Consumers 'stick to expensive utility plans'
Published On 11 July 2007
By not taking advantage of discounts and deals available on utilities, customers are missing out on over £800 million of savings, a new report suggests.Figures released by consumer website uSwitch.com show that people are failing to make savings worth a total of £830 million by not checking if they are eligible for deals and discounts from their utility supplier.
While utility bills have typically fallen by £84 this year, uSwitch has calculated that people could reduce their annual utility cost by a further £142 just by taking advantage of offers and deals.
Around 51 per cent of all households are missing out on cheaper utilities by sticking with expensive standard plans, rather than switching to more reasonable online plans.
A further one in five (19 per cent) dual fuel households are wasting almost £174 million by not paying bills through Direct Debit.
"Prices have only fallen by £84 and, with no further cuts on the near horizon, the best chance that consumers now have of seeing their bills go down is by taking advantage of the discounts being offered by suppliers," explained Geoff Slaughter, energy manager at uSwitch.com.
"If consumers hoped the energy price war would result in chunky reductions in household bills then they look set to be sorely disappointed.
"There's no point sitting back and waiting when three simple steps can save people more money than price cuts have so far to date."
