Hard-pressed families across Shropshire and Mid Wales were today facing soaring energy costs amid a credit crunch which could see thousands struggling to pay their household bills by the end of the year.
Despite British Gas owner Centrica announcing profits of £992 million today, consumers have seen gas and electricity bills more than double in the last five years.
British Gas took advantage of falling wholesale gas prices in the first half of 2007 to make bumper profits, ending the year £571 million in the black – a 600 per cent rise on the previous year.
The average annual gas bill has risen from £568 in January to £656 in July – but adding an extra 35 per cent will see a bill of £885 by the end of the year.
Adam Scorer, from the gas and electricity watchdog Energywatch, said wholesale gas prices were being driven up because they are pegged to the price of oil.
He said it was vital the Government put pressure on European competition authorities to try to “return some sanity” to the gas market.
“The most important policy issue facing the Government is how to protect vulnerable consumers from these hammer blows. So far it has not taken the necessary steps to fight fuel poverty yet. It needs to act now,” he said.
It is estimated the latest energy price hikes will drive the number of households in fuel poverty towards the six million mark at a time when many families are already struggling to make ends meet because of increased food and petrol costs.
Shropshire Star personal finance columnist Martin Lewis, who runs the MoneySavingExpert.com website, says one option for cash-strapped households is to switch to a cheap, capped tariff.
He believes households could make average savings of up to £500 over the next year and a half by making the move.
Mr Lewis said: “If you don’t lock in your price right now, you are going to have to face these big rises. If you want to lock in at cap prices the clock is ticking. This is your last chance. We have never seen anything like it.”
He said there were still cheap caps available from E.ON and British Gas. Scottish Power also has a cheap cap available directly through the website, although it is no longer available through comparison sites.
The announcement from British Gas comes just days after rival EDF Energy put up gas prices by 22 per cent and electricity prices by 17 per cent, and other firms are expected to follow suit. Npower and Scottish Power, which supplies thousands of homes across the region, are also expected to announce hikes in the next few weeks.
20 Comments
“Families” potentially have two incomes. What about single people?
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Sp save 50 pounds for a year and a half with a capped bill then after that year and half return to find that the gas companies have put the prices up another 60%
We need to renationialize energy, water, train companies. The people in charge of siad companies have shown they are in it for the money and nothing else
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H. St. John Peasbody – Families also have to pay
1) Higher council tax
2) More food
A single person could quite easily live in a one bedroom flat which would reduce heating for them.
As a side – single people should pay higher taxation as families pay for children who will in turn pay for pensions for single people when they retire
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Y Mag Darogan talks tripe again. People choose to have children – if they can’t afford it, they shouldn’t start breeding programmes.
As for single people paying more tax than families – that’s an outrageous comment!
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It is alright the government saying that these costs are governed by world pressures but I`l wager that comparisons would show that prices in the UK are substantially in excess of those in all other EU countries, French companies, for example, can`t wait to buy energy supply firms over here, they must think its Christmas every day. To make matters worse we have a goverment in power which seems to be somewhere to the right of the Conservatives on the issue of free trade [ and everything else ].
One good thing, it must be nice to be a regulator with £100K plus salary and absolutely nothing to do.
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H. St. John Peasbody
If no one had children in this country ala your view
WQho would pay the tax which funds your pension when you retire?
because believe the tax you pay today is not being used for your pension.
Also without familes in the future when your in hospital where do you think all the next generation of nurses, doctors etc etc etc are going to come from?
Yes familes make a choice to have children but why should single people who have no children reap all the rewards in later life?
Surely single people should pay more taxes to fund familes after all they will benefit from the next generation as well so why should all the expense of rearing children be forced on familes
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Y Mab Darogan:
Firstly, I have not advocated the cessation of procreation in this country. You have deliberately interpreted my comments to an extreme in order to peddle your Communist ideology.
You seem to want the State to dictate everything in everyone’s lives – this is blatant Communism! This is wrong! It is up to the individual to make choices and not for the state to manage their lives for them to the extent you advocate.
Therefore, if people have children, they should ensure that they can provide for them before they stop “taking precautions”.
People should have private pension plans – it’s essential to provide for oneself rather than expect the state to fund one’s retirement.
I find your suggestion that a single person should fund families via taxation absolutely monstrous.
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H. St. John Peasbody
In regard to your comment
“I find your suggestion that a single person should fund families via taxation absolutely monstrous.
”
In that case then families should not have to fund single people – at the moment single and married people are taxed the same, as are families with children.
