Household fuel bills to be cut following green levy
02/12/2013
The ‘big six’ 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, and will also contribute a Government-funded rebate of £12 to customers, aimed at helping to cover the costs of the Warm Homes Discount Scheme.
Centrica, the company that owns British Gas, has said this means that it can reduce bill prices by an average of 3.2%, or £41 from the average dual-fuel bill. The extra Government-funded £12 saving means that the average British Gas customer can expect to save £53 on their annual bill.
Npower has also promised not to raise prices any further until spring 2015, while SSE has said that the scheme will save its average customer £50 a year. E.On however, which is yet raise prices this winter, has said that the changes will mean that prices will not be as high as they could have been this winter, but has given no official figures.
While the potential savings will be a boost to customers, they come at a time when energy prices have just been increased by the majority of suppliers. British Gas, EDF Energy, SSE and Scottish Power all announced price increases ranging between 3.9% and 9.2% last month, meaning that customers are still worse-off then they were before the start of November.
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