ALL energy bills to fall | Plan 2 student loans | Retirement tips

20:36Martin Lewis:And I've been firm by firm and every single firm, apart from Tulo Energy, who just seemed not to respond, has replied by saying, yes, they will pass on the full savings. And yes, it will be done on the 1st of April. So if you're looking at fixes now and you find your cheapest fix today, that will just get cheaper on the 1st of April by the same amount as other fixes. So your cheapest fix today is your cheapest fix today because they're all going to use by a uniform amount. With the exception, and the only one who's in the charts at the moment who's really cheap, is Fuse Energy because it's one of those smaller providers that does not have the eco scheme.

21:10so while it will drop on the 1st of April its rates won't drop by as much as the other fixes. I say it's a bit complicated. I hope that makes sense. Steve wants to know if we're ever going back to pre-war gas and electric prices. Which war are we talking about there? I assume it's the Ukraine war.

21:27Martin Lewis:We're definitely never going back to pre-World War II. I'm not sure we're going back to pre-Ukraine either. Look, just before the crisis I think the price cap was about$1 ,270. It's now in the 1600s. I'm not sure we will ever get back. I mean, partly because the change of the way that we distribute and generate energy. So there are two things that go on there. First of all, the move to renewables and more wind generation means that you have to have transmission and distribution costs. Instead of having lots of central power stations, we have lots of small generation hubs and connecting those up cost money.

22:03Martin Lewis:And that's gone on to the network costs that we pay. And that has increased prices. And secondly, the shift of use, primarily because of electric cars, to having to have a lot more electricity also means that there are lots of cost changes going in the underlying infrastructure. So even that alone, I think, means we probably wouldn't go back to where we were. And not unless there are, you know, maybe in 10, 15 years time with huge dividends if the promised renewable dividend comes off. But I'll leave other people to discuss that. In the short term, though, I think in the first from the 1st of April, it wouldn't surprise me.

22:34and I'll do it on typical use figures, even though it's meaningless, but it just gives you a scale. If the cheapest fixes were coming in at around 1 ,350 quid a year, and then if we go back to what the price cap was, so I'm not comparing like we like, because fixes before the war were much cheaper, the price cap before the Ukraine war were maxed out at about 1 ,270. So I think we're getting closer. I think from the 1st of April, we will get closer to you being able to get a tariff that's not that much more expensive than it was pre-Ukraine, But we're never going to go back, I don't think. Certainly not in the imminent future, unless there's some massive economic issue that means world energy prices drop.

23:12You know, we're probably out of world recession, but I can't predict that. Gary says, can you explain if or how the£150 savings is going to be applied to people on a tracker tariff? Or does this mean we'll be better off switching to a fixed tariff? Okay, so I need to be slightly careful here because there is the general term a tracker tariff, which is a tariff that tracks the price cap or is a price cap tariff. And then there is the specific tariff, the octopus tracker. If I answer for the first one, if you are on a price cap or a tracked tariff, then you will see your rates drop on the 1st of April.

23:52They'll be applied automatically. If you are on the octopus tracker tariff, that is a time of use tariff where the amount you pay changes every day based on underlying wholesale rates at that time. And it can work very well for some people, but you've got to be aware of the volatility. And there's also the agile tariff where the price moves every half hour. And you can go online and you can see it. So you need to be really able to distribute your usage correctly for that. the octopus tracker tariff they will pass on all the policy cuts but of course it will be far more difficult to see and i asked again i asked off jen boss about this the other day because it's something that concerns me and they will be monitoring that everything is will be passed on but you won't be able to work out you know how much it is because it's a day changing rate it just means the rate will be lower than it would be everything else being equal but you know won't know what the rate would be otherwise but no in itself that is not a reason for you to

24:47Martin Lewis:shift. If you're on the tracker tariff and it's right for you, then that can be cheaper than the cheap fixes. If you're on a standard variable tariff, then that's the price cap and the price cap is a pants cap and if you can fix, and those on prepayment can't, or can't get cheap fixes anyway, then I would get yourself off the price cap and onto a fixed deal and go via a comparison site to find your cheapest. A question from somebody called Paul who said that it was promised in the budget that average bills would come down by£150 when in reality bills are coming down an average of£117. Are those sums right?

25:24Yes, but sit back, everyone. This is another complicated one. So the promise in the budget was that bills would come down on average£150, but they did say everything else remaining equal. And I remember talking to Ed Miliband about that, and he was very clear it was everything else remaining equal. But that number was quite interesting because it was always thought that the reduction on the price cap would be£133. So why the£150 to£133 first? It might have been£134,£135, but it was in the 130s. And the reason for that difference was average users on the price cap use less energy than average users not on the price cap.

