The â??big sixâ?? energy firms have all announced that they will be using a Government-led initiative to cut the cost of household fuel prices, meaning annual savings of up to £50 for customers. This has come about after the Government passed changes to the Energy Company Obligation, which will save consumers up to £35 on bills
The big six energy companies saw their profit margins increase by 4.3% in 2012, which does not include the effects that could be felt from the recent rise in energy prices.
Regulator Ofgem reported that of the big six, Centrica, owner of British Gas, boasted the highest profit margins of 6.6%, whilst EDF energy reported the lowest profit margin, who actually made a loss of 1.1%.
It has been confirmed that the average price of petrol and diesel has been reduced again, signalling the lowest average for more than two and a half years, the AA has revealed.
It has been revealed in an independent survey that energy companies are making at least £650m a year due to errors in the billing process. The survey, which was administered by consultancy firm Consumer Intelligence, revealed that the average overcharge error stands at £121 and affects as many as 28pc of customers in the UK
Npower has sold 770,000 of its gas and electricity customer accounts to Telecom Plus to help turn the â??big sixâ?? into the â??big sevenâ??, in a move that could increase competition in the energy market.
The deal which will cost Telecom Plus around £218 million will see its number of customers more than double to 1.2 million when the sale is completed in January 2014. However, the deal is subject to approval from Telecom Plus shareholders and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Supermarkets have been found to be continuing to mislead customers with multi-buy offers and discounts, despite the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) previously raising concerns about such issues.
As a result of the OFT's concerns, eight major supermarkets subscribed to a set of rules to encourage the fair use of discounts. However, consumer group Which?, has claimed that these rules are being broken in some cases, whilst the set of rules are not clear enough.
EDF Energy have officially announced that they are the latest major energy supplier to increase their gas and electricity prices, with a price increase of 3.9% expected to be implemented, meaning their new average standard variable will be priced at around £1,300.
Water industry regulator, Ofwat, has rejected a planned increase in the in water prices by Thames Water, stating that it is ‘not convinced an extra bill increase is justified’. Thames Water wanted to add £29 to the annual bill of all of its customers in London and the south of England, of which there an estimated 14 million.
A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has revealed that over a quarter of household spending goes on energy bills, household costs and water, twice as much as 50 years ago. This means we are now in the most trying time on record in terms of disposable income for households, as energy bills continue to rise and wages remain largely stagnant.
The national living wage has been increased by 20p to £7.65 an hour, affecting more than 30,000 low paid workers.
More than 30,000 workers will likely receive a pay rise of up to £400 a year after the voluntary living wage scheme has been increased by 20p per hour.
