Npower customers face steep rise in energy bills
A MILLION npower customers are set to be hit with a 5.3pc rise in their annual energy bills, as the supplier follows in the steps of British Gas and EDF to pass on the impact of rising costs.
The company is hiking its standard variable tariff for electricity customers by 6.2pc and for gas users by 4.4pc, meaning households on a dual fuel deal will see their bills rise on average by 5.3pc, or £64 a year.
It blamed increased wholesale energy and policy costs for the decision, which comes into effect on June 17.
Energy watchdog Ofgem has been tightening its grip on the energy market and this summer new legislation will allow it to cap the standard variable tariffs used by 11m homes across the UK.
Simon Stacey of npower said: “Announcing this price change today isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly. The costs all large and medium energy suppliers are facing – particularly wholesale and policy costs which are largely outside our control – have unfortunately been on the rise for some time and we need to reflect these in our prices.” After the price rise, a dual fuel direct debit customer will typically pay £1,230 a year on the new tariff, npower said.
Mr Stacey said that the company was encouraging customers to switch tariffs. It is also freezing prices for fixed-term tariff customers until June 2022.
British Gas and EDF have already outlined plans to increase their default tariffs.
Centrica’s British Gas is hiking its standard tariffs by 5.5pc on average for 4.1m households from the end of May, taking the typical dual fuel bill to £1,161 a year, while EDF is increasing its annual standing charge by £16 from next month, taking its typical dual fuel bill up 1.4pc to £1,158.