26:06So the overall average saving for everybody, because this applies to all bills, is£150. but the average saving for those on the price cap was going to be in the 130s because they use less. With me so far? Yeah. Right. Then the announcement of the price cap coming down in April of£117 is due to the everything else remaining equal. The price cap moves every three months, and there are lots of factors in there, wholesale rates and network costs, which I've already talked about ad nauseum, and those have gone up. So as I said earlier, if the policy costs had not come off bills, we would have seen the price cap go up in April as opposed to down 6.7%.

26:50It would have probably gone up by about 1.6%. So for those on the price cap, the saving on a typical bill isn't in the 130s, it's 117. Interestingly, if you're on a fix because your rate is fixed and therefore the only thing affecting its price during the fix will be the policy cuts, you are likely to see the full policy cuts passed on because that's why I said earlier that will be a seven to nine percent savings and that's where the hundred and fifty pounds comes from so it's very complicated but it does actually take me to a really important point just moving it on a second

27:24Martin Lewis:the current differential between the cheapest fixes and the price cap is about 14 percent so if you would do a cut to go you're on the price cap you do a comparison it depends on usage and reason, but let's just go average. You would save about 14%, maybe 200, 250 quid on a typical bill by getting on a fix now. Then in April, your fixed rate will drop and it will likely drop by more than the price cap is dropping. So currently the differential is 14%. Probably from April, the differential between the cheapest fix, if you were getting it now and the price cap, might be 15 % or 16%. And then the predictions are, and this is where it gets to crystal ball gazing, that from July onwards, when the price cap changes again, the price cap will stay at roughly the same level, whereas, of course, your fix is fixed, so it won't change.

28:15That's why I'm saying get off the price cap if you can. And there are many other options than fixing, but fixing is a simple option because that differential is so cheap. And as a totally different aside, some very nice news one of my good friends jason's wonderful daughter who's worked so hard at medical school i just got a whatsapp through can i just say congratulations now dr emma franks of course congratulations from all of us uh what about we get a caller on would you like to hear from jim in kingslyn i would absolutely bring him on jim how you doing what have you got for martin hello yeah i'd just like to know i've got a electric gas bill or electric gas i need to change it next month yeah and uh so you're sorry sorry are you on a fix that's ending is that is that why uh yes okay cool that's ending next month my direct debit it was 200 pound a month and they just told me on what they've on the email they sent me they just put my direct direct debit up to£375 a month.

29:16So I just wondered what deals there are, what I need to do.

29:20Martin Lewis:Okay. So, sorry to get confusing here for a second. It's important to understand that your direct debit and the amount that you pay are separate. So the direct debit can often go up because it's based on them estimating what you will use. But what you actually will pay in the long run, that affects your cash flow, is based on the rate. So we can't really compare on direct debit. But clearly, you're coming off a cheap fix, I presume, and you're going to move to the price cap and the price cap is more expensive than your cheap fix. So you would pay more. So things would go up. Is there anything I need to know about your usage?

29:51Do you have an electric vehicle? Do you have storage heaters? Do you have anything like that? No storage heaters, gas heating. I have an electric car we need to charge at night.

30:01Martin Lewis:Do you drive a lot?

30:05Not a lot. Are you a 3 ,000 miles a year or a 10 ,000 miles a year or a 20 ,000? About 15 ,000 vials a year.

30:12Martin Lewis:Oh, certainly. You're using the chunk. So you're charging every night? Yeah, charging most nights. Well, you will almost certainly be better on an EV tariff. The big question is, how much of your other energy usage could you safely shift to night time? So let's say we're talking between 12 and 5 in the morning. A reasonable amount. We set the washing machine dishwasher often to come on in between midnight and five. OK. Because we're currently on a... You're on one of those tariffs. I forget the name of the tariff, but an electric vehicle tariff. Which firm is it? British Gas. OK. So, look, you want to go back onto an EV tariff.

30:54Martin Lewis:The one that has the cheapest rates at night is, just from a list in front of me, it's not a complete list, I need to be honest, is So Energy and Eon Next are the six and a half pence at night. Octopus, intelligent Octopus is seven pence. But then you've also got slightly higher rates during the day. There's few smart EV is pretty good. It has the cheap rate isn't as cheap, but the rates during the day are higher. So it is a depender, but you absolutely want to get yourself onto a cheap EV tariff using a lot of energy there and shift as much as you use as you can. Just a safety note, don't turn the tumble dryer on when you're asleep.