However my point is the next generation of this island tax payers are brought up by families therefore single people who have not paid more tax or contributed to the continued growth of this island should therefore pay more taxes to equal at the contribution that families make in ensuring that future workforces ie NHS staff, nursing home staff, production workers etc etc etc are maintained in the future
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You may all be interested in signing the latest on-line petition which is similar to the petrol duty petition that was so well supported.
http://www.gopetition.com/online/20904.html
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#3 Y Mab Darogan
As a single person I’ll put you right on a couple of your misguided ‘facts’.
I have paid income tax and NI for decades, I have also paid maximum levels into a private pension plan – therefore I guess I have paid for my pension when I retire.
Single people actually pay more Council Tax than families. You may think that because I get a 25% discount that makes me better off, but you are completely missing the point that a family pay 100% no matter how many adults there are. For example, my neighbours have 4 adults in the house and so they effectively each get a 75% discount. As they also use around 4 times more council services than I do I guess I must be subsidising them. This of course is not their fault, but the unfair way council charges are made.
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Y Mab Darogan said: 1)A single person could quite easily live in a one bedroom flat which would reduce heating for them. 2)As a side – single people should pay higher taxation Well Y Mab Dargan let me put you right on a few things single people already pay more tax as we do not get anything back i.e. tax credits etc. As already stated on here single people pay more in council tax. As regards single people should all live in one bedroom flats are you saying when a family all becomes adults or the children leave home then you and partner should be moved to a one bedroom flat? Freeing up housing for younger family’s. Just remember that not all people chose to be single sometimes it is forced open on them and as time goes by even you could end up as a single person would you think the same then?
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it would help us fight bakc if our councils cut council tax and did more to subsidise insulation and improve the areas housing energy efficiency
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totally agree with lawrence, single peopel get screwed in this country, by politians sucking up to ”mariage” and ”family values” nonesense, also the good point made that we need reductions in council tax NOW, not freezes, real reductions, i want my money back!!!
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INSULATE INSULATE INSULATE – save money and the environment, if you dont spend a few quid on insualtion now you must be mad
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Certainly sensible to change suppliers but most people could save a couple of hundred quid on their bills by changing behaviour, stop leaving things plugged in over night, turn the thermostat down, lids on pans, only enough water in the kettle for one cup at a time, etc etc, until you do all this, you have no right to moan
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I made the point about single people living in a one bedroom flat in regards to moaning about a single person having to heat a house.
If its too expensive for a single person to run or heat a house they should move into a one bedroom flat.
As regards council tax. It does not matter that say a 4 person family pays less council tax than a single person.
If you look at what council tax is spent of – rubbish collections, roads, public services ie Council run libraries, leisure centres. A single person is getting more value for money.
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i used to work for BG and one of the best ways we made moeny out of people was billing by estimate rather than ACTUAL consumpton, this way we banked vast chunks of their cash over the summer when they used almost nothing useing the excuse that we were helping them spread the payment but making billions, literally, ever year just on the interest from their money sat in our accounts. It doesnt have to be that way through, you can actually simply check your meter, and especially with these online accounts you get these day,s enter your own readings and pay based on your actual consumption
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Its works the opposute way as well Laura.
We have not had our gas meter read for over 2 years
By my estimational we are over 2500 behind on our bill.
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Well , Laura,
Would you believe that is how it used to be !
You read your meter every quarter, and …. lo and behold ….. wait for it folks …… patience now, ……..its coming ………….
YOU PAID for the gas/electricity you actually USED !! NOW, …..isn’t THAT a GOOD idea!!
Why don;t we all go back to that?
Can you imagine paying for your grocery bill on a monthly basis, based upon the supermarkets’ idea of what they THINK you use? … no I thought not, s0 WHY do it with energy????
As I’ve said in another S/Star forum, I’ve gone back to quarterly billing, and I read my meter VERY OFTEN, so I know EXACTLY where I am.
That applies to both Gas, and electricity.
So….. I ONLY get billed for what I use.
It might be slighty more expensive maybe, but ……. I DON’T like the idea of being on a “monthly drip” by Direct Debit. You have no real control, and they’ll put your payments up for any little excuse.
Every year I argued the toss with Bgas, and Npower for electricity, over what I used as an “average” consumption, and I ALWAYS won, simply becuase I had ACTUAL meter readings, taken at very small and regular intervals.
Now I’m going one stage further, I am installing a log burner for heating , and seriously considering my own diesel generator for other electrical items.
The generator can run on vegetable oil, and use the waste heat from the engine via cooling water, to run the central heating system.
(on the basis that a generator is about 1/3 efficient, so if you generate say 2-3Kw of electricity, you have 4-6Kw of “waste heat”)
I am doing this becuase I REFUSE to be dictated to by large energy firms.
Roll on the revolution I say!
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just change now with u switch dot com
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