Updated on 30/06/23 by Abby_OVO
Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) and The Price Cap July 1st 2023
Ofgem’s energy price cap limits what you pay for gas or electricity. Here’s out how it works – and how it affects your prices.
What is the Energy Price Guarantee?
The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) was introduced in October 2022 to help households with rising energy costs. It’s a discount on the unit rate of gas and electricity and is on top of the price cap. The EPG was previously set at £2,500 for a typical household bill. From 1 July 2023 this will change to £3,000, which is above the new price cap.
The Price Cap
Ofgem have announced that the new price cap will be £2,074 for a typical household from 1 July until 30 September 2023.
What this means for customers who pay monthly
If you're on a variable rate plan
With the new price cap, customers on variable rate plans will pay a lower unit rate for their energy. Your actual bills will still depend on how much energy your home uses.
As the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) level is higher than the new price cap, it won't have an impact on what you pay if you're on a variable rate plan, but it will remain in place to protect you from future price increases.
If you're on a fixed rate plan
The price cap doesn't affect prices for fixed rate plans. Even though the EPG level has gone up to £3,000 from 1 July 2023, if you're on a fixed rate plan your prices won't change. That's because we're keeping your prices as they are for the length of your contract to protect you from this price increase.
What this means for Pay As You Go customers
Pay As You Go prices are variable – these will be set by the new price cap on 1 July 2023. This means your prices are going down.
Gas
Customers will receive an additional discount on their gas unit rate through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) so that most customers will pay less than Pay Monthly customers.
This discount will be reviewed every 3 months. You don't need to apply, and there is no need to contact us – the discount is applied automatically.
Electricity
Electricity prices on Pay As You Go mean that most customers will already pay less than the equivalent for Pay Monthly.
You can also check out more information on the Price Cap set by Ofgem, here.
My prices are changing, do I have to do anything?
If you’ve got a smart meter
As long as your smart meter sends us your readings remotely at least every day, there’s nothing that you need to do. You can tell this by looking at your online account: once you’ve logged in, look for the tile that says: "Your smart meter is sending them to us automatically. Nice one!"
You can check the readings we receive from your smart meter on the meter readings page. You can find this in the ‘Account details’ section of your app (download for Android or iOS), and ‘Reading history’ online.
Your plan’s prices will update on your online account, smart meter and In-Home Display automatically. This means we’ll bill you accurately from the 1st using the new unit rates.
If your smart meter only sends us your readings once a month, we’d recommend you submit a meter reading now or later this week via your online account.
Not sure how to read your smart meter manually? You can find out how here.
If you’ve got a traditional (non smart) meter
We’d recommend submitting a set of readings now or at some point this week. This will make sure we start charging the new rates from an accurate point in your usage. The quickest way to submit a meter reading is via your online account or OVO Energy app (download for Android or iOS).
First time sending readings this way? There’s a guide with all the information here.