31:27It's not safe. But everything else you can put on when you're asleep, as long as you check the safety of the appliances. And that will generally, if you're on 15 ,000 miles a year, at the top of my head, and I'm not doing the calculation on it, that will generally outperform going onto a cheap fix for you, is what you should be moving on. There is also the option of the Octopus Agile tariff,

31:49Martin Lewis:where there the rate moves every half hour and you get an indication each day of where the rates are going to be. And some days it's more expensive than the cheap EV charging. And some days, you know when we get into summer you may well be paid overnight for charging your vehicle they will actually pay you for doing it but that's a lot higher risk and you have to be comfortable with that so i'd be thinking i'd be having a look at options like eon next or so energy and have a look at fuse too because of its daytime rate as well and then you just do the numbers you really need to understand how much of your energy you're using between 12 and 5 in the morning and it's about the proportions i don't know how good you are with the spreadsheet that's the way do this that we don't have comparison sites that are good enough on ev tariff yet that's going to come in the next year i think okay thank you does that help yeah that's brilliant thank you very much all right thank you so much so i can't be more exact but it just depends on the usage distribution one last question michael thanks thanks jim michael's on a fix right now on eon fix for 15 months would you recommend waiting till april the first and look for a different fix now i just think if you're on a fix and it's a good fix that my honest answer is your fix rate is going to get cheaper on the 1st of April.

32:57The price cap has nothing to do with a fix. Someone asked me the other day, I don't understand why the price caps... The driver of the cut in the price cap is the same as the driver of the cut in fixes, but the two are not the same thing. So they're both coming down because of the underlying policy costs.

33:16Martin Lewis:But the price cap moves does not affect the prices of fixes. The price cap moves on a time lag, fixes move based on current prices, they're just totally different. So the price cap coming down is not a reason that you should be changing your tariff. Fixed rates are coming down. But if the fix that you're on is a good fix, then your rate's going to come down anyway, too. So well done. Stick with it. And if it's not a good fix, then you'll have to factor in any early exit penalties. But do a comparison, see if there's a cheaper one. And if it is cheaper, factoring in the early exit penalties, get off it.

33:45What's happening on the 1st April is the same for almost all firms. Therefore, it doesn't really matter in a relative sense for the choice that you're making. We're going to leave energy there for the moment, but there's a few more tips later in the pod,

33:58Martin Lewis:especially if you are a low user, you have solar panels, or you're on a smart prepayment meter. So listen out for those nearer the end. Shall we move on to the... We've done some simple subjects today, haven't we? Student finance and the interaction of underlying energy bills when we're having an unprecedented move this is fun i know you well you go through it you pull up trees do all sorts of complicated stuff you ask me a question i sound like an idiot and then we finish that's that's what happens every week but i i enjoy it i just like being a part of it so tell us about the tellers the tellers was simple what had no one warned you about when you retired that you would now like to warn other people about so what i was trying to get at from this is you know If you're retired, what is your top tip that you would tell other people that you wish someone had told you?

34:48And we have had some beautiful answers. We have. We really have. Is it Gidi or Gidi? One thing nobody really prepares you for is how quiet life can feel after you retire. The freedom is great at first, but the sudden loss of routine, workplace social interaction and sense of daily purpose can hit harder than expected. I'd want people to start building hobbies, community connections or meaningful projects before retirement so the transition doesn't feel like falling off a cliff into endless free time. That's really, really interesting.

35:25Martin Lewis:And Graham says lifespan and health span are different things. Quite right. This is what my wife specialises in, so I hear a lot about it in my house. Enjoy your health span while you can and maintain your muscle mass. you want to be able to lift cabin bags into the overhead rack at 80 and not be out of breath walking up a flight of steps so it's both cardio is important but weights are important and squats and being able to get up out of a chair are really important flexibility, that's when I feel I'm quite strong and do weights I don't bend over and pick something off the floor from one week to the next I ask my daughter to do it for me as well now and it's too easy I don't want to do it I do loads of exercise I exercise every day.

36:08Martin Lewis:And I think that's one of the reasons I have the tight muscles on the back of it. But you're right. And just to do the lifespan versus health span, because this is interesting, because it's the whole, do you really want to live to 150? Actually, what we want, that's lifespan. Health span is about living as long as you can when you have your health to be able to be both mentally and physically functional and out there in doing things that you enjoy. And, you know, there's this big divide in this world. And again, this is all from from my wife, Laura Lewington, who is a health tech specialist. It's all this big divide is coming up and maximising our health spans.

