Report calls for customers to cut their own energy costs

05/03/2009

Customers should switch energy providers in order to take advantage of recent small tariff cuts, new analysis suggested yesterday.

According to financial website uSwitch, there is now a wide disparity on how much a customer can pay for their gas and electricity - depending on whether or not they shop around for the best deal and take other cost-cutting measures.

Five of the UK's "big six" energy providers have announced reductions to some of their energy plans over recent weeks.

uSwitch said that the typical price cut comes to 4.6 per cent of the bill - but that energy is still much more expensive than it was last year due to the two separate rounds of price increases imposed by the "big six" in 2008.

Average annual energy costs rose from £912 to £1,293 from January 2008 to January 2009 - and will only be reduced to £1,243 by the latest reductions.

Kevin Still, EuroDebt director, commented: "We entirely support the analysis, as we have found that the majority of our new clients haven't looked at energy switching before and are unaware of the savings available, which for someone in debt can be fairly significant. We encourage all our clients to look at ways of increasing their disposable income through a mixture of using the right providers on the right tariff and monitoring their energy consumption."

He added: "We think that there are a number of essential household expenditure items that should be reviewed annually, these include energy suppliers, home insurance, motor insurance and telephony. Many clients are changing their shopping habits and being more selective in the retailers they use. Internet shopping is one option that is definitely on the rise and people in financial difficulty need practical payment methods that don't exclude them from using the lowest cost purchasing channel."

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Retirement Money Problems,

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