Essex pensioner says he's "terrified" after gas bill more than doubles
Ofgem has announced a 1.2% increase to the energy price cap, introduced from the New Year
An Essex pensioner, who's noted down all his bills every month for two years, tells us his October gas bill was more than double last years.
Arthur Catterall, of Loughton, tells Greatest Hits Radio his gas bill was £274.46 this October 2024, compared to £116.34 in October 2023.
He says he's "terrified" at the thought they may go up even more.
"I'm really paying a lot of money I think for gas, rather less for electricity, but it looks like the overall yearly gas bill will be over £5000 plus by next April."
Our hopes of seeing our energy bills drop next year seem set to be dashed as predictions show an expected rise at the start of 2025.
Today, Ofgem has revealed that the typical household energy bill will rise by 1.2%, or £21, from £1,717 to £1,738.
This will come into effect on January 1st.
Experts say "understanding your energy use is more important than ever."
New research by Smart Energy GB shows one third (31%) of bill payers remain unsure as to whether they are on an energy tariff that is impacted by the energy price cap.
The survey was carried out on 2000 GB billpayers.
We asked Mr Catterall if knew his energy tariff to which he replied:
"I think I'm on a very dear tariff at the moment without really realising.
"I changed my gas provider last May and compared with the year before, it's gone up by more than 50%."
Almost half (47%) of us review or compare our energy tariffs only occasionally while almost a third either rarely or never look to see if there is a better deal out there, according to research by Smart Energy GB.
When asked whether he knew where to find a good deal, Mr Catterall replied:
"I think I'm locked in for three years so it won't apply for a little while. I think I've learnt a bit more about how these things are decided by brokers which I hadn't realised when I set up the current bill about a year ago.
More than three in five (63%) of us admit that we are on the lookout for new ways to bring our bills down.