More Energy Price Rises!

Yep, more gas and electricity price rises. Depressing, isn't it? Yet it's even more reason for you to take the few steps we suggest to reduce your bills.

These energy price rises just aren't funny. We're not all equally miserable though; some Fools with drooping jester hats will particularly struggle to pay for the increases. The Citizens Advice Bureaux dealt with 110,000 enquiries relating to problems with utilities in 2004 to 2005, most of those will have been due to rising bills. They say that in the past three years the average gas bill has risen 60% and electricity bills are up 45%.

Powergen has just announced an 18% rise in its gas prices, and a 10% rise in its electricity prices, both with effect from the 21st August. It's already increased prices once this year, with gas up 24% and electricity 18% in March. The independent energy watchdog Energywatch says that this will increase the cost of the average annual Powergen gas bill to £644 and electricity to £392.

This leaves just one of the major providers, npower, that is yet to review its rates for the current round of increases. However, it has already stated its intention to do this in the next few weeks. Scottish & Southern have said they will keep their rates on hold for the remainder of 2006.

From the comments made today by Adam Scorer of Energywatch, the consumer body is clearly not happy to just accept high prices without question. It wants government and industry to 'come up with an effective strategy to protect those vulnerable consumers in most need.'

What can we do about it?

In the meantime, however, there's little we can do about these increases, except take steps to reduce our bills. We can do this directly if we switch to cheaper utilities providers. Adam said: 'While many question the value in switching, some consumers are paying £250 more than they need to. It can make good sense to compare and switch suppliers.' Sound advice, I couldn't have put it better myself.

If you want to soften the blow, you should consider all those annoying little tips you've ignored so far, such as switching off all electrical appliances when you're not using them, turning the thermostat down one notch, defrost your fridge and freezer more frequently to keep it running efficiently, ask your supplier to replace your prepayment meter (if you have one) with a cheaper credit meter, get rid of your tumble dryer, and buy more energy-efficient products.

> Compare gas and electricity prices (although bear in mind that npower's prices may rise soon if it is shown as your cheapest deal)

> If that seems like too much effort, see if you can save on your insurance instead.