Is your energy bill set to surge a third this month?
An incredible 26 fixed energy tariffs are set to come to an end on 31 January. At that point, if people let themselves be rolled onto their provider's standard tariff, anyone on 22 of these deals will find themselves paying more for their energy. In one case, their bills will rise by almost a third. So what should they do?
According to GoCompare, the tariffs in question are operated by Co-operative Energy, Extra Energy, First:Utility, M&S Energy, Npower, Sainsbury's Energy and Scottish Power. Most will simply roll people onto a standard tariff unless they call to arrange an alternative. In the vast majority of cases this will result in a bill hike, and for Extra Energy customers on the Jan 2016 v10 tariff this will mean a 30% rise - equivalent to another £258.26 a year.
It seems outrageous, especially since the falling cost of energy is headline news every day, so it's hard to see how energy companies could possibly justify standard tariffs at such high rates.
How to pay less
Fortunately not everyone on a fixed deal will pay more when their fix comes to an end this month. Price drops that have been implemented since these deals first started mean that people on four different deals will pay less. These include: M&S Energy's Fix & More Jan 16 Paperless Billing and Fix & More Jan 16 Paper Billing, the iSave Fixed v10 January 2016 tariff from First: Utility and Scottish Power's Fixed Price Energy February 2016 Online.
It still doesn't pay to be complacent, however, even if you are on one of these deals, because your average annual saving will between £4.22 and £29.30. This is a drop in the ocean compared to what you could save by shopping around.
Shop around for a better energy deal
Deals
Ben Wilson, energy spokesperson at Gocompare.com, said: "There are some really competitive energy available at the moment so you could be doing yourself a disservice if you let your supplier roll you onto their standard variable tariff without shopping around first."
Many of the cheapest deals are from the likes of Avro Energy, GB Energy Supply, and Places for People Energy - so it's worth extending your search beyond the usual suspects if you want to save substantially.
If, for example, your Scottish Power Online Fixed Price Energy January 2016 deal is coming to an end, then moving to the standard tariff would cost you more than 20% more - at an average of £1,113,25. If, however, you were to switch to the extraenergy Fresh Fixed Price Feb 2017 v1, you would end up paying £132.74 a year less than you would under your current deal.
Nobody loves spending an hour or so shopping around and arranging to switch their energy provider, but then again nobody loves overpaying hundreds of pounds for their energy each year. At the moment, with so many cheap deals on the market, it might well be worth taking the time to see what you could save.
