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Clare Francis: All six of the country's major energy suppliers have now shown their hands and increased their standard gas & electricity costs. This is the second round of price hikes this year and gas bills are now 52% on average higher than they were at the start of the year, whilst electricity costs have soared 28%.
This is obviously bad news as we head towards winter, and energy bills will cost the average household around £1,300 a year. So what can consumers be doing to cut their gas and electricity costs? Well, Scott Byrom, who's the utilities expert at moneysupermarket.com is with me to give some advice.
Q1: So Scott we've obviously seen all six providers now hike their prices, what should consumers be doing?
Scott Byrom: Well ultimately what it means for the consumers is that energy prices are now £1,300 on average, so the first thing they need to be doing is addressing that - seeing who their current provider is, what tariff they're on and what payment method their paying by; getting onto a price comparison site like moneysupermarket.com and finding the best possible deal for them.
Q2: And because most households are still on their providers standard tariff there are still savings to be made even though prices have gone up?
SB: Yes, the majority of people will be on standard tariff quarterly cash or cheque, so paying for their bills through the post. What they need to be looking for at the moment is an online tariff and paying by monthly direct debit.
Q3: One of the things though about online deals is the prices are yet to move so this is something that people need to bear in mind isn't it?
SB: If they go onto a price comparison site and you look at the results table, the products that'll be at the top will probably be British Gas Click Energy 5 and E.on Energy Online Extra Saver 8. The thing to be aware of about those tariffs is that they haven't yet gone up in price - they will do so in the next few weeks, however when those prices do increase the chances are they'll still be one of the best products on the market.
Q4: But it's still likely to be significantly cheaper than a standard tariff?
SB: They'll be a lot cheaper. If we take a quick comparison, British Gas Click Energy 5 is £850 at the moment on average compared to £1,300 for a standard tariff, so almost £500 saving there, so yes, definitely substantial.
Q5: The Government is also trying to encourage energy efficiency rather than imposing a windfall tax on providers, but is there anything that consumers can do this weekend that is cheap and easy that will improve the efficiency of their home?
SB: The things that you can do straight away are washing your clothes rather than 40 degrees, which is what most people will do, wash them at 30 degrees. Closing doors to unoccupied rooms, making sure the radiators are turned off in a back bedroom that may not be used, or in the bathroom for example - all these types of things can be put into place instantly and they will have an impact.
I think what consumers need to bear in mind is that over the next few months, I know it's getting quite cold quickly now, and certainly in my house the heating is going on already...
CF: [shocked sound]
SB: I know, it's not good! What we need to do is we need to make sure we're doing everything we can to use as little energy as possible. Over the next few months you're going to be using approximately 45% of the energy that you will for the entire year! So as we've said before, getting onto another tariff, changing your payment method - if you don't do that come February or March next year when you're getting that bill through the post for the winter quarter, there's going to be a big surprise for you.
CF: Sound advice Scott.
SB: Thank you very much.
