Families forced to cut back on food due to rising energy bills
New research from Confused.com has revealed that 82 per cent of customers are worried how they will heat their homes this winter due to the rising costs of energy bills. In fact, 43% of people are cutting back on their weekly food shop, to help pay their heating bills.
Household bills have risen dramatically over the last few months, following a summer of price rises, bad press and damning findings from Ofgem that energy suppliers are making a massive profit of £125 for each average customer. People are now being forced to ration their everyday essentials and 65 per cent of Confused.com’s customers admitted that they were cutting back on other in order to pay energy bills.
However new research suggests that today’s households are wasting more than £1.4bn each year simply by not switching their energy supplier.
20% of Confused.com customers have admitted they’ve never switched their energy supplier or tariff, and with around 25 million homes in the UK, this would mean 5 million households are paying over the odds for their energy.
The average annual UK bill for someone who has never switched gas or electricity supplier is £1,316.This decreases to £1,030 on the current best buy deal from First Utility, on their iSave 9 dual fuel tariff (where gas and electricity is supplied by the same firm), when paying by direct debit. This is a saving of £286 which can go towards the weekly shop.
Lisa Greenfield, Confused.com energy analyst, says: “As costs of everyday living are increasing, people must look at alternative ways to save money rather than cutting down on daily essentials or even those little luxuries. Our research has shown that 20 per cent of people have not switched energy suppliers as they believe each supplier is as expensive as the next.”
“We worry that people are taking extreme measures and are suffering in a bid to save energy, just by making simple changes like switching energy suppliers can save you money on an annual basis. Shopping around on a price comparison site and switching your tariff or supplier could save on average £286.”