British Gas today (4th February 2010) became Britain's cheapest energy supplier when it cut gas prices by 7% (£55) with immediate effect. It has also launched a new online plan, WebSaver 6 which offers the cheapest prices at £899 a year for an average household paying by Direct Debit.
This is the third time British Gas has cut prices in the last 12 months - in 2009 the gas and electricity supplier cut prices by 9.5% or £126, and if you include today's move, it has now slashed prices by 16% or £187 in total - more than any other supplier.
Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, commented "This is the news that we've all been waiting for - expectations of a price cut have been in the air for some time now, but finally consumers get to see the colour of suppliers' money. Thankfully the cut comes in time to help consumers with heavy winter fuel bills - this is definitely a step in the right direction."
Thankfully the cut comes in time to help consumers with heavy winter fuel bills - this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Ann Robinson - Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch
She added that now that British Gas has cut its prices, other suppliers would be under pressure to follow suit, but reminded customers that this was no guarantee of further cuts. Plus, with price rises of 42% in 2008 and price drops of only 4% in 2009¹, the overall trend in household energy prices was still an upward one.
"Consumers must start looking out for themselves. We can all do this by making sure we pay the lowest possible price for our energy and learning to use less of it. Online energy plans consistently offer the most competitive prices - currently costing around £300 a year less than suppliers' standard plans. But just 5% or 1.3 million households are on an online energy plan and I would urge many more to join them," she said.
Compare gas and electricity prices today.
1. Based on a medium user (20,500 kWh gas and 3,300 kWh electricity) on a standard plan, paying on receipt of bill with bill sizes averaged across all big six suppliers and all regions.