Homeowners ‘can’t afford to be passive’ about energy deal

February 15, 2008 by admin  
Filed under News, News-Banking

As energy prices rise homeowners “can’t afford to be passive” about the tariffs they are charged by their electricity suppliers, according to an industry watchdog.

Energywatch said that despite the rising prices, consumers should certainly shop around for the best tariffs, particularly those who are still with their existing provider as new customers receive more competitive deals.

Georgina Walsh, spokesperson for energywatch, said: “It’s well worth switching because you can probably save at least £100, even if you change to another supplier on the same tariff.”

If increasing numbers of consumers switched it would encourage providers to become more competitive, she added.

With combined household bills for electricity and gas reaching an estimated £1,000 per year, Ms Walsh called for more consumers to be more proactive.

Last week E.ON became the fifth of the ‘big six’ energy suppliers to raise its prices in response to reported price rises on wholesale gas and electricity.

Npower, British Gas, EDF Energy and Scottish Power have all raised their prices by over ten per cent this year.

Tags: gas, Npower, industry watchdog, power, energy, Ms Walsh, consumers

Related Entries

  • Energy customers could pay price for leaving fixed rate deal
  • Over the past couple of years many energy customers in the UK have decided to opt for a fixed price deal with their energy firm in the hope of avoiding soaring energy costs. These fixed
  • Latest energy hike provides ‘green light to switch’
  • With the last of the big energy suppliers announcing an increase in its premiums consumers now have the "green light to switch" providers, one financial expert has claimed. Money advisers Which? stated that spenders ensure
  • Energy price increases described as depressing
  • Over recent years there has been a lot of controversy over the amount that customers have been charged for their energy usage in the UK, and whilst prices have gone up and down the UK’s
  • Consumers warned over door to door energy sales people
  • Consumers are being warned to watch out for door to door sales people that call around trying to get them to switch their gas and electricity suppliers. According to officials this is not the way
  • Energy firms probed over price differences
  • Two UK energy firms are being quizzed and investigated by regulators over differences in prices in different parts of the country, according to recent reports. Questions are being asked over why the energy providers are
  • Minimum savings will come from smart meters
  • There has been a lot of talk about how the rollout of smart meters for households and businesses in the UK will provide a win win situation, where consumers and businesses will save money on
  • Energy prices in UK have risen twice as fast as EU
  • According to a recently released report the cost of energy usage in the UK has increased twice as fast as in the EU. The figures were released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The
  • New energy statements failing to make impact
  • A recent survey that was carried out has suggested that new energy statements that were launched to make the energy market more competitive and improve understanding of payments for consumers are failing to have the

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!