Households 'could save £460' on fuel

HOUSEHOLDS in the south of Scotland could save more than £460 a year by ditching their incumbent energy supplier in favour of the cheapest deal on the market, new figures suggest.

Energy customers have been hit with a series of price increases in recent weeks, with Scottish & Southern Energy's 9.4 per cent increase in gas prices coming into force a few days ago.

The rise came after last week's jump in Scottish Power gas and electricity prices by 2 and 8.9 per cent respectively, while Scottish Gas prices will rise by 7 per cent on Friday. The changes have left EDF, which has pledged to freeze prices over the winter, as the UK's most competitive supplier, moneysupermarket.com says.

The biggest potential savings are in southern Scotland, where households on their incumbent local supplier's standard tariff can slash their annual bill by 34 per cent from 1,327 to 865 by moving to the EDF Online Saver v7. The calculations are based on medium usage (gas 20,500kwh, electric 3,300kwh).

Customers in the north of Scotland can save about 30 per cent by making the same move.

Similar savings can be made by moving to other online deals, yet almost 60 per cent of gas customers are with the supplier that was the incumbent in their area when the energy market was liberalised, according to Ofgem, the energy regulator.

Scott Byrom, manager of energy at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Everyone needs to ensure they are on the best tariff for their region and usage, and shouldn't be lulled into thinking they will automatically get the cheapest deal if living in a provider's 'core' area."

Meanwhile energy companies face government demands to give discounted prices to their most vulnerable customers.

As it stands, there is a voluntary agreement in place where suppliers take up to 130 of the electricity bills of low-income pensioner and families and those with long-term illnesses and disabilities. That could become mandatory under the proposed Warm Home Discount, which the government claimed would help up to two million UK households.