uSwitch.com: E.ON energy price cuts

E.ON has announced that it is cutting prices by 6% or £47 for gas with effect from 31st March. Direct debit customers will see a £42 saving. It is the third of the big six suppliers to announce a cut so far this year and the reduction will see its average annual dual fuel bill drop from £1,232 to £1,185.

The move comes just over a month since Britain's biggest supplier British Gas reduced its gas prices by 6% or £44. Taking last year's reductions into account, E.ON has now slashed prices by 9% or £112 in total, while British Gas has carved 13% or £170 in total off bills and Scottish and Southern Energy has hacked 8% or £97 off.

E.ON is using the move to position itself as one of Britain's cheapest gas supplier. However, households are still facing far higher energy bills than just a couple of years ago. In 2008 E.ON increased its prices by 42% or £384, taking its average bill from £913 to £1,297. Even after today's price cut, its average bill will be £1,185 - £272 or 30% higher than at the beginning of 2008.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, says: "Three may be a crowd, but not when it comes to energy price cuts. This is great news for consumers as the fact that three of the big six suppliers have reduced prices puts the remaining three under intense pressure to follow suit. Today's move tips the balance in favour of consumers and we now expect to see a domino effect as the remaining three topple into line.

"Now that three of the big six have moved we can also see a clear trend emerging with gas price cuts coming in at around 5% or £40. This will not make up the ground lost two years ago when suppliers increased prices by 42% or £381 and we now expect household energy bills to end up around £270 higher than two years ago putting even more emphasis on the need for consumers to start managing their energy costs.

"Key to this is to make sure we pay the lowest possible price for our energy and learn to use less of it. Importantly, online energy plans currently cost around £300 a year less than suppliers' standard plans, offering households a real opportunity to take their energy bills back to pre-2008 levels."