£363 EXTRA TO HEAT AND LIGHT YOUR HOME
HOW ANNUAL POWER COSTS HAVE SOARED
HARD-PRESSED householders will have to find an extra £363 for their combined home heating oil and electricity bills this year before beginning to think about forking out for the festive season.
Similarly, average bills for homes using a combination of natural gas and electricity have shot up by over £260, just as the winter weather begins to bite.
Homes heated by oil are hardest hit by annual price hikes, with 900 litres now setting consumers back £508.39 compared to £361.16 in October 2017, while 500 litres have risen from £210.24 to £292.31.
The shocking new figures obtained by the Belfast Telegraph show how the soaring cost of heating and lighting our homes has become a further drain on disposable incomes — already severely stretched by grocery price hikes and static wages.
For those regularly using heating and appliances in a medium sized property, for example, the joint cost of oil and electricity has soared by a whopping 30% from £1,217 in October 2017 to £1,580 this year.
Likewise, the comparison website powertoswitch.co.uk has found that it costs 28% more to run a household of a similar size on electricity and natural gas, with bills increasing year-on-year from £937 to £1,203.
Fears are now rising that the added budgetary pressure, which is likely to hit the high street hard, may push struggling families into further debt at a time when they can least afford it.
SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon said the jump in energy prices is “very concerning” for people already struggling to make ends meet.
“We haven’t even got into the throes of winter yet and people are already struggling to heat and light their homes,” she said.
“Rising bills against a backdrop of stagnant wages can only mean one thing coming up to Christmas and that is that more and more families are going to find it impossible to survive without taking on debt.”
Drilling down into the data, it can be revealed that home heating prices have risen by up to 41% since this time last year, which means families must find £147 more for a 900 litre fill.
Average electricity bills have gone up by £98 from £465 in 2017 to £563 this year, based on average annual consumption of 3,200kWh and the price rises by Northern Ireland suppliers since last October.
Power to Switch has also unveiled a £198 hike in the cost of natural gas — rising from £442 last year to £640 now — based on 13,500kWh per year and using the average SSE regulated price.
Website founder Aodhan O’Donnell said householders should consider swapping suppliers as it’s “one of the quickest and easiest ways to save money”.
“On average people using ‘Power to Switch’ find savings of £119 when they compare prices,” he said. “But even if you don’t want to change supplier there can be up to £90 difference between a supplier’s most expensive tariff and their cheapest.”