Business Electricity and Household consumers have been urged to move swiftly to lock in fixed-term energy deals following the announcement by Npower on 21st October that dual-fuel bills will go up 10.4%.
Npower’s announcement, the third major supplier to announce winter fuel price hikes, will take effect on December 1 and is largest rise of any energy company so far.
Simply switching suppliers to find a better deal is no longer as simple as it was as the domino effect is in play and more announcements of price rises by other suppliers is inevitable. However, there is still a chance consumer’s to freeze their own bills by locking into the best deals as far into the future as 2017. These deals are well worth considering.
Business Comparison and gas customers always tend to agree fixed terms deals to be in a position to accurately budget their business expense but household customers tend to opt for variable priced deals that are subject to the price rises that we are all hearing about at the moment.
Fixed-term household deals lock in the unit price of energy. They always tend to be competitively priced and will enable cash-strapped households to secure the price for a given period of time and to protect themselves from further prices rises if they occur within the term of the contract.
Energy Minister Ed Davey that the government’s energy policies were not solely to blame for the latest round of inflation-busting price rises by suppliers. Mr Davey released figures showing the cost to households of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, otherwise known as green levies, averaged only £47 this year “so there should be no need for any increase to consumer bills due to ECO”.
However Npower, like British Gas and SSE, blamed government policy, as well as rising wholesale costs and distribution charges, for the price increases.
The fact is that energy is becoming less and less affordable for more and more consumers and many will be going cold this winter in order to reduce the impact on their wallets. Consumers are paying a high price for lack of competition in the UK energy market and the fact that their interests have never been at the heart of any government’s energy policy.
The Energy Advice Line has been calling for a shakeup of the market for years. Politicians, now squabbling and point scoring over this issue, are very late coming to the party. At the moment, Energy Advice Line advises all consumers to learn a little from their commercial counterparts lock in the best fixed term deal they can find. This way you are secure and safe this winter.