Business

BILLS BILLS BILLS

By Dave Lowther ⋅ February 4, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

ENERGY PROVIDERS UP THEIR RATES

If you’re thinking of living in a house next year, watch out for those bills. Three of Britain’s largest energy providers have raised their prices by an average of 15%, affecting 27 million customers.

The companies blame the huge increase on soaring wholesale prices but watchdog Energywatch says the market is not competitive enough, meaning customers are paying much more than they need too. This means that the government’s target to reduce fuel poverty in low income families by 2010 will be missed.

Over 1.72 million people live in fuel poverty and numerous groups such as The Partnership, a group of 700 industry bodies, have said that the government and utility companies have failed to tackle the problem efficiently.

These latest rises in price by gas and electricity firms have been branded as ‘unjustified’ and are to be investigated by the competition commission.

If you’re thinking about switching providers straight away, don’t, as other smaller providers are expected to raise their prices accordingly.

So where do you stand? Well, most energy bills can be cut in half just by turning the heating down. If the bills are too much, switching is relatively easy and according to industry regulators Ofgem depending on where you live and your usage you can save £100’s. Websites like moneysupermarket.com are a great source for comparing different companies.