British Gas, Octopus, Eon, EDF and OVO customers face extra £21 payment

Expected changes to energy bills from the new year have been confirmed by the regulator Ofgem - and it's more bad news for households. Gas and electricity costs will be increasing again when the Energy Price Cap is adjusted in January.

It will be a new year but the same old problems with energy bills. Costs will not be rising anywhere near as much as they did in October however and will be remaining fairly stable. But that means they will not be coming down.

The typical household will have to pay around £21 more a year. So that works out to less than £2 a month on average.

READ MORE: Nationwide will pay customers £175 in time for Christmas

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While there may be relief that bills aren't going up any higher, there will be more frustration that they are not coming down as millions of people continue to face cost of living struggles. The average annual bill is expected to increase to £1,738 from January.

Households were advised to consider fixing tariffs before the last rise in October and those who did may now see the benefits. Fixing options are still worth considering for some customers, according to money expert Martin Lewis, as bills are not expected to start coming down until next summer.

Tim Jarvis, from Ofgem, said: "We understand that the cost of energy remains a challenge for too many households. However, with more tariffs coming into the market, there are ways for customers to bring their bill down so please shop around and look at all the options."

Reacting to the news, Martin Lewis said on X: "Current predictions are the price cap will rise again on April 1 by a couple of per cent, then drop slightly in July and slightly again in October. Even then it's still expected to be slightly more than now.

"So over the next year it's predicted you will pay a couple of per cent more than now on average. The cheapest fixed tariffs available right now are around 5% LESS than the current price cap. Therefore the simple thing to do is lock into a fix now to save money and guarantee no future hikes."