UK households’ energy overspend ‘tops £7bn over three years’

MILLIONS of UK households have spent £7 billion more in total than they had to on energy over the last three years, an independent supplier has claimed.

First Utility said households have lost almost £800 each by remaining on expensive standard variable tariffs with Big Six companies, based on its analysis of data from the switching site Energy Helpline.

The supplier said the overspend was because 85% of energy customers are with the Big Six and, of those, 70% are on the most expensive standard variable tariff.

Regions overpaying the most are the east, by £885 million, the south (£725 million) and the East Midlands (£630 million).

The £7 billion figure, released before MPs debate a motion on energy prices in the House of Commons, is enough to fund nine million families’ grocery shopping for more than three months, First Utility said.

It comes after most of the major suppliers have announced significant price increases for already-struggling households.

First Utility claimed many customers remained unaware they could save on their bills, “in part thanks to the Big Six energy suppliers doing their best to keep their most loyal customers in the dark about savings and alternative tariffs”, adding that many only receive a bill as little as once a quarter or even once a year.

Ed Kamm, the UK managing director of First Utility, said: “The Big Six have been exploiting customers’ loyalty for too long and it has to end.

“The brutal truth, hidden away in the CMA report, proves that the Big Six have been relying on their standard variable tariff customers for years to bolster their profits.

“We have to see real change in 2017, with the onus on helping those who have been kept on bad deals for years and years.”