Martin Lewis hails new EDF energy tariff for low-end billpayers

Martin Lewis has praised a new energy tariff which could significantly benefit low-end energy users. Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, the money-saving expert said a new tariff on the market is discounting standing charges, something which he has long complained against.

The standing charges, which is a flat rate applied to all billpayers for having access to electricity, has been labelled by Martin as an "energy poll tax" and a "moral hazard". He highlights that standing charges disproportionately affect those who use less energy as they are still paying the same rate on them as someone who uses a large amount of energy. Fortunately, this new tariff aims to fix that.

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He said: "Let's look at this new tariff it is called EDF Ensure. It's a big difference, it tracks the price cap, so when the price cap goes up it goes up and when the price cap goes down as we know it will do by 7 per cent in July, it comes down too.

"Except, it will have over a year £50 cheaper standing changes, a flat discount of £25 cheaper on electricity and £25 cheaper on gas. The unit rates will be the same as the price.

"Although actually it's launched now at the new cheaper July unit rate so you get an extra 10 days or so of slightly cheaper rate, then you'll be the same as everybody else once their rates come down."

Martin highlighted that the new rate is perfect for those on the lower end of their energy usage. He added: "If you're using less than £100 a month of energy, this looks a good deal, you might want to switch to it because the standing charge have a disproportionate impact on you."

However, he highlighted that "medium to high users" are probably