19 December 2007
In a turbulent month for the energy industry in the UK, uSwitch has released its monthly update on the way things stand for consumers.
Earlier this month, British Gas and npower announced that they will be raising bills for their tracker tariffs by around 15% - prompting analysts to speculate that similar hikes in general gas and electricity tariffs are on their way.
This point of view was strengthened this week when npower confirmed that a similar rise would affect its online new customer products - a tariff in which rates are traditionally kept low in order to attract new business.
In its monthly update, uSwitch also cites new research from business energy broker Catalysts, which predicts a 10% across-the-board UK gas and electricity bill increase in early 2008.
Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at uSwitch, commented: "Consumers will be seeing average household energy bills hit over £1,000 again.
"All it will take is for one supplier to make the move and others will follow suit, so consumers should be preparing for the worst - households can limit the damage to their budgets by using more energy more efficiently and making sure they are on the cheapest energy plan."
Taking into account Catalyst's conservative price rise prediction, this would mean that average British Gas, Powergen and ScottishPower bills would all break the £1,000 mark in 2008.
EDF Energy and npower would come in at just under the threshold - with Scottish and Southern Energy bills rising to £963.
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