Monday 18 April 2016 1:11 pm

Beware: Your energy bill could rise by £152 at the end of April if you don’t switch supplier

By: Suzie Neuwirth

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Households will be hit with a £152 increase to their annual energy bills at the end of the month unless they switch providers, as several fixed tariffs come to an end.

Of the 17 fixed deals that expire on Saturday 30 April, 11 will result in customers being automatically switched to a more expensive standard variable tariff, according to data from comparison site Gocompare.com.

Co-operative Energy, EDF Energy, Extra Energy, First:Utility, Sainsbury’s Energy and Scottish Power all have tariffs coming to an end.

While the average increase is £152, Scottish Power customers on the Online Fixed Saver April 2016 tariff will experience a whopping 25.5 per cent rise of £219.57 to their annual energy bills if they are rolled on to the company's standard variable tariff at the end of the month.

The figures are based on a medium-level user in the UK, consuming 3,100 kWh of electricity and 12,500 kWh of gas per year.

Read more: Moving away from the big six suppliers will save you money 

There are some cases where the current fixed deal is more expensive than the supplier's standard variable tariff, which means the customer will see a reduction in their annual bill. However, this tends to be an average drop of 3.1 per cent or £32.78, which is far less than the £207 that Gocompare.com claims they can save each year by switching provider.

Ben Wilson, energy spokesperson at Gocompare.com, said: “The spring time, and the warmer weather that comes with it, tends to be the time of the year where people start switching off their heating and stop thinking about their energy bills.

“While it’s easy to put your energy usage to the back of your mind when it’s at its lowest, not keeping on top of when your fixed tariff expires can be a costly mistake, with an average rise of £152 at the end of the month.

“You don’t need to be energy expert to switch supplier, or even know exactly how much you use each month and it only takes a few minutes online to see if you could get a better deal on your energy. On average, people who switch supplier could save up to £207 a year, which could pay for a long weekend to escape the April showers.”

The UK government has been encouraging people to switch energy suppliers to find the cheapest deals, following intense public pressure to make the energy market fairer and more competitive. The cost of energy hit the headlines in late 2013 when former Labour leader Ed Miliband vowed to freeze energy prices, which the industry argued would drastically stymie much-needed investment into the sector. 

Read more: threat of price cap wipes £3bn off energy firms

The tarriffs coming to an end