Gas & Electricity

Household budgets across the country are being squeezed to breaking point with millions of bills going unpaid in the past six months alone, according to new research by MoneyExpert.com.

Npower's Standard customers in the Northern England region will now pay close to £100 more than their Scottish counterparts, according to moneysupermarket.com.

Britain’s fourth largest energy supplier, npower, has announced that it is putting up prices from tomorrow, 5th January, 2008. The increases – an average of 17.2% or £92 for gas and 12.7% or £48 for electricity – will hit its standard tariffs, affecting almost 4.9 million customer accounts.

npower has become the first supplier to raise prices on its standard energy tariffs. Prices will increase by 17.2 percent for gas and 12.7 percent for electricity.

Paul Schofield, head of utilities at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: "The great majority of npower’s customers will be hit by this hefty price hike. It is only those select few on non-Standard tariffs who will see prices unchanged.

npower has announced new energy prices for domestic customers, with an average increase of 12.7% for electricity and 17.2% for gas from 5 January.

Commenting on npower's new SOL 9 tariff, Scott Byrom, utilities expert at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: “High users of electricity will be disappointed with the introduction of npower’s SOL 9.

Wholesale energy prices, which have been increasing steadily, caused British Gas to raise the price of its ‘tracker’ tariff last week. Today, npower followed suit by announcing that its wholesale price tracker would rise by 17 per cent for gas and 13 per cent for electricity.

Commenting on today’s trading statement from Centrica, Paul Schofield, head of utilities at moneysupermarket.com, said: “Today's statement may well mark the start of the battle for the best fixed-price tariff on the market.

British Gas’ owner, Centrica, has issued its trading statement highlighting a reduction in profit margins in the second half of 2007 due to increased wholesale prices. If this continues into 2008, the energy giant has hinted that a rise in household energy prices will be inevitable.

A second supplier has unveiled price increases on an energy ‘tracker’ plan – npower has announced that it is putting prices up by 17% for gas and 13% for electricity from 1st January, 2008.

Household bills have a major role to play in any New Year financial detox – and none more so than energy bills as the average energy bill now stands at £912.

Energy providers are failing to inform their customers of new cheaper tariffs, causing Brits to languish on more expensive tariffs and reaping the energy companies over £2.5bn per year, according to research from moneysupermarket.com.

The Government today announced a raft of new measures totalling £2.3billion over three years for a twin onslaught on fuel poverty and home energy efficiency.

New research by consumer watchdog energywatch suggests that energy companies are exploiting some of the UK’s poorest households.