Energy bills hike set to be worst in North Wales

Households in North Wales will be among the worst hit in the UK when energy bill hikes come into force on Sunday.

The new changes will differ depending on where in the UK people live and how they pay for their gas and electricity.

The hike will be worst for those households in North Wales who pay for their electricity after the fact, and not by direct debit.

Households in Merseyside who pay on so-called standard credit and do not pay by direct debit, will also be the worst hit by the changes.

For these households in North Wales and Merseyside the hike is set to increase bills by a few pounds a month between January and April.

Some households will see their bills go down as changes are made to the amount that energy suppliers charge per unit of gas and electricity they supply.

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Bill increases

The changes will come into force at the start of January and are small compared with recent major swings in how much the Government’s energy price guarantee, which caps per unit charges.

The monthly charges are calculated based on what the average household uses in a year – 4,200 units of electricity and 12,000 units of gas – and assume that usage is spread evenly over the year.

As people use more gas during the winter, the actual figures are likely to be somewhat larger.

Prepayment meter customers will see an average bill increase of £1.50, while those who pay by direct debit will see an average increase of just two pence.

The system works differently for customers on certain types of tariff, such as Economy 7.

For these customers “suppliers have flexibility to apply slightly different discounts to the individual rates within the tariff, helping to balance out the reduction of more expensive day rates with cheaper night-time electricity rates.

“Each supplier will approach this differently”, the Government said.

The Ofgem price cap has always been set at slightly different levels based on where someone lives and how they pay.