
Energy bills to soar by 54% after price cap increase from April
Energy price cap to increase by £693 in April 2022 in the UK.
Read more…Brits have been mining oil since 1851, and now each day the UK’s 120 onshore oil and gas sites produce 20,000-25,000 barrels of oil. In addition to oil, the UK is a big producer of coal, which we use for generating power. When the coal plant in South Wales closes in 2020, there will only be 4 coal plants left in the UK. Coal is environmentally unfriendly, it’s very important that we find ways to produce energy from environmentally friendly resources to keep up with our energy demands.
In fact, the UK is the third biggest energy consumer in Europe with only France and Germany using more energy than us. We spend on average more than £1,100 per household on energy every year, but more than 18 million Brits don’t understand their energy tariff or compare providers often enough to realise the money they could be saving money. We unpacked the latest statistics to find out more about energy bills in the UK.
The amount of energy we produce from coal is very low because of the carbon tax. This tax was put in place to prevent people from using coal as an energy source because of how environmentally unfriendly it is. The most environmentally friendly way to source energy is through harnessing wind and solar power or via biofuels and waste and converting it into energy. Lately, the UK has been working towards being less dependent on coal based energy and the government is aiming to close down the remaining coal fired power-plants by 2025.
Source | Percentage of our energy use |
---|---|
Gas | 29.50% |
Coal | 22.80% |
Nuclear power | 20.80% |
Wind and solar | 14.20% |
Biofuels and waste | 9.50% |
Hydro power | 2.60% |
Oil | 0.50% |
The price difference is quite big, and unfortunately the most affordable option for the Brits is still gas.
Fuel | Price per kWh (in pence) |
---|---|
Main gas standard rate | 4.18 |
Wind power | 8.53 |
Solar energy | 9.0 |
Electricity standard rate | 20.6 |
Pellets | 26.75 |
Coal | 31.09 |
Petroleum gas | 41.77 |
Gas oil | 63.57 |
Region | Gas | Electricity |
---|---|---|
East Midlands | £632 | £652 |
Eastern | £644 | £668 |
London | £676 | £677 |
Merseyside & North Wales | £646 | £699 |
North East | £623 | £666 |
North Scotland | £645 | £718 |
North West | £638 | £663 |
South East | £661 | £689 |
South Scotland | £640 | £665 |
South Wales | £645 | £692 |
South West | £662 | £717 |
Southern | £665 | £672 |
West Midlands | £640 | £670 |
Yorkshire | £624 | £657 |
Year | Average gas bill | Average electricity bill |
---|---|---|
2010 | £578 | £503 |
2011 | £629 | £526 |
2012 | £703 | £546 |
2013 | £731 | £569 |
2014 | £741 | £575 |
2015 | £697 | £562 |
2016 | £616 | £555 |
2017 | £584 | £581 |
2018 | £591 | £610 |
79% of all energy provided in the UK comes from 6 different providers. As they have such a big share of the market, they’re called “Big Six”.
Provider | Customers | Percentage market share |
---|---|---|
British Gas (Centrica) | 17 million households | 34.69% |
SSE | 9 million households | 18.37% |
E.ON | 7 million households | 14.29% |
EDF Energy | 6 million households | 12.24% |
npower | 5 million households | 10.20% |
ScottishPower | 5 million households | 10.20% |
Ofgem reports show that switching energy provider can save you £320 yet our finder survey shows that more than 50% of Brits haven’t switched providers in the last 3 years. About a fifth of us (20.9%) have changed our energy provider during the last 1-2 years, and even more, 22.6% haven’t changed provider in over a decade.
Years since switching | Percentage |
---|---|
1-2 years ago | 20.88% |
3-5 years ago | 17.58% |
5-10 years ago | 11.82% |
In the last 12 months | 27.18% |
Over 10 years ago | 22.55% |
Reason | Percentage |
---|---|
Costs might go up | 26% |
Might not save as much money as they thought | 18% |
Double/shock billing (being billed by both suppliers) | 15% |
Something might go wrong and they might get cut off | 11% |
Supplier they switch to might go bust | 6% |
Energy price cap to increase by £693 in April 2022 in the UK.
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