36:44Being healthy as long as possible is arguably more important than maximising our lifespans. nobody really warns you how much identity is tied to work the money side gets discussed the lifestyle change doesn't structure matters just as much in retirement as it does while earning routine purpose and social connection without those even a healthy pension pot can feel empty

37:06Martin Lewis:yeah well funny enough one of the other health span things as we're talking about it is social interaction you know they say the main things are exercise sleep eat well and and social interaction and those are the things that keep you going as you get older. Ashley, retired but still young. I got great advice from someone. Having a paid-off home made retirement possible. If I still had to pay my mortgage, I wouldn't be able to do it. If you can, good luck to you. Just getting rid of that big bill, getting rid of the pelican, would be very useful. Otto says maintain a sense of purpose, whether by volunteering, doing casual work, having hobbies.

37:43He said the first summer is joyous, but the first winter without purpose can be very depressing.

37:50Martin Lewis:Interesting. Pete follows that up. Don't retire in January. It's a harder way to start retirement than waiting until the summer months when you can get out. That's very interesting, isn't it? Yeah. You wouldn't think of that, but you can absolutely see why that works. Well done, Pete. It depends what kind of type you are. You know, I'm hopeless with time on my hands. I'm hopeless. and I suspect you're the same on it. I don't know, I don't get it. But yeah, absolutely. There are times when I think I'd just like to stop and then I think, what would I do if I did? What would fill me? What would give me the purpose to do?

38:27Martin Lewis:And I think that is one of those things about retirement. But I still go with Pete's view that if I had nothing to do, I would prefer to have nothing to do when it's 21 degrees outside than when it's zero degrees and raining and dark. So I think even with that sentiment, Adrian, Pete's right. I'm team Pete. Should I do Jim? Yeah, Jim's a good one, this. Go on. Be ready for your working friends and relatives to obsess over the question, what do you do all day? To which you can answer, whatever I want, whatever I want. This afternoon, for example, I shall be watching the cricket. And yes, all afternoon.

39:05Martin Lewis:Why? Because I want to and I can. I feel like we need some big round of applause, Reservation for Jim on the back. Yeah, absolutely. Have we got time for more? Go on, yeah. Let's do one or two. Matt's a wealth manager. You do a couple. I'll put Matt to mind. OK. Matt's a wealth manager. He says, those that take out a level annuity should look at the past few years of inflation as a warning to very much consider inflation linking. Many are not informed of this and choose the higher starting number. You'll have to stop your prep for a minute and just decode that for us, Martin. All right. Right.

39:38Martin Lewis:So annuity is a payment each year for the rest of your life until you die. And it's one of the things people used to effectively be forced to do with their pensions before we had the so-called pension freedom, which means you can effectively use your pension like a bank account. But an annuity is still a great concept. The reason it became so unpopular is the rates were poor. What he's saying is don't get a flat annuity. So let's make it very simple. If you pay for an annuity and it pays you£5 ,000 a year for the rest of your life. Well, that£5 ,000, if you live 30 years, will be worth a lot less in 30 years than it is now.

40:10Martin Lewis:So pay for an annuity which goes up and is linked to inflation. So you'll get the equivalent of£5 ,000 in future money every year for the rest of your life. Clearly, the rate you get at the start would be lower, but it would go up. And if you are getting an... Look, the biggest piece of advice I can give anybody on retirement in terms of the finances is do not do anything with your pension until you have made a PensionWise appointment. That's a totally free guidance system offered. It's non-profit. It comes paid for by a levy on the financial services industry. And there are so many things you can get wrong with taking money out of your pension or using your pension money, including not getting an index-linked annuity, including just getting an annuity with your pension provider, that the hour appointment you get with these people to give you specific bespoke guidance is the most important thing that you can possibly do.

40:58Martin Lewis:And if you're lucky enough to be wealthy, then go and pay for independent financial advice too. But the guidance is free to everyone. Karen's got a good one try to live on your projected pension for three months before retiring, you get a feel for it if it's doable and you save money too, you need more than you think for days and meals out exercise and eat healthy now your body will thank you later, retirement is not good in poor health, it's a good point, you've got more time on your hands, you probably you know, will probably end up spending more money. Yeah you will, I mean life doesn't work the way around we think it we work for what about 40 45 years of our 80-ish year life and the rest of it we're having to pay for the other years you might think well hold on no i didn't for the early years but of course we have a cross-generational subsidy that your parents paid for you while you were a child and you will pay for your children so that sort of evens out and then of course you've got to pay for your retirement so yeah i mean it is hefty it is hefty but but something else that's hefty and a very bad segue is this.

