New survey warn North-East to turn off Heating

A survey has warned thousands of households in the North-East to consider turning off their heating this winter in order to help them cope with the bill increases. This Sunday, 900.000 Npower customers across the North East will see their average electricity bill rise by 9.3%, with gas prices jumping to 11.1%. As a result, any customer who uses both gas and electricity from Npower will see their bill increase from £1,352 to £1,491 a year.

The increase follows similar increases from the ‘Big Six’ energy firms. However the only supplier which is yet to announce a winter price hike in EON. Uswitch, a price comparison company released a survey showing that when bills hit around £1,500 a year, a third of all households will be forced to turn off their heating in order to make ends meet. Before the recent increase in prices, Uswitch said 83% of homeowners said they would be rationing their use of energy this winter in an attempt to keep their bills down.

It is believed that 69% went without heating at some point last winter in order to help keep energy levels low and a further 35% of them said that they would turn down their thermostat in an attempt to try and save money. A lot of these people said that cutting down on their heating affected their health and quality of life. It is warned that 24.000 older people may not survive the ‘cold snap,’ according to a recent Age UK report.

Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com; Ann Robinson said, “serious implications for quality of life and health will occur, when 36% of households are forced to turn heating off entirely when energy bills hit £1,500.”

The £1,500 affordability tipping point is the point at which there is a marker difference in the consumer behaviour. Mrs. Robinson added, “I would urge suppliers to step up and pass cuts in full or across all tariffs, as this will be vital if we are to keep confidence in the market growing.”