E.ON to raise residential bills in February
January 30, 2011 at 2:08 pm
E.ON customers have so far managed to avoid the energy bill rises that have hit other energy customers over recent months. But that’s all about to change as E.ON has just confirmed that it will be increasing both electricity and gas bills on February 4.
The planned rises will see electricity bills go up by 9%, and gas by 3%.
The rises will affect 4 million customers, as E.ON becomes the fifth of the big energy suppliers to raise its prices over the winter months.
Like the other energy companies, E.ON is blaming increasing industry costs on the need to raise its bills, most significantly the rise in wholesale prices which have gone up by a massive 35% in the last year.
The rises mean that dual-fuel customers will have to pay £58.40 a year extra on average, according to E.ON. That works out as an extra 16p a day. However, E.ON confirmed that its most vulnerable customers, including those on the Go Green, StayWarm and WarmAssist tariffs won’t be affected. Neither will Age UK customers see any rises until April.
E.ON is keen to highlight that this is the first rise it has implemented since August 2008 when it increased prices by 42% (£384). Since then, it has cut the bills by £110, or 8%. However, USwitch.com has suggested that this latest rise will mean that customers are still paying 37% more than they were in early 2008.
Graham Bartlett, who is the managing director of the Energy Solutions business at E.ON, highlighted the fact that the company did not increase bills during November and December like other companies. He also confirmed that they have “no option but to make this change.”
Consumer Focus expresses concern over confusing energy bills
January 20, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Consumer Focus has written a letter to energy industry regulator Ofgem complaining that the terms and conditions of energy tariffs should be made a lot clearer to avoid confusing customers.
Specifically, Consumer Focus has called for an investigation into how tariffs are marketed and sold by energy suppliers. The concern for Consumer Focus is that the average energy consumer has trouble understanding all of the tariffs.
Back in March 2010, it carried out its own research into the matter, and the results suggested that a third of consumers don’t understand the information on their bills.
In total, there are 93 tariffs between the six biggest energy companies. With so many tariffs on offer it is easy to see how this could become confusing for customers.
The news follows on from the recent rises in gas and electricity bills, which have left many customers unhappy. Ofgem has now launched its own investigation into some of these rises.
The head of energy at Consumer Focus, Audrey Gallacher, said in the letter that tariffs are “often structured in ways that are overly complex and can seem designed to confuse the average consumer”. She also highlighted problems with “dubious discounts,” and revealed the shocking statistic that nearly 60% of consumers don’t know which tariff they are on or what they pay per unit.
However, the director of Energy UK, Christine McGourty, said that it is a good thing that consumers can choose from a large number of tariffs, and that customers can always call their energy companies to find out which is the best tariff for their situation.
