Martin Lewis issues a stark warning

[GreenLunchBox]

And I'm really quite scared what's going to happen 😭

twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/1549305060320067585?t=2QJm_R-HS3gXtUUCoy_8tA&s=19

Most definitely NOT!

This is the details of my fixed rate

This is an email from 05/10/21 from him

Maybe not below the old price cap, the heat is getting to me

bur when my deal was up he was definitely advising not to fix. Sept/Oct 2021.

i can’t remember my old tariff but if I am paying more than I was then it’s not by much

sorry if this is full of typos I am on holiday and forgotten my specs

I think to be fair neither he or anyone else expected the cap to jump as it did.

what a fucking shitshow honestly, we have the government we voted for but I feel so bad for people who are fucked who didn’t vote for them.

Your standing charges are double mine. But your price per kWH are half mine

I'm afraid not. I work for an investment management firm and everything he is saying is what we're planning for. Things are going to be tough.

😭

<puts up hand again> but lots of us did. I remember talking to neighbours about it - I live in a big block and quite a few of us were in the pub talking it over. The majority interpreted it that there would be a large rise. what else would removal of a cap mean? When does the price of anything go down? Family members also went on fixed rates.

I posted my confusion on here because I couldn't fathom why anyone might think prices would go down. Then I crept away because people thought I was being stupid.

I'm not much of a consumer and that's largely what his stuff was about the last few years, so I don't follow him but I did think that was a real oddity in his usual advice.

i haven't watched the video but many people have been "warning" of these economic issues for ages. I think the first song I had in my head when lockdown was announced was "Hooverville"!

i Can’t remember my previous one but they were a supplier I was placed with when the previous one went bust

Because civilians were managing to guess that further steep rises were likely enough to make it worth taking a slightly higher fix for the long term peace of mind.

No, true, but more and more food banks and local councils can now top up keys/cards it issue vouchers for prepayment credit. So that’s worth checking if things get desperate.

I’ve made several posts on this site now about energy prices going up because they keep going up and there’s no sign of this trend stopping - and Ofgem don’t seem to be doing anything to stop this. My fear is that it will continue until people end up in debt and / lose their homes and essentially everything they have ever worked for.

I can’t understand why people aren’t shouting from the rooftops about this - it’s not just an issue that will affect the poorest in our society - it will affect all of us. I’ve been losing sleep over it to be honest.

I read a comment a while ago that a particular investment bank (I won’t name it in here) is buying up a lot of property and will end up buying up homes when they get repossessed and end up making a lot of money. When I first read this I thought it was a load of nonsense and fear mongering but I’m actually thinking there might be some truth in it now.

How high do energy prices have to go - how much can they get away with increasing prices and profiteering from the British public until we say we’ve had enough? If this was France then people would have taken to the streets long ago. We are being played. I feel so depressed about the whole situation and honestly don’t know what the future holds.

I think if we step back from the energy crisis specifically and look at the economy as a whole, the last 12 years have been a disaster. The economy has been successively managed by people who did not know what they were doing with only a partial and limited respite when Philip Hammond was Chancellor (although he was largely constrained by Brexit). The result of bad policy means that the UK cannot withstand economic shocks like an energy crisis. The key issues over the past 12 years boils down to five key problems:

1. Austerity. There was never any logic in cutting essential spending on public services. All that did was remove investment at a time when inflation was much lower and when we could have "fixed the roof when the sun was shining." Now there is no roof, Osborne sold it. What we're now faced with is inadequate infrastructure that is one of the causes of low productivity and a need to invest at a time when inflation makes that difficult or even impossible.

It also made consumers poorer and less able to withstand economic downturns. What a lot of people never realised is that the UK economy cannot go bankrupt because it has a fiat currency. It can print money to pay debt but the reason it does not do so is to avoid inflation. But remember, printing money is basically quantitative easing and a good question for your local Tory MP is why the money printed under QE was put in private rather than public hands.

2. Brexit. Like it or not, Brexit creates additional trade barriers both in the form of tariffs and lack of regulatory recognition. This has made it harder to export and therefore harder for UK plc to make money. It has contributed to the weak pound sterling.

