Energy Price War: It’s coming!

By Stephen Jones

Another day, another energy firm claims to beat the market. In line with our prediction earlier this month, the energy war is starting to hot up, and showing its battle hunger this week is First Utility – a plucky outsider looking to undercut the so-called ‘Big Six’.

With a price cut on its Standard dual fuel tariff, the firm is claiming to now be cheaper across the board than British Gas. But before you all start rushing to switch, just take a moment, if you will, to view the bigger picture.

Yes, First Utility now boast the cheapest Standard tariff for gas and electricity, but, as our best buy table points out, the biggest savings are still to be made by moving online.

As you can see, this still puts British Gas at the top of the pile, and following its parent company Centrica’s publication of strong results today, experts are suggesting that prices may yet fall further.

Also worth a mention is EDF’s new Online S@ver v6. While it costs the average customer £5 more than Websaver 6, it tracks at 2% below the company’s own Standard tariff – meaning that any impending cuts could see it top the chart.

Not only that, but, as we pointed out this week, the coming months are likely to see greater pressure on firms to lower bills further. Energy regulator Ofgem announced it would be pushing gas and electricity companies to pass on wholesale price cuts after they revealed bumper profit margins for the last three months. (Want to know more about Ofgem? See our guide.)

This is where you come in...

All of this clearly backs up what we’ve been saying for some time. An increase in competition is on the way, which can only mean good news for us recession-weary consumers.

So what’s your part in this? Once again, our very own utilities expert, Gareth Kloet, has the answer: “If households want to reduce their energy bills, the best way of doing that is simply to use a Consumer Focus accredited energy price comparison website like Confused.com. 

“Opting to pay by direct debit, switching to an online tariff and becoming more aware of their energy consumption are three easy steps customers can take to reduce their bills significantly," he added.