Now may be the time for British Gas customers to make the switch

British Gas has recently announced that around half a million of its customers are set to receive higher bills as a result of a special scheme coming to an end. The customers are those that signed a deal in 2005 by taking up the Price Freeze 2010 plan, which effectively froze their payments for a five year period up until this year.

The customers that did take up the deal managed to avoid the price hikes that were seen in 2006 and 2008, and on average saved several hundred pounds a year compared to those that were not on the plan. However, the scheme is now coming to an end, and this could see the bills of these customers increase sharply.

British Gas is writing to some customers and putting them automatically on a new price freeze plan up until 2012, although the cost per unit on this plan will be higher than it was on the plans that were signed back in 2005. Those that do not want to automatically switch to the plan are being advised to contact British Gas to let the company know, and they will then be moved to the energy supplier’s standard tariff.

Form those that are not going to switch to another scheme with British Gas it may be worth looking at the charges of other suppliers in the area to see if they can get a better deal on the cost of their gas and electricity usage than they would be being moved to the standard tariff from British Gas.

Talking of the customers that fixed their prices in 2005 one industry official said: ‘Everything fell into place for these customers. They fixed at the right time, for the right price and for the right length of time.’

Tags: bills, price, switch, energy supplier, british gas

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Tags: mortgage, reason, energy cuts, poverty, energy

SSE raises energy tariffs for consumers

Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), the UK’s second biggest supplier, has announced it is to join the likes of British Gas and Npower in increasing its energy and gas tariffs.

The firm has raised its tariffs by 14.2 per cent (£50) for electricity and 15.8 per cent for gas (£85) while its Dual Fuel tariff has risen by 15 per cent to £131.

According to uSwitch.com, this takes the annual fuel bill for an SSE customer to £1,006 from April 1st.

A spokesman for uSwitch.com said that the SSE should be applauded for ensuring its customers were not impacted by price increases over the winter months.

“Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise to their customers that bills are increasing as where others lead, it was sure to follow,” he said.

In January, Npower became the first of the ‘big six’ to hike costs and was soon followed by the likes of EDF and British Gas which both announced rises for utility bills in the same month.

Tags: dual fuel, british gas, Scottish, big six, electricity, biggest supplier