that you know it’s it’s getting bigger and bigger.” She explained that these are frequently issued to those falling behind on energy bills — with the latest Ofgem figures revealing debt standing at £4.5 billion — while Energy UK puts the figure even higher at £5.5 billion.

She added: “That’s like such a big bill that lots of people are pay and people pay every month clearly struggling with it. And interestingly as well, credit card transactions in February were up 6% versus last February whereas debit transactions were only up 1%. And that also shows, you know, that people are having to rely on credit for even the most basic of bills.”

Ms Pomfret noted that receiving a CCJ typically follows a series of threatening letters, meaning the householder will already be feeling anxious. She said: “Firstly, it is upsetting to receive a formal document like that. If you get that through the post, it’s got a court seal on it it’s very formal. It might have followed you, you know, debt demand letters with red writing all over, which is overwhelming.”

“Firstly don’t be overwhelmed is easy to say but don’t be alarmed like it’s just a formal process it’s essentially a document asking you asking you for money and so it if it comes through the post you it will tell you what you owe it’ll tell you how to pay it and it will also tell you the deadline by which to pay so you have a few options when you receive a CCJ.” She explained that the first option was to repay the debt – and if someone does so within a month, it could be removed from their credit file. She said: “After that, it stays on your report, but it says that you paid it. So, please make sure you prioritise paying it.”

It’s also possible to vary the terms of a CCJ, she noted, which involves approaching the court to attempt to alter the conditions of the judgement. “Another thing that you may be able to do is apply for what’s called breathing space. So this is formerly called in England and Wales the debt respite scheme. “What this does is it gives you space from creditors, including the CCJ, and maybe gives you time to make a plan to pay it back or speak to a debt advisor, which is super helpful. The last thing that you may be able to do is you may actually be able to get the judgment or CCJ set aside. or recalled if you believed um that it’s an error.””

She stressed that there would need to be a legitimate reason to apply for it to be set aside, including submitting evidence, primarily that the individual doesn’t owe the money or that it’s a mistake. She added: “Another reason is that you didn’t receive the original claim form. So before a CCJ is issued or a decree is issued, you will get a claim form put forward and there’s an opportunity to respond.

“So you could have, for example, the wrong address, it could have been sent somewhere else. You may not have received it. Now, the court’s not going to take kindly to just saying, ‘I didn’t receive it.’ It’s kind of like the dog ate my homework sometimes for some people, but you may genuinely not have done. So that could be an option. Ultimately, you’re going to need evidence, you’re going to have to fill in the correct forms. You may have to pay fees to get it set aside, but you know, in the long run, it may be worth doing tha if you don’t want it to damage your credit.”

To find the steps and court forms involved in asking a court to vary the terms of a CCJ or decree, such as requesting to pay in instalments, or even how to get a judgment cancelled, you can click on the links below.

For England, Wales and Northern Ireland you can click here.

For Scotland you can click here., external

There temporary protection from your creditors while you get debt advice and make a plan.

In England and Wales this is called Breathing Space, and you can find information on that by clicking here., external

In Scotland this is called a moratorium, and you can find more information on that here.

HOLIDAYS are at extreme risk of being cancelled this summer, experts have warned.

The ongoing war in Iran has already resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled around the world, due to jet fuel prices and shortages.

Ceasefire talks between the US and Iran are yet to end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after a previous ceasefire lasted just hours.

While UK airlines are yet to see any cancellations, Dan Jorgensen, the EU energy commissioner, said it was “very likely” holidays will be affected, according to Sky News.

This includes both cancelled flights and more expensive costs, he said, as Europe is in a “serious crisis”.

He explained: “Even if we do everything we can do, if the jet fuel is not there, then it’s not there.”

PLANE EXPLAIN

Jet2, TUI, BA, Virgin, Ryanair & easyJet – UK airlines on the fuel crisis

GOING UP

Flights are now costing families HUNDREDS extra due to ongoing Iran war

“It is primarily a crisis of prices and not yet a crisis of supply, but unfortunately we cannot be sure to prevent a crisis of supply, especially on jet fuel in the future, if the crisis continues.”

Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency warned that supply issues could hit Europe in the next five to six weeks.

ACI Europe backed this up, saying: “If the passage through the Strait of Hormuz does not resume in any significant and stable way within the next three weeks, systemic jet fuel shortage is set to become a reality.”

Mr Jorgensen added that even if the Strait of Hormuz opened tomorrow, the “price crisis will still last for quite some time”.

It could even be years, he warned, to get down to price levels seen before the crisis.

UK airlines are yet to be affected by the fuel crisis, as many have ‘hedged’ fuel, meaning paying a set fee.

But Airlines UK, which represents a number of carriers, including BA, Virgin, easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair, are now calling on the government for support to protect flights and holidays.

This would include temporary use of fuel type Jet A (not currently allowed in the UK) as well as relaxing the strict airport slot rules that would see airlines lose them if they don’t operate flights.

Easing night flight bans and “relieving the burden of Air Passenger Duty” have also been put forward.

A huge number of airlines have already cancelled flights in response to fears of jet fuel running out.

This includes:

• Lufthansa – 20,000 cancelled up to September
• United – around 250 a month cancelled
• Air New Zealand – around 1,000 cancelled
• Scandinavian Airlines – around 1,000 cancelled
• KLM – 160 cancelled
• Cathay Pacific – two per cent of flights up to June 30

Some flights routes have been axed entirely – this includes Norse Airways, London-Los Angeles route.

And flights and holidays have already gone up in price in recent months.

The Transport & Environment (T&E) said in a statement this week that long-haul flights are up to £77 more expensive – working out to more than £300 per family.

And easyJet warned people to book holidays sooner rather than later to avoid more price hikes.

For anyone worrying about their holiday, families are better to book package holidays rather than separate flight and hotels, as most packages offer ATOL protection (meaning you will get your money back if your trip is cancelled).

It is also worth checking your travel insurance, although most policies do not cover anything related to war.