Six ways to fight back against greedy energy companies!

Household money

Rachel Wait
Updated on 27 April 2011 | 5 Comments

Fed up with paying through the nose for your gas and electricity while your supplier continues to profit? Follow these top tips to slash your bills!

The weather may have improved lately and the heating has been switched off, but that shouldn't mean it's time to ignore your gas and electricity bills.

According to research by Energy Helpline, the UK as a whole has been hit by a total £12.24bn bill for the latest quarter from January to March. Ouch.

The combination of cold temperatures and an average 5.4% increase in energy prices has meant that consumers are having to pay an additional £57.66 for their quarterly winter bill - taking the average bill to £453.

With many people already struggling with their finances, this will be very unwelcome news. And with many of the cheapest fixed-rate energy tariffs having recently expired, a number of consumers will now be paying far more for their tariffs than perhaps they realise.

So even though spring has arrived, this doesn't mean you should take a backseat and forget about how much you pay for your gas and electricity. Instead, here are six ways you can fight back against those greedy energy suppliers!

Rachel Robson gives you the lowdown on five ways to cut your energy bills

Get switching!

First and foremost – get switching! If you haven’t switched your energy supplier in a while, or even if you have, there’s a good chance there’s a cheaper tariff out there for you. An easy way to find out is to check our gas and electricity comparison tool which offers 16,000 tariff variations at any one time - so there really is plenty to choose from. You can save an average of £256 a year through our service.

Pay the right way

If you want to get the best deal for your money, make sure you choose an online tariff as this is likely to work out cheaper than one that isn’t. Similarly, it’s a good idea to pay by direct debit, as again, this should help you to save the pennies.

And it’s also worth checking to see whether paying for dual fuel – in other words, using the same company for your gas and electricity – works out cheaper.

Check your bills

When you receive your bill, make sure it’s showing an actual reading rather than an estimated one. It’s far too easy to simply assume the reading is accurate, but in fact, you may be paying far too much. If the reading is estimated, take the time – it’ll only take a few minutes – to check your meter and submit the reading to your supplier.

Your supplier should then recalculate your bill and re-issue it.

Get insulated!

It might sound obvious, but if you’ve got proper insulation in your home, you’ll keep more energy in and therefore save money on your bills.

In fact, according to the Energy Saving Trust, loft insulation could save you around £145 a year, while cavity wall insulation could save you around £110 a year.

If you’re worried about how much this will set you back initially, it’s worth finding out whether you are eligible for a government or local authority grant. If you’re over 70, you can have your home insulated for free, and if you’re over 60, there’s also a good chance of getting financial help.

However, even if you don’t fall into these age categories, you may still find you’re entitled to some form of grant, so it’s worth checking to see whether you are eligible.

Related how-to guide

Cut your energy bills

Fight back against rising energy prices with these top tips.

See the guide

What’s more, if you’re on certain income-related benefits, you may also be entitled to a package of insulation and heating improvements up to the value of £3,500. The scheme is known as Warm Front in England, Warm Homes in Northern Ireland and the Energy Assistance Package in Scotland. It was formally known as the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme in Wales - however, this has now been replaced with Nest.

So make sure you check this out.

Claim what you’re entitled to

It’s also worth remembering that if you’re aged 60 or over, you may get a Winter Fuel Payment to help cover your heating costs.

The qualifying age for Winter Fuel Payment for both men and women is rising in line with the increase in women's State Pension age. To reach the qualifying age for Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2011/12, you will need to be born on or before 5 January 1951.

Exactly how much you receive will depend on your personal situation. But generally, if you’re aged 60 to 79, and you live alone or are the only person in the household who qualifies, you will receive £200. If you live with another qualifying individual you'll receive £100.

If you’re 80 or over, and you live alone you'll receive £300. If you live with another qualifying individual but are the only person in the household who's aged 80 or over, you'll receive £200, and if you and at least one other person are aged 80 or over, you'll receive £150.

Use energy-saving devices

Finally, you could also think about using energy-saving devices. For example, you can pick up this Onzo Wireless Smart Energy Kit from Amazon which is an in-home energy display, helping you to track how much energy you're using and how much you're paying for it. It will alert you when you're using a lot of energy and set targets for your daily energy consumption.

The device is a little pricey at around £70, but if you're a Scottish and Southern customer you should have already received one in the post for free.

Of course, there are also a wide range of other energy-saving devices - some of which we looked at in 16 gadgets that will save you money.

This is a classic article that has been updated for 2011.

More: Compare gas and electricity tariffs | OFGEM proposals unlikely to do much good | You're being overcharged for your gas

Most Recent

Comments

tallen1950
28 April 2011
Thanks for the good advice. I definitely used the figures npower gave me for my yearly consumption. (They told me they were based on actual figures taken since April 2010). Also there were listed tariffs in the U Switch comparison which would save money and some that would cost more so I wasn't mistaking a gain for a loss. Maybe the discounts kick in at certain points making the actual figures you enter very critical and sensitive to very small changes? Maybe U Switch get a commission for every consumer that decides to switch utilities? Interestingly I did go on to the lovemoney comparison site and they showed only one tariff which would be better than British Gas Websaver 11 and that was E.ON the difference being negligible. One is left wondering how precise these comparison sites are. I also agree with grannysandi about recalculation of direct debits. They tend to do them at a time (just after the winter) when you are likely to be owing money for a small amount of time. They want to bump it up so in the end you have a huge surplus all year round. I argued that to be fair, if I was in surplus for 6 months they should allow me to be in deficit for 6 months. Having said that npower promised that my DD would revert to a lower figure once the excess had been paid off. One wonders however if that would have happened if I had not called it into question. Bearing in mind that most Utilities have customers numbering in the millions this strategy must have the effect of boosting their current accounts by £100s of millions if not billions. Nice one!
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GrannySandi
27 April 2011
I check my utilities regularly. I tend to use the comparison sites as a guide only, preferring to enter in usage derived from actual meter readings a rolling year apart. Once I have the actual figures I then apply them to some of the contracts on offer. You must ensure you apply the different discounts available to all the calculations and that the first blocks of charges are accounted. Yes its complicated initially but once the first set of figures are done it should merely be a question of substitution. Personally, I find that my current supplier is usually the best. Also, I make savings on electricity with an economy 7 meter, though E7 is not an advantage with all suppliers and the benefits can vary. Some things like fridges and freezers use around a third of their energy at night anyway as does anything that's on 24 hours. I then ensure that my washing machine and dishwasher go on in the night period and if I use the dryer, that does too. Anything rechargeable, goes on overnight. Always make good use of the time-clock on the heating and hot water to ensure its not heating an empty house. Lastly, if you can, check your suppliers figures when they want to increase your direct debit. I get so cross when a calculation is based on what's currently outstanding after a cold winter, rather than what the monthly figure would be based on a full years usage when I overpay in the summer.
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Marghaid Howie
27 April 2011
Hi Tallen1950, If you entered your current details by monthly usage or payment, it could be that your figures have changed, but it shouldn't make that big a difference! Websaver 11 is still on average the cheapest, so it could just be a glitch on the website or, as Meldrewborn says, that the £300 was a plus rather than minus. Lovemoney has its own comparison service, so I'd recommend trying that to see if you get the same results
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