42:05Martin Lewis:Welcome to my money mastermind, Adrian. The score stands at you've got 16 right and 33 wrong in this three option multiple choice quiz, which means I'm afraid you're doing N-B-R-C. No better than random chance. Okay. Sorry. Now, as you'll know, listeners, our Adrian likes simple rules. Offside, too complicated. VAR, suspicious. Inheritance tax, just don't go there. It's our favourite. Well, Adrian, I'm so sorry. Inheritance tax is exactly where I'm going, and I want you to understand how it works. So here is your question. But I need to tell you before I get into the question, something very exciting today.

42:52When you give me your final answer, you have to say locked in. And then we have a tension bed that we're going to be doing for the first time before I reveal what the answer is. Isn't that exciting? I say locked in. OK, you say, yeah. I will say to you, are you locked in? And you will say, yes, I'm locked in. Or no, if you're not. So anyway, a single man has a house worth£100 ,000 and other assets worth£350 ,000. Write both those down,£100 ,000,£350 ,000. He is leaving the house to his children. Will his estate have to pay any inheritance tax? Which of these best describes the situation? So you got it?

43:29House is£100 ,000, other assets£350 ,000.

43:32Martin Lewis:A, yes he will, because the total inheritance tax limit is£325 ,000. B, no, because he's leaving his house, he gets an extra£175 ,000, so the total limit is£500 ,000. or C, there is no inheritance tax on the house, but there is some on the rest as the limit on non-house assets is£325 ,000? Well, the answer is I don't know because I don't know the nuances of inheritance tax. There's some implication that the – I mean, what this boils down to, isn't it, is property – is there a special – Is it treated differently to any other asset? Yeah. And I don't see why it would be. Well, I can see why it would be because it's important to put it.

44:25But I don't I think no, I think it's a it's a. So your answer is yes, because the total limit is three hundred and twenty five thousand pounds. He will have to pay inheritance tax because he's leaving a total of four hundred and fifty thousand pounds. But you sound so perky now. I know it's probably the wrong answer, but I'm going to I'm going to stick to it.

44:46Martin Lewis:Yeah, so locked in. I haven't done the locked in, Simon, but we'll go for it. You're now locked in, Adrian. I'm locked in. So let's start with the basic fact that the standard inheritance tax allowance for a single non-married person is£325 ,000. That bed's too short. We'll work on this and make it get better. On air. On air rehearsals. This is the way forward. Anyway, but there is another allowance, which is if you are leaving your main property to your direct descendants, so that's children or grandchildren, including stepchildren, foster children, adopted children, or the same as grandchildren, you get an extra£175 ,000 allowance.

45:30So the answer, we'll have the uh-uh here. There we are. I don't know why they take so long. They should have it ready because it's the same every week.

45:40Martin Lewis:Well, I know, and when I send through, I do bold the correct answers then they know that you've chosen the wrong one. Oh, they do, do they? Well, they could flipping tell me. No. So then the question is, is it B, he's got this£325 ,000 and£175 ,000, so that's a total£500 ,000 and that covers it, or is it C, no, it doesn't work because not all was on the house? Well, the correct answer is C. His assets are£350 ,000 and his property is£100 ,000. The property allowance can only be used on the property. It's not like you get a big£175 ,000 added on top. That can only be used on the property. So his£100 ,000 house uses up the£175 ,000, but there's no extra, there's no change from that.

46:25And the rest of his assets are£350 ,000, so that is bigger than the£325 ,000 non-property limit, and therefore he would pay inheritance tax on the£25 ,000. So it makes no difference whether the house is worth£100 ,000 or£175 ,000. Well, no, if the house was 100, it would still be inheritance tax free. Let's be honest, the more likely scenario is that his house is worth 350 ,000 and his other assets are 100 ,000, in which case there would be no inheritance tax because the 175 ,000 would come off the 350 ,000. that would leave another£175 ,000. And he had another£100 ,000 worth of assets. And that would be covered.

