moneysupermarket.com: British Gas WebSaver 5

Commenting on today's UK energy market - the launch of British Gas WebSaver 5 and the plight of prepayment customers - Scott Byrom, utilities manager at moneysupermarket.com said: "With this latest product launch from British Gas Christmas has come early for UK consumers. The British Gas EnergySmart initiative allows bill payers to monitor energy consumption within the home, and now coupled with today's launch of WebSaver 5, an average bill payer can expect to pay £928 a year for their gas and electricity. Only new entrant to the UK energy market OVO Energy undercuts British Gas WebSaver 5, at £921 a year.  WebSaver 5 is the cheapest in 13 of the 14 regions for low users and also offers the cheapest deal to medium users in six of the 14 UK regions, falling beneath the £900 mark in the East Midland at £893 a year, with OVO Energy offering the cheapest deal to the remaining eight areas. I advise customers to keep their eye on developments from energy suppliers, and move with the market where necessary to seek out the best deals for their usage and region; especially as we may see other providers follow British Gas' lead and make improvements to their suite of tariffs ahead of the New Year.

"However, while online dual fuel customers may be seeing a silver lining to sky high fuel bills, pre-payment customers are still struggling. Having introduced the cost-reflective rule for payment methods at the beginning of September, Ofgem stated that suppliers must be able to justify the costs charged to bill payers using prepayment meters. However, as we can see, the UK is still experiencing significant price discrepancies - and there are two possible reasons for this; either Ofgem has sanctioned the inconsistency, thereby flying in the face of what they previously preached, or they have not been justified, in which case the call to action for Ofgem is clear - it needs to clamp down on overcharging for prepayment meter customers. Either way, consumers need to be enlightened as to why these discrepancies still exist, and why the costs they experience are still high.

"I find it hard to see how the Government will eliminate fuel poverty amongst those deemed as being "vulnerable customers" completely by 2016, while the costs customers on prepayment meters face are still sky high. This type of payment method is designed for more vulnerable bill payers who have difficulty affording their energy bills and unless these prices are brought down to a more manageable level, we cannot expect fuel poverty to end. Ofgem needs to start practising what it preaches by monitoring the costs suppliers are charging more closely and I am disappointed to see that despite their new ruling we have seen no difference yet."