Quantcast
Menu
Save, make, understand money

Household Bills

Check your energy deal: bills could rise by £132 this summer

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
25/05/2016

Households could see their energy bills hiked by an average of £132 a year as a number of fixed tariff deals come to an end this summer.

A total of 16 fixed tariffs end on 31 May and 12 of these will result in customers being automatically rolled onto their provider’s pricey standard variable tariff.

This means an average annual price rise of 14%, or £132 for those on a dual tariff who fail to switch energy supplier, according to GoCompare research.

In some parts of the country, customers could see their bills increase by more. For instance, Npower customers on the Price Fix May 2016 tariff will see the largest average UK rise of £193.26 while First:Ultility customers in the Norweb (north west) region and on the expiring iSave Fixed May 2016 v3 will see the largest regional rise of a staggering £380.13 – that’s a 45% increase.

However, the comparison site said there are some instances where the fixed deal is more expensive than their supplier’s standard variable tariff.

So when their current deal expires, they could actually see a reduction in their annual energy bill.

Ben Wilson, energy spokesperson at Gocompare.com, said: “It’s easy to forget about energy tariffs when our usage drops in the summer. However when it comes to your gas and electricity bills, taking your eye off the ball could cost you hundreds of pounds.

“In some cases, customers will see price rises of up to £380 if they don’t shop around when they’re moved on to a variable tariff; that’s the cost of a summer holiday.

He said the energy market is extremely competitive at the moment with some dual tariffs costing less than £800 per year.