UK households waste BILLIONS on rip-off energy bills

UK households waste £4.1bn* each year by not switching to better gas and electricity deals

How often do you shop around and switch energy suppliers? If you’re anything like the average UK home, the answer is once every five years. But is that enough?

An Ofgem report found that half of UK households are paying an average of £275** more than they should every year.. Many people are spending too much on their gas and electricity by not switching when their energy deal runs out.

It’s a boring job, but one you can’t afford to ignore, especially when we’re collectively wasting a whopping £4.1bn every single year.

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One fifth of people don’t even know which energy tariff they’re on, so it’s no surprise they are paying more than they need to.

Even if people were lucky to secure a great deal on their energy at one time, loyalty doesn’t pay. When competitive introductory rates come to an end, people can be sure that they’ll see their bills go up. And with energy suppliers owing £1.7bn*** in overpaid bills, there’s never been a better time to take stock and switch to the best deal available.

All those pounds add up and with homes and families feeling the squeeze, every little saving helps. But with busy lives, when do you find time to browse the latest prices? Automatic switching service, weflip, has launched with the aim of taking the hard work out of finding and staying in new energy deals year after year. They’ll keep an eye on what you’re spending and “flip” you over to a new deal if they spot a potential saving of £50 or more a year, after exit fees.

Best deal

“Households are sat on expensive default tariffs and overpaying for their energy,” says Sally Jaques, Head of Energy at weflip. “Our message to people is simple: if you’ve been with your supplier for more than a year, the chances are you could be getting a better deal, even from your own provider, and that you could be costing yourself hundreds of pounds a year.”

£4.1bn: The amount the UK wastes on energy bills each year Ofgem’s State of the Energy Market report for 2018 (published on 11 October 18) confirms that 54% out of GB’s 28m households are on poor value SVTs (typically with one of the Big Six energy providers)

£275 according to Ofgem the approximate amount consumers on a Standard Variable Tariff could save by switching to the cheapest tariff in the market – correct as of December 2018

£1.17bn calculation based on: 51% of households in credit on their energy bills. According to the ONS Families and Households: 2017 there are 27.2 million households in the UK. 51% of 27.2 million is 13,872,000. 13,872,000 x £84.80 (average overpayment) = £1,176,345,600 (rounded to £1.17bn).