3. Tax rises on working people. VAT went up 2.5%, NI has been increased 2.25% in the last decade and we now have fiscal drag on the tax bands. Cutting taxes now would be inflationary but the government should change where they fall. With rampant house price inflation and labour shortages, we really need people to be incentivised to go back to work whilst the very wealthy ought to be paying more tax either on incomes or housing wealth.

4. Energy crisis. No doubt this is the primary cause of inflation, which is why suppression of wages doesn't really make that much sense. Yes, if we do too much there will be an inflationary spiral. However, if the government can issue cost of living packages for millionaire pensioners (2 million of them) why can't it do the same for people on middle incomes?

5. Weak pound sterling. Inflation is far worse in the UK because of low exports caused by Brexit. This means things we import like most of our energy become more expensive. Oil was much more expensive per barrel in 2008 than it is now for example, but because of the exchange rate to the US$ it is sold in we're paying £2 at the pump now compared to around £1.30 then.

Austerity and Brexit together have ruined the British economy in a way that is going to be very hard to come back from. Investment is too inflationary and the Tories are too proud to alter Brexit.

I agree @cakeorwine None if my friends have mentioned it to me either. I’ve been really worried about this but too worried to talk to friends in real life because they haven’t said anything. They are all still booking holidays as if nothing is any different. I just don’t get it? I feel sick when I think about it to be honest.

Only once or twice a year apparently .. and only to those on the "right" kind of benefits...... and where we live, if no power then no access to internet, phone, and no way of getting into town if there was any help we could use.
I chose where we live as it was cheaper than a one bed bedsit in town.. and it kept us within my son's schools catchment area when previous landlord decided to sell at short notice. Didn't forsee this nightmare

I gave up listening to him when he refused to back the remain campaign despite it being far better for people economically. Very glad I ignored his advice on energy too and fixed at the end of last year until 2024.

His latest warning though seems pretty realistic and only echoes what most industry experts are saying.

@andyethereweare if his fixed rate mortgage deal is coming to an end in 6 months he can lock in a deal now. Some mortgage providers allow you to lock in 3 months early, others 6. If his current provider won't let him lock in until 3 months before the deal ends he can look at switching to a provider that will allow him to lock in something now.

I think many people are looking away/ ignoring the upcoming hike in energy prices because facing the reality of what is about to happen is just too much to bear.

I know people who are just about getting by at the moment. Life is already a struggle. They just cannot take on any more worry, so in effect have stuck their fingers in their ears. It's a coping strategy - not a good one, but what else can you do when you have no 'rainy day' savings to fall back on, and no family or friends in a position to help you out?

For what it's worth I am a huge fan of Martin Lewis and his website. Over the years I have saved and clawed back thousands of £ from following advice from him and from people posting on the forums. Do I care that he has made money from it? No, not one bit - he is a clever, harworking man. I am glad he is rewarded for it - he has earnt - unlike many of the politicians who seem to have time for parties and in fighting whilst making decisions which screw most of us over whilst looking out for themselves and their mates.

To those posters asking why some of us are not on fixed rates.

I was. The company went bust. I was moved to octopus. No choice over this. No other company will take on new customers that want to fix. So my choice now is fix with octopus or not. I have no other options.

I am just glad that someone is trying to raise awareness of what is coming.

I can predict a lot of threads on MN about people suddenly getting increased direct debits.

If you think about it - and I saw this coming - the energy cap in April only was the cost of energy from April - October - when people use less energy for heating. DDs would be based on that usage.

Now on October, the cost of energy will increase by 64% AND more energy will start to be used because of heating. So not only are you using more energy, you are paying double what you paid for it a year before. DDs will rise even more.

I think some people do have their heads in the sand.

Do you have to reapply for a mortgage to change/re-fix the rate?

I've just read his website which says you'll currently be on the price cap if you came off a fixed rate and did nothing about it'🤣 Not you'll currently be on the price cap because I told you all to!!!!

I feel like I'm wading through sand. Should I be fixing now?

There is definitely a sense on mumsnet of I’m alright Jack and it won’t affect me. But it will. Crime will go up substantially, people will slip into addiction due to mental health problems, street homelessness will increase. So your “naice” (and I apologise because I hate that word) area, suddenly won’t be so naice anymore.

He's right. I work for a charity and have been really scared by the desperation I've seen particularly in the last couple of months.