How to burn £1 Billion!

Over 11m UK households squander £1 billion in energy savings by not switching, says The Motley Fool.

An online poll by independent financial comparison website fool.co.uk showed that 46% of households have never switched energy providers. The poll also showed that 5% of households have saved more than £300 by switching.

Interestingly, the poll underlined the point that the level of savings varied significantly. Typically, households saved around £100 by switching energy providers. The findings showed that 24% of respondents had saved up to £100 per annum, while 19% saved between £100 and £200 and 6% of respondents said they saved between £200 and £300.

Sadly, the 46% of households that have never switched energy suppliers could be collectively losing out on over £1 billion a year.

Stuart was one respondent to the poll who switched and saved. Before he changed energy providers, Stuart was due to pay £957 in combined gas and electricity charges, with British Gas and PowerGen respectively. He was forecast to save £272 a year by switching to an online dual fuel tariff with npower in March of this year.

However, Stuart’s projected savings fell to £145 a year when the next price hike from his new provider took effect in July. A further price rise in October dented his potential savings even more, as his previous providers increased prices by less than his new one. Despite this, he still expects to save around £115 a year on his fuel bills.

David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at The Motley Fool says: “There are savings to be made if you have never switched energy providers. Typically, someone who has never switched may save around £100.

“Interestingly, the UK energy market is one of the most competitive. But for competition to work consumers need to force the issue and make providers fight for their business. And switching providers today is just a mouse click away.

“Failure to switch is tantamount to sitting in front of the fire wearing a wooly hat and jumper, and moaning about soaring energy prices while chucking £10 notes into the flames.”