Main News Desk

It's Snow Joke As UK Fuel Bills Hit Record High

energyhelpline calls for "significant" price cuts

January 06, 2010

Britons are facing record fuel bills of more than £200 this month because of the cold snap, energyhelpline revealed today.
 
The independent price comparison website calculated the average household bill would soar 30 per cent as customers turned up the heating to cope.
 
Its experts said this would take the January bill from the usual £156 to £203 – a £47 hike.
 
Mark Todd, director of energyhelpline, called on energy firms to cut their bills to help hard-pressed customers.
 
He said: “If January continues as predicted, we are facing the highest-ever monthly bills. Wholesale energy prices have fallen sharply although this drop has not been reflected in retail prices.
 
“There is still scope for significant price cuts for both gas and electricity to ease the burden on hard-pressed households. A lot of people, especially the old, poor and vulnerable, were already be struggling to pay their bills even before the sharp drop in temperatures and they need help.”
 
The Met Office said the current cold snap is the most prolonged spell of freezing conditions across the country since December 1981. energyhelpline said the extreme weather means the UK’s 27 million households will pay out a total of £5.5 billion on their heating bills this month – an extra £1.27 billion.
 
Todd said: “This is a good time for consumers to review their energy supplier to hunt out the best deals. The cheapest tariff is currently £903 a year, a saving of nearly £300 on the average annual bill.”

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www.energyhelpline.com

About the company

About energyhelpline (www.energyhelpline.com)
energyhelpline is part of firsthelpline.com which provides assistance via the Internet and telephone to enable customers to switch to cheaper suppliers for gas, electricity, heating insurance and home phones. energyhelpline is the only major price comparison service to guarantee to find UK households their cheapest energy supplier. It can do this as it lists all the suppliers in the UK. Consumers can switch online or by calling firsthelpline.com’s advisors on 0800 074 0741.

It was founded in November 2002 and has performed over 200,000 switches, with average customer savings of around £200 on gas and electricity bills. The service is completely independent, and impartial.

Contact details

Contact Paul McCormick at LEWIS PR on 0207 802 2626


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