{"id":18591,"date":"2018-11-08T20:16:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T20:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/?p=18591"},"modified":"2019-03-07T09:18:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T09:18:17","slug":"energy-prices-why-now-is-the-time-to-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/energy-prices-why-now-is-the-time-to-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy Prices: Why Now Is The Time To Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- SEO Ultimate Plus (https:\/\/seoultimateplus.com) - Code Inserter module -->\n<script async>(function(s,u,m,o,j,v){j=u.createElement(m);v=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0];j.async=1;j.src=o;j.dataset.sumoSiteId='b68b392479b5981b8acf46565e9fe32a0734fc21a1f7c1e60121eaa6ca1a1c64';v.parentNode.insertBefore(j,v)})(window,document,'script','\/\/load.sumo.com\/');<\/script>\n<!-- \/SEO Ultimate Plus -->\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Energy prices rises have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.co.uk\/news\/latest-news\/731980\/energy-prices-brits-bills-gas-power-electricity-big-six\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">headline news<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2018. \u00a0Forty-three price rises have hit more than twelve million households, with a seven per cent increase to their energy bill, and because of regional variations, some have seen their bills rise by twice that figure. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The increased charges are the result of twenty per cent increases in the price of wholesale gas, caused by a cold winter which has depleted gas stores. \u00a0Electricity prices are tied to gas prices because the UK is dependent on gas to power electricity generators. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scottish Power, owned by a Spanish company, has been responsible for the biggest price rises but this is because they are using a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/16987134.scottish-power-warned-to-keep-prices-down-as-it-shifts-to-100-wind-energy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hundred per cent wind energy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u00a0They sold their remaining gas and hydro stations, last year, to the power company Drax, for seven hundred and two million pounds. \u00a0Scottish Power believes that its customers will be prepared to pay more for their energy because it is funding the development of green energy. \u201cEvery working day we are investing over\u00a34 million to deliver cleaner, smarter power for customers. \u00a0From today we can focus solely on making energy generation cheaper\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a country where fuel poverty is a real concern it remains to be seen whether Scottish Power\u2019s green agenda will be supported by its customers. \u00a0In April of last year, Ofgem introduced a price cap which has already been raised twice. The dual fuel energy tariff is now capped at \u00a31,136 which Ofgem claim will save 11 million customers an average of \u00a375 per year. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Big Six energy companies will be compelled to reduce the cost of their standard variable tariffs, which are the expensive deals which customers are transferred to at the end of their initial contract. The cap will still make Big Six energy \u00a3300 a year more expensive than the cheapest tariff currently available. \u00a0Over three million customers have already switched this year and saved hundreds of pounds. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.comparethemarket.com\/energy\/information\/a-guide-to-switching-energy-suppliers\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Switching your energy supplier<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is not as complicated as you might think. \u00a0Shop around online for a cheaper tariff, contact your new provider and they will do the rest. \u00a0All they\u2019ll need from you is your postcode, email and bank details. They will contact your existing provider, so you don\u2019t have to have any awkward conversations. \u00a0A fourteen-day cooling off period means that if you do have second thoughts and decide that you wish to remain with your existing supplier, after all, there won\u2019t be any interruption to your energy supply. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The likelihood is that energy prices will continue to rise and rather than depend on a government cap to deliver the best prices, customers should put pressure on the Big Six to reduce prices by being prepared to switch supplier and chase the best deal.<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/electricitymonster.com.au\/cheap-electricity\/\">Finding cheap electricity<\/a> suppliers is increasingly difficult, and it may well take Government intervention to make energy more affordable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Energy prices rises have been headline news in 2018. \u00a0Forty-three price rises have hit more than twelve million households, with a seven per cent increase to their energy bill, and because of regional variations, some have seen their bills rise<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/energy-prices-why-now-is-the-time-to-switch\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":18592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wl_entities_gutenberg":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"wl_entity_type":[602],"modified_by":null,"_wl_alt_label":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Capture.png","wl:entity_url":"http:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl0502\/post\/energy_prices__why_now_is_the_time_to_switch","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19454,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18591\/revisions\/19454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18591"},{"taxonomy":"wl_entity_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wl_entity_type?post=18591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}