Saturday 27 October – the big energy switch on

New research¹ reveals that Saturday 27 October will be the day when the nation turns on the central heating for winter.  

The research, commissioned by weflip, the new ‘sign up once, save forever’ automatic energy switching service, found that for many households the central heating was a hotly debated issue, with some (6%) dreading winter because of arguments over the thermostat. 

One in 10 households (9%) have argued about when to turn the heating on for winter, and ongoing disagreements about the ideal household temperature are a source of friction in 11% of homes.

The research also highlighted that the affordability of heating is a real issue for many households with 34% of people – which would account for around 9.5 million households – saying they will delay switching on the heating for as long as they can to save money.  But 22% of those surveyed said they hate being cold, so the heating goes on regardless of the cost.     

Commenting on the research, Amanda Cumine from weflip, said, “Turning on the central heating is one of the sure signs that winter is here and this year, most people are planning the big switch on for Saturday 27 October – the day before the clocks go back.  The colder weather coupled with fewer hours of daylight makes this the most expensive time of year for energy bills as we all use more to heat and light our homes. So, with energy prices having risen by 6%² over the last year, it’s unsurprising many people are considering going cold. 

“Since the latest round of energy price increases began in March 2017, the big energy companies have all raised their dual fuel standard tariffs at least once.  According to the energy regulator, Ofgem, the average yearly household energy bill is now £1,194³, yet millions of loyal energy customers are still stuck on their providers’ most expensive tariffs – where they could be paying around £352 a year too much⁴ – rather than switching to a cheaper deal.”

Figures from weflip reveal that households on big energy supplier default tariffs would have to postpone switching on their heating by 18 DAYS this winter if they wanted to keep their energy bills equal to last year.   While the same households would need to brave the chill until mid-December to keep their energy bills level with those on the best fixed energy prices.⁵

Amanda continued, “At weflip we’ve worked hard to remove as much of the hassle as possible from finding and switching to better energy deals.  It only takes a matter of minutes for customers to sign-up to our auto-switch revolution and start saving for life.  With energy prices rising for the last 18 months, this will be the biggest and most expensive boiler switch on for years, so it’s more important than ever that households take control of their energy bills, once and for all.”

How weflip works

Customers register their details and provide information including current supplier, tariff and energy usage – which can all be found on an existing bill.  weflip’s algorithm pinpoints the best deals and customers choose which tariff to flip to first.   After the initial switch, weflip will take over and continue to scour the market, flipping them to better deals automatically, for life (when a minimum saving of £50, including exit fees, can be made).  No further manual comparisons are needed, as weflip does all the work for you.

For more information on how to save on your energy bills for life, visit: https://www.weflip.com/

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Anders Nilsson, Martyn John and Louisa Marsden on media@weflip.com

Gordon, Jason or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845

Notes to editors:

¹ On 5 October 2018, Bilendi conducted an online survey among 2,002 randomly selected British adults who are Maximiles UK panellists.  The margin of error-which measures sampling variability-is +/- 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and regional data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of United Kingdom. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

² Source: Ofgem’s Retail price comparison by company and tariff type: Domestic (GB) Average Standard Variable Tariff (Six large suppliers): In the year 28 August 2017 (£1,134.95) to 28 August 2018 (£1,194.00) prices rose by 6%.  https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/gas/retail-market/retail-market-monitoring/understanding-trends-energy-prices

³ Source: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/infographic-bills-prices-and-profits

⁴ Source: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data-portal/retail-market-indicators

⁵ In the year to 28 August 2017, Ofgem’s Average Standard Variable Tariff (six large suppliers) was £1,134.95 compared to £1,194.00 for the year to 28 August 2018.

According to the national averages for residential gas and electricity use in UK homes, 53% of total energy spend is on heating.

Therefore, households on big energy supplier standard tariffs could spend £632.82 this year or £1.73 a day on heating (£1,194 x 53% = £632.82.   Divided by 365 days for the £1.73 a day figure).

A year ago, it would have been £1,134.95 x 53% = £601.52 – therefore households now paying £31.30 a year more to heat their homes.  This would equate to 18.1 days at £1.73 a day.

For the current cheapest fixed tariff switchable via weflip – correct as of 23/10/18 – (£1,038.33) heating costs would be; £1,038.33 x 53% = £550.31 – therefore households on the average default tariff are paying £82.51 a year more to heat their homes.  This could equate to 47.7 days at £1.73 a day or 6.8 weeks.

So, households on these default tariffs would have to delay putting their heating on until mid-December.

NB All calculations above based on an Ofgem-defined medium energy user, paying by monthly direct debit, with paperless billing, averaged across all 14 distribution regions of Great Britain.

About weflip

weflip is a smart savings service that helps people save money by automatically switching them to better energy deals.

weflip is a completely free, automatic savings service that guarantees cheap energy forever.  After customers sign up, weflip simply flips households onto cheap energy tariffs automatically, doing all the hard work on their behalf, so they never have to worry about overspending on energy ever again.

weflip is part of GoCompare Group plc, which operates GoCompare, one of the UK’s largest and most trusted comparison sites and has been saving customers money on a range of financial and non-financial products since 2006.

weflip’s energy service is powered by Energylinx, which is also a GoCompare Group plc company, and one of the UK’s most established and respected energy comparison services.

weflip takes customer privacy seriously and does not sell customer data.

For more information visit www.weflip.com and www.gocomparegroup.com.