Energy price cap: your questions about the rise answered

theguardian.com:

We asked readers what they wanted to know about the energy cap price rise. Hilary Osborne, our money and consumer editor, has the answers.

I’m on a fixed deal, will any part of my bill/charges increase? Susan, OxfordNo, not while the deal lasts. The cap relates to the energy providers’ standard variable tariffs – these are the tariffs that customers are on as a default and have traditionally been more expensive than the fixed-rate deals on offer. The reason the energy cap was introduced was to stop these customers paying high prices because of their loyalty.

If you are on a fixed deal, you will carry on paying the same rate until the end of the term – unless your provider fails and you get switched to a new company.

Households are in a strange place at the moment because moving to a new fixed deal would mean paying higher prices. It is likely that if your deal ends soon you will be better off moving on to your provider’s standard tariff than going on to a new fixed rate.

Does the price cap refer to the combined cost of gas and electricity as in a dual fuel cost? How is it applied if a different supplier is used for gas and electricity? Also, if the fixed dual deal has just ended is it better to renew or revert to price capped variable contract? R Price, retired, HampshireThe annual prices that are being widely quoted are for what a dual fuel customer with average energy use might expect to pay – they are not the caps themselves. So no household is currently guaranteed that their bills won’t go above £1,277. What is capped by the regulator, Ofgem, is the unit price that can be charged for gas and electricity (see above), and these apply to any supplier you use. If you do use an average amount of gas and an average amount of