Martin Lewis has warned households not to make a simple thermostat mistake that could lead to them forking out more on their energy bills this winter.

The Money Saving Expert was speaking to the audience of the Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV earlier this week when he issued the advice.

Answering questions from the audience members in attendance, Martin was told that one person would turn their thermostat up by one degree during the colder months.

This was highlighted by the Money Saving Expert, who said the process was “costly” and “unnecessary”.

He said: “A thermostat says: 'we will keep it at a set temperature'. Why are you turning it up in winter? That's what the thermostat does.

“If you want it to be 20 degrees it will stay at 20 degrees and that's the right temperature for you.

“You don't turn your thermostats up in winter, you just let it get to the heat. That's all you need to do."

Should I fix my energy bills?

One audience member quizzed the Good Morning Britain presenter: "Is it worth taking out a fixed rate, a fixed tariff. And if so, should it be for one or two years?"

"The answer to that question is that it depends on the rate that you'll be fixing at," Martin said.

He added: "It's great to fix at a cheap rate, it's not good to lock yourself into a high rate.

"As for one or two years, I'm not aware of any two-year fixes available at the moment in the mainstream market.

 

"So you don't have a choice. And in fact, the choice of one year isn't that good.

"But to understand whether it's worth fixing, we go into the crunch of what is going to happen to energy bills.

"And that's what my big briefing's about.

"You will recognise this, this is my constant energy graph, if you've watched the show before.

"Wholesale prices those gas and electric providers paid went up to sky-high levels.

The financial expert noted that while "they've come down now", they're still double what they used to be as he warned consumers not to expect "prices to go down to anything like they did before."

Continuing his explanation, Martin said: " The price the majority of people pay is dictated by Ofgem, the regulator's price cap. That went up.

"It then was limited how much it went up by state subsidy called the Emergy Price Guarantee.

"It's come down since and here we are now, October to January. That's the crucial point."

Although it appears from the graph that things will be cheaper than last winter, "there's a but," according to Martin.

He added: "Do you remember last October to March, you all had that £66/£67 payment each month off your energy bills for every household? You will not be getting that this year."

Taking this into account, the MoneySavingExpert founder has confirmed that the typical UK household will be paying more in the next six months than it did at the same time last year when we were living in "nightmare energy conditions".