Are you paying through the nose for your fuel?
06/11/2007
What you pay to heat your home depends not only on its size, energy rating and the all important temperature you set on the thermostat. It also depends – heavily – on your supplier.
Different providers offer different rates – not only from each other but even to their own customers. All sorts of package deals are available, especially if you are prepared to “bundle” the gas / electricity / oil that you use. Recently uSwitch, which specializes in helping consumers get better deals by doing all the “sorting out” for them with suppliers, came out with some alarming figures.
They say that customers are potentially losing out on an estimated £830 million in savings on their energy bills because they are not taking advantage of the discounts available from suppliers.
Of course, energy prices have come down across the board during 2007, reflecting global “wholesale” energy prices. But while energy companies have cut prices by £84 this year, many consumers could cut their bills by a further £142 just by taking up the discounts on offer – sometimes it’s a simple matter of changing the way you pay your bills.
And now, with the price war seemingly at a halt, these savings could be consumers’ best (or only) chance of seeing cheaper bills this year. The bald facts are these:
• 2.4 million “dual fuel” households are wasting almost £174 million by not paying energy bills by Direct Debit
• 4.2 million households are missing out on £42 million by not moving to “dual fuel”.
• 12.5 million UK households are losing out on the cheapest energy prices because they are sticking to expensive standard plans rather than cheaper “online” plans.
Online plans are where suppliers are offering their best deals and cheapest prices and yet they seem to be the best-kept secret in the energy market - only one in eight people are actually signed up to one. But the savings, even for those who are already on dual fuel and paying by Direct Debit, would net a further £61 on average.
uSwitch.com, which offers a free, impartial online and telephone-based comparison and switching service, can help you reduce other household bills too – including water, heating cover, home telephone, mobile phone, broadband, digital television, car insurance and personal finance products.
To find out if they could cut your bills, call 0800 051 3316 or go to their website: www.uswitch.com.