UK Energy Suppliers Raising Gas and Electricity Prices in 2011
2011 could see a ‘winter of discontent’. August 2011 saw, the 5th of the big 6 energy providers, nPower announced their gas and electricity price increase will come into effect this October. Householders will find it more testing to obtain fixed rate energy prices.
But it is not an entirely bleak outlook, householders who have perceived the price rises in the past months and make a few slight changes to cut their expenditure. Lots of these are commonsense measures.
- Reduce your thermostat down by 1 degree, which can mean a ten percent reduction on your fuel bills.
- Do not charge your gadgets overnight, check the manual. Many gadgets such as mobile phones or MP3 players only require two to four hours to rechardge.
- If you are a keen cook, take a look at new ways of making use of your hob and oven. Pressure cookers, slow cookers and cooking bulk amounts saves time and energy.
- On most occasions, use the lower temperature cycle or economy wash when doing laundry.
- Assess your insulation, pipe lagging and window seals. Check out whether you can attain a grant for home improvement to enhance your insulation, boiler and windows – most especially if you live in social housing. To follow are some details on this:
Council Funding for Home Repairs and Energy Grants
Some county councils will offer endowments to insulate cavity walls or lofts, and all utilities provide similar help to assist you in making your residence more economical.
There are several UK government bodies founded to give assistance in the installation of a new heating system, or developing your current system, for households whose sole income is from the benefits system. Up to two thousand, seven hundred pounds (or five thousand pounds for oil-fired central heating) is available.
The amounts of the grants and criteria for eligibility differ according to the area that you live in. If you are planning to apply for council funding for home repairs in general up to five thousand pounds is offered for upgrades for example:
- Upgrading kitchens or bathrooms.
- Fitting new windows, or renovating existing frames or glass.
- Sorting out damp problems.
- Fixing roofing.
Conditions for lending can be strict, and householders will as a rule, have to receive certain benefits to succeed, but it’s worth chasing up your local council for further details just to be sure.
A great way to try to ensure you obtain fixed energy prices is to swap energy suppliers. But, as stated early in 2011 20% of homes have energy bill debt and owe in excess of £600m, as these are arrears they cannot switch supplier until their debts are repaid. For the second price hike this year, this one adds an additional one hundred and seventy pounds to the average customer’s energy bill, after sixty two pounds was added in February. This leads to many more people having to seek information on how to settle these bills, in the main the most badly hit by this are the most vulnerable members of the population such as the elderly and minimum wage workers or residents whose only income is benefits.
