BRITAIN’S biggest energy firms are set for a £1billion windfall as they hike prices for hard-pressed loyal customers from Thursday.
Around ten million families on standard tariffs — many already with money struggles as a result of Covid — face bill rises of almost £100.
It comes after energy regulator Ofgem raised the price cap on standard variable tariffs.
They are the contracts that most people will be on if they have not switched supplier in the past year or so.
The change will increase the charges paid by a typical family on a standard variable tariff by £96, bringing the average bill up to £1,138 per year.
Added together, it makes a huge £1billion for power giants, analysis for Mr Money shows.
‘Charge households over-the-odds’
Of those companies, Eon, npower and British Gas have said they will put up prices by the maximum allowed, with SSE and EDF increasing prices to just £1 below it.
A number of other energy companies have also raised their prices to match — or very nearly match — the cap, including Shell Energy and Utility Warehouse, hitting a further 450,000 people.
Analysis by auto-switching site Look After My Bills shows that more than 12million customers will see increases to their bills on Thursday.
Simona Rutkauskaite, from Look After My Bills, said: “We added up all the increases — and it’s £1billion.
“Yet again, the UK’s biggest energy firms are seeking to profit at the expense of customers who deserve better.
“The price cap was put in place to protect hard-pressed families. But energy companies continue to find ways to charge households over the odds for their household bills, treating the cap as a target to hit rather than the absolute maximum they should be charging households.
“The positive is that there are already many tariffs that are more competitive than the price cap. We would urge customers fearing these hikes to their bills to sign up to an auto-switching service that could save them around £262 a year.”
Simona added: “The energy price cap was introduced by the Government in 2019 and was designed to make bills fairer for customers by limiting the amount energy companies can charge per unit of energy used.
“The price cap is reviewed every six months by Ofgem to reflect changes in the wholesale cost of energy — the price energy companies have to pay to actually acquire the energy.”
- Yesterday The Sun showed how easy it is to switch suppliers. If you missed it, you can read it now online at thesun.co.uk.
Help at hand for struggling consumers
IF you get in a muddle over your warm home discount, your winter fuel payment and your cold weather payment, we are not surprised. It baffles even Mr Money.
We summarise them here, plus other services Ofgem requires of energy firms to help older folk, hard-up families and those considered vulnerable, perhaps with a disability, to pay bills and get good service.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.