47:09So that's£275 ,000. And that's covered by the£325 ,000 normal limit. So the issue here was because his house was worth less than the£175 ,000 allowance, he couldn't use the rest of that allowance for his other stuff. It is very worth me mentioning the biggest gain on inheritance taxes for those people who are married or in civil partnerships. If you're just cohabiting, you do not get this. It's that you can leave everything to your spouse inheritance tax free. So even if you're, you know, Bruce Wayne and leaving£100 billion, there is no inheritance tax to pay on anything you leave to your spouse.

47:44And your spouse gets your unused allowance. So if we take that net allowance of£500 ,000 that a single person can give, if they left everything to their spouse, therefore their allowance is unused, their spouse can then leave in combined their main property and assets a million pounds to their kids because they have their spouse's unused allowance too. And therefore being married, it's one of the big boons of marriage financially is the inheritance tax changes.

48:14Okay, we've just finished the main pod and there are a couple more things I want to add on energy. The first is for those people who are either lower users or on smart prepay. There is a tariff that you should be having a look at. It's been around for a while, but they've changed the terms and improved it this week. So that's quite useful. It's the EDF Simply Tracker Tariff. Now, what it does effectively, it's a price cap tariff, but with 100 quid off standing charges. Until this week, it was 50 quid off. That's why it's improved. With 100 quid off standing charges. So effectively, you pay the price cap unit rates, but your standing charges over one year, and it lasts for one year, are 100 quid cheaper.

48:52Now, there are also, via various sites, you can actually get cash back on top of this too, which will make it even cheaper. But I'm just going to do the maths based on the£100 lower standing charges for the moment. Effectively, what it works out is if you are a lower user using less than around£80 a month of energy, gasoline and electricity combined, this is worth doing compared to the cheapest fixes. It's always worth doing compared to the standard price cap, because it's£100 cheaper and it's the price cap. but compared to the cheapest fixes this is worth doing if you use less than about 80 quid a month or alternatively if you're on smart prepay you can get this tariff and as the cheapest smart prepay fix currently is only 0.8 % cheaper than the price cap whereas the non-smart prepay fixes i.e for those on direct debit are 14 % cheaper you see there's a big difference then this is this is a real winner tariff for most because it will save you about 100 quid a year it's a bit of a no-brainer if you're on smart prepay.

49:48So it is worth having a look at that EDF Simply Tracker tariff for low users or those on smart prepay. I'm afraid for those of you who are on non-smart prepayment meters, i.e. old-school key or card meters, there's just simply no tariffs available that you can switch to that are any use, as far as I'm aware, at the moment. And they are very rare. So that is one of the reasons, if you can, you would be better to switch to smart prepay where there's a little bit more competition. And it also means that if you have problems and you're unable to pay, you can get more help from your energy firm. So I think there's lots of debates over smart meters.

50:22I tend to be a fan, but not a huge fan, because too many of them are broken. But I'm more of a fan on smart prepay because I think it makes such a big difference there. Final couple of points. If you have solar panels at home and you export over around 20 % of your energy back to the grid, then it is worth you looking for the cheapest energy tariff that is linked to the solar export guarantee. So basically, the solar export guarantee is the amount that you're paid for generating energy to the grid. And if you put less than 20 % back to the grid, just go for the cheapest normal energy tariff. But if it's more than 20%, because you get better solar export guarantee rates, if your energy tariff and your solar export guarantee are from the same firm, then it's often worth picking based on the solar export guarantee rate, if that's over 20 % of what you generate.

51:11Hopefully that made sense. And my final note, of course of two is, I mean, the other thing you can do on energy is try and reduce your usage, but you know that. So I'm not going to go that in detail. And we've done that on the show many times before. If you are struggling to pay your energy bills, it's always worth talking to your energy firm. They can have hardship and debt grants from suppliers. If you're vulnerable, make sure you're on the priority service. Register for vulnerable customers. That's useful too. And there are charities out there like National Energy Action that can help. But I think that's probably enough talking from me.

51:36I'll probably shut up.

51:40that's it for this week we tend to put out a new episode every thursday like this one and on mondays which is the question time podcast where you can ask me absolutely anything and everything open brackets within reason closed brackets if you've enjoyed today's show please tell your friends you've been listening to the martin lewis podcast and why not subscribe then your pockets will be pleased with you and if you haven't enjoyed it well you've listened this long i'm sorry what do you want me to do

52:07Martin Lewis:I got meals, I got to pay, so I'm going to work, work, work, work, every day. I got mouths, I got to feed, so I'm going to make sure everybody eats. Martin Lewis is the founder of moneysavingexpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing martinlewispodcast at bbc.co.uk. The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review however you listen.

52:57This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline for the show? From the BBC, this is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.