Martin Lewis launches tool to show exactly how much your energy bill will rise by

Martin Lewis has released a calculator that normal folk can use to calculate exactly how much they’re going to end up paying for their energy bills during this winter.

The MoneySavingExpert man has brought out this helpful calculator at the exact right time, given that energy bills are set to rise in just a matter of weeks.

Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced there is to be an energy price guarantee of £2,500, but that’s still a huge rise on what we’ve seen before.

On 1 October, the price guarantee will replace the Ofgem price cap, meaning that for two years energy prices will be no more than £2,500.

Again, that’s still a lot more than we were paying.

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However, most people will be able to use the calculator to work out whether they’ll hit the cap or come in underneath.

To be fair, it largely depends on how much energy you use already or plan to use.

Obviously using less energy is going to cost you less, but you knew that already, right?

Problematically, the calculator is no use to anyone who is on a prepayment meter because the government has yet to confirm what the rates are going to be for those people.

Unfortunately, the people who are on prepayment rates are usually those on the lowest incomes, and also pay more for their energy than those who aren’t using prepayment methods.

The current price cap is £46 higher for those who prepay opposed to those on a standard variable tariff.

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Anyway, back to the calculator.

If you want to use it, you’ll need to know the kWh value of energy that you use each year, which should be on your energy bill.

That’s just to give you more accurate results.

Then, you’ll also need to confirm what region you live in, after which you’ll receive an estimate on what you’ll have to pay versus your usage.

Of course, there’s also a £400 energy discount being given to all households this winter, so make sure you remember to subtract that as well.

If you want to check out your expected bill, you can head on over to the MoneySavingExpert website.

There you’ll find all sorts of handy tips to help keep your wallet happy this winter, because it’s set to get pretty tough for a lot of people before it gets better by the looks of things.