Watch on demand as money saving experts answer your questions - on a day millions are affected by the energy price cap rise.
Friday 1 April 2022 17:10, UK
Thanks to Richard Neudegg, from USwitch, Charlotte Jessop, director of Looking After Your Pennies, and Tara Evans, head of consumer at The Sun, for their wisdom.
"Price rises will depend on the deals that suppliers have bought and different markets will work in different ways.
"I think the key thing here is that they are rising everywhere in other countries. They are also seeing rises. So it really is about making sure that you are on top of your bills and all planning ahead.
"So you need to think how can you afford this right now? And if there are future rises, how are you going to budget those as well?"
"Firstly, don't panic. There was a deadline yesterday. It was called National Meter Reading Day. But you haven't missed out. Many of the suppliers are allowing you up to seven days to submit these meter readings.
"Lots of the websites have been busy, many of them have been crashing. Even today, some of them have been struggling with the sheer volume.
"It's also important to note that if you have a fixed deal at the moment or you have a smart meter, then you don't need to do this."
"The reason why people have been saying 'take your reading' is to make sure that you're not accidentally charged for usage.
"You've already had this new higher rate because they estimate bills when you don't have a smart meter. But it is actually really good practice to give regular meter readings, we would say once a month if you're not on a smart meter.
"And the reason for that is your energy account doesn't get out of step with your direct debit if you're paying by direct debit. The problem is when suppliers have to estimate they can get this wrong, particularly if you are doing things at home to save energy usage as well."
"It is really hard to say when prices are going to come back down.
"But we do know that the price cut will be re-evaluated in October this year.
"Really worryingly, estimates out today have suggested that it's going to go up by 拢600, which isn't the news anybody wants. And that will mean that energy bills would have doubled in the last year.
"It really is reliant on these wholesale prices, which are unfortunately linked to the crisis in Ukraine and also many other factors. So it's really keeping an eye on things and preparing as best you can for any further crisis."
"Unfortunately, as Tara is saying, we're not done with the price increases just yet because of the situation with Russia and Ukraine, but also other factors as well that are driving up those wholesale prices.
"I think we will see them go up significantly again in October."
"Yeah, this is a really tough one. And I don't think this person is going to be alone in this situation.
"There have been lots of people receiving letters and be like, wow, how am I supposed to pay for this? The thing that I'm urging people to do is speak to their suppliers.
"So make contact and have this conversation. Your supplier will have to have this conversation with you and create a plan about how you can afford it.
"Essentially, I'm assuming that they've looked at other areas of their finances and made sure that any wiggle room they do have, they've already addressed.
"And if you can't do anything, reach out to people like Citizens Advice - they will be able to take a more holistic view of your financial situation and see if there's any other support or options available to you."
"We've spent a year telling people to shop around to save energy.
"But at the moment, there aren't good fixed deals out there because of the conditions in the wholesale market.
"And so for the vast majority, sticking with what you have is probably going to be the best that you can do. It is worth setting up alerts and things in case there are deals to come back on the market.
"We have seen a couple of suppliers. We've offered decent fixed rate deals to the existing customers, but these are very, very brief and then get snapped up."
From 4.30pm we'll have money saving experts answering your questions live on Sky News - on a day millions are affected by the energy price cap rise.
You can put questions to or ask advice from Richard Neudegg, from USwitch, or Charlotte Jessop, director of Looking After Your Pennies.
Also on the show will be Tara Evans, head of consumer at The Sun, and Karen Isaac, who works two jobs and claims Universal Credit.
Submit your question(s) above and you'll be able to watch live right here. We'll also transcribe some of the best answers so you can catch up later.
