If you are a British Gas customer, you may have heard that energy bills will rise by an average 5.5% for dual fuel customers, pushing up the typical annual bill by £60 a year. This clearly isn’t welcome news for the 4.1 million households likely to be affected. Nursery empire collapses after owner gives job to criminal boyfriend Customers who are feeling concerned about their tariff are being told to switch to a fixed-price deal as soon as they can. But if you are looking to change provider altogether, these are the steps you need to take. What you need If you are looking for a price comparison then Which? states the more information you can provide the better. This includes: Postcode Current gas and electricity supplier and name of tariff (look at your latest bill to be sure) How much electricity use and how much you spend (on the bill) Use an independent comparison website to compare prices You can change your gas and electricity supplier online or over the phone (Picture: PA) Other things to take into account Citizens Advice has suggested a number of other things to consider before switching. These are: Whether you are on a fixed-term contract. If so, you may need to pay an exit fee to leave What the customer service rating is like for the new supplier Are you in debt or a tenant? You may not be able to switch The steps Once you have found the supplier you wish to swap to, the process is relatively straight forward. Call the new supplier, they will set up to switch and inform your old supplier. You can also do this online Take a meter reading on the day of transfer to provide to your new supplier Make sure you pay off the final bill from your old supplier or check if you are due a refund Give your new supplier your MPAN/MPRN number on your energy bill to make sure they switch your energy supply It takes 16 days on average to switch but that’s not including the two-week cooling off period suppliers must give customers. This allows you to change your mind if you want to. The price hike will not hit 3.7 million customers who are already on fixed-term contracts, prepayment meters or classed as vulnerable. British Gas announced plans in November to scrap SVTs for new customers ahead of Government plans to impose a price cap on the costly energy products, which Centrica has warned could have ‘unintended consequences’ for the market. There are loads of options out there even before you do decide to switch supplier (Picture: PA) What options are available to you Dual-fuel tariffs: Should be cheaper if you get gas and electric from the same supplier Online energy tariffs: No paper bills but you could get a big reduction Fixed-price energy tariffs: Guaranteed price and protection against hikes Standard tariffs: The default tariff which will change each time your supplier varies its rates Off-peak electricity tariffs: Could be a good option if you use your electricity late at night
Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/10/switch-energy-supplier-save-money-gas-electricity-bills-7454511/?ito=cbshare
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