British Gas announce price increases

British Gas becomes the third energy provider to increase its prices since the Ofgem energy cap was set earlier this month. As this latest provider puts its prices up, GoCompare Energy is warning bill payers that now is the time to switch, as new research* shows that just one in five (22%), have switched energy provider in the past 12 months.

Customers of British Gas will see their bills increase by an average of 12.23%, meaning that the average annual cost of a standard variable tariff will go from £1,138.18 to £1,277.38.

Earlier this month, SSE and EDF both announced a 12% price increase across all UK regions, following the Ofgem price cap increase, which will come into effect from October 1st this year.

The providers who have increased their tariffs are listed below:

The increases from energy providers generally follow the Ofgem price cap change, which was announced on August 6th. August’s increase took the cap to £1,277, which was a £139 increase on the previous cap announced in April 2021.  The price cap was implemented by the energy market regulator to ensure that consumers always pay a fair price for gas and electricity and it is reviewed every six months.

Gareth Kloet of GoCompare Energy commented: 

“These increases will come into effect on October 1st, so there’s still time to check your tariff and make sure that you’re not overpaying for your energy bills. 

“Our latest research* found that just 1 in 5 (22%) people had switched their energy supplier in the last 12 months, and 29% - almost a third of people - have never switched their energy provider at all.

“But still the best way to avoid an increase in energy bills is to switch provider. On average, bill payers who switch could save up to £270** on dual fuel bills – which is almost twice as much as the price cap increase.”

For more information about switching energy, go to https://www.gocompare.com/gas-and-electricity/

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For further information please contact:

Lynsey Walden on lynsey.walden@gocompare.com,  or Kath Chadwick on Kathryn.chadwick@gocompare.com.

*Between August 6th and August 9th 2021, an online survey of 2,034 randomly selected Great British adults was executed by Maru/Blue. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 2.1%. The results have been weighted by age, gender, region and social grade to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Great Britain. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

**Between 1 October to 31 December 2020 10% of customers who provided their usage and received a price for switching both gas and electricity saved £270.

Based on Ofgem’s TDVC’s for a medium energy user based on change in prices from October 2020 to April 2021. This figure is based on a customer paying by Direct Debit with an Typical Domestic Consumption (TDC) for a medium user, set by Ofgem as 2900 kWhs electricity usage and 12000 kWhs of gas usage.

Based on Ofgem’s TDVC’s for a medium energy user based on change in prices from October 2020 to April 2021. Price increases - British Gas from £1041.11 (Oct 20) to £1138.18 (April 21) difference of £97.07 (9.32% increase); EDF from £1042.19 (Oct 20) to £1137.99 (April 21) difference of £95.80 (9.19% increase); Npower from £1042.34 (Oct 20) to £1138.18 (April 21) difference of £95.84 (9.19% increase); E.ON from £1042.34 (Oct 20) to £1138.18 (April 21) difference of £95.84 (9.19% increase); SSE from £1,041.57 (Oct 20) to £1,137.16 (April 21) difference of £95.59 (9.18%). 

Average price increases for British Gas £97.07, EDF £95.80, Npower £95.84, E.ON £95.84, SSSE £95.59. The average of which is £96.02.

**British Gas holds 18% share of the energy market, EDF 10.4%, Npower 5.8%, E.ON around 11%, SSE around 13.6% of the market. ONS estimates there are 27.6million households in the UK. 58.8% of 27.6million is 16,145,999.

About GoCompare

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

It does not charge people to use its services and does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. GoCompare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. It is this approach to comparing products that secured the company an invitation to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) in 2008, and it is still the only comparison site to be a member of this organisation.

GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest and works with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover. 

GoCompare is part of Future Plc and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

More information can be found here www.gocompare.com or here https://www.futureplc.com/brands/.