Dealing With Energy Price HikesThe energy market is facing a huge problem about the constant price increase of the Big Six and other small energy suppliers. This caused several households to turn off their central heating systems despite the coming of winter. Apparently, electric and gas suppliers such as the E.ON UK, EDF Energy, British Gas, Npower, SSE, and ScottishPower and dozens of other smaller providers have made the market work inefficiently after tremendous price hikes. How To Beat Energy Price Hikes?Early this year, the Big Six has announced price increase and SSE was the last to do the same thing. This news is not good at all especially to home and business energy users who already suffered from high energy bills. Although there were several fixed prices from the energy suppliers, most of it will end before 2018. British Gas, for example, will end its fixed rate contract in August and is expected to increase their energy price afterwards. While this news is unfortunate, there are still ways on how the user will reduce their high energy bills. One of which is by switching to another user. Surprisingly, this method is favoured by the industry and comparison sites. Switching allows the customers to find the best value deals that are cheaper than the standard tariffs. The only problem with it, perhaps, is that most people are afraid to move to another energy supplier. Most people are misinformed about switching that’s why they stick to their current supplier. They believe that the new supplier may not meet their expectation when it comes to providing good customer service and quality products and services. In reality, switching to another supplier is easy and quick and contrary to their belief, the customer service is efficient. Moreover, the products and services are competitive and the prices are cheaper than the larger companies. Another way is to implement energy-efficient strategies such as turning on the lights only when necessary. During daytime, it is advisable to take advantage of the daylight instead of turning on the lights. It is also energy-efficient to turn equipment that is not in use and unplug it completely. Homeowners and business users should also understand how they use energy in their place. This means finding out which activity costs more and which doesn’t. Meanwhile, changing the regular light bulbs to energy efficient ones uses 70-90% less of the electricity, thus, reducing the cost of energy. Meanwhile, pensioners in the UK are offered government price discounts through winter fuel allowance. This is the government’s way to help them on their winter energy bills, however, it is only eligible to people whose ages are 60 and above. There are also few exceptions that senior citizens should check out. To know more, pensioners can visit https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/overview. Using Smart MetersIn 2020, the government requires all the homes in the UK to ditch traditional meters and use smart meters. Smart meters are used to read and send the meter reading automatically. Because of this, it has become an important saving tool especially to those who want to track their electric and gas consumption. The tool uses an in-home display that shows energy data real-time. These details can also be read by the energy supplier, therefore, there’s no need for the customer to manually read and write the meter reading. Another advantage is that it reduces estimated bills because smart meters read and sends data accurately. As a user, it is beneficial because they can view the energy consumed in pounds and pence. In addition, the customer can see which activities consume more energy, therefore, allowing them to plan a smarter and more efficient energy consumption. |