Less than two weeks after E.On announced a rise in its gas and electricity prices, npower has inevitably followed in the footsteps of other big energy suppliers and increased their energy costs.
From the moment Scottish Power got the ball rolling back in June, announcing plans to hike their gas and electricity prices by 19 and 10% , one-by-one we’ve seen energy firms follow suit.
First it was British Gas, followed by SSE and E.On and now npower has today announced changes to its domestic standard retail prices. From 1 October 2011, single fuel customers will face an average increase of 15.7% for gas and 7.2% for electricity, which is the lowest increase announced by a major supplier. Dual fuel customers will see their energy bills rise by 12.2%.
Kevin Miles, chief commercial officer, at RWE npower said the increase was a consequence of buying energy in a volatile global wholesale market, coupled with world events pushing up prices.
“I know it hurts everyone when we put up prices and I wish we didn’t have to. Although our half year profits were better than last year they do not begin to match the billions we are investing in energy for the future,” said Mr Miles.
“In the UK we have also seen rising distribution and network charges, and further environmental costs but we have still managed to keep our increases lower than those announced by any other major supplier,” he added.
Npower has also announced plans to introduce a new fixed price deal. Covering the next two winters, it will see rates fixed until March 2013. As an added bonus, a one-off payment of £20 per fuel will be credited to the first bill for both new and existing customers who sign up for the deal.
N Power raising their prices by 15.7% will significantly impact a lot of families in the UK. Nearly all of the 6 largest energy suppliers are raising their energy prices between 15 to 20%. The major energy suppliers all seem to think they can get away with raising rates all at the same time. Many families can escape the price increases if they compare energy prices with one of the many comparison websites. And, there are often deals available when switching. Just be sure that the deals aren’t temporary and your prices will remain lower over the long term. Also, consider making your home more energy efficient; this will also help at lowering your bills in a very noticeable way.