Top tips to avoid energy price hikes

As households feel the squeeze more of us than ever are trying to avoid energy price hikes. Here's how to avoid paying more than you need to for your heating and electricity.

Angela Kerr Director, Editor

Why are energy price hikes happening?

According to the Energy Savings Trust, as countries began to recover from the pandemic, demand for gas started to increase again and could not be met due to a shortage in supply, causing gas prices to increase in 2021. More recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has threatened supplies and driven up prices further. Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and gas, supplying the EU with 40% of its gas in 2021.

1. Give regular meter readings

If you pay for your energy bills by direct debit your payments are usually based on an estimate of the amount of energy you’ll use over a year. So it’s important to always give regular meter readings. This means the energy companies will be using accurate information about your usage and not estimating it.

There have been cases where customers have complained their monthly direct debits have been increased by huge amounts. If you face this type of energy price hike ask your supplier to justify how they calculated the new amount. They must explain it clearly and give you the meter readings they used. If you’re unhappy with your supplier’s calculation, ask them to reduce your monthly payments to more accurately reflect your energy use. And if they won’t you should complain – see below for more details on how to do this.

2. Take a meter reading before price increases

When energy prices change, unless your supplier happens to read your meter on the day of the change in price, suppliers have to estimate how many units you have used before that date. So to make sure you’re not overcharged, submit a gas and electricity meter reading to your energy company on the day the price change happens. This means your supplier will have an accurate reading of how much you’ve used pre- and post-price increase.

3. What to do about energy prices? Slash your usage

The Energy Price Guarantee announced in September 2022 means typical households will pay no more than £2,500 per year on energy bills for two years. But this isn’t the most you’ll pay – if you use more than the ‘average’ household you’ll pay more. If you’re looking at how to avoid energy price increases the key is to reduce how much energy you use where possible.

Consider everywhere you can save from switching off your under-floor heating and towel rails to turning off the light when you leave a room. It all adds up.

For more ideas read out Top 10 Energy Saving Tips guide

4. Insulate your home

When you’re asking what to do about energy prices, another key way of how to avoid energy price increases is to make your home more energy efficient. There are all sorts of ways you can make your home more energy efficient from installing loft insulation to fitting double glazing to replacing your boiler with a heat pump. As well as being able to help stop energy price rises it’s better for the environment too.

Find out more in our How to make your home more energy efficient guide.

5. If you’re not happy, complain

It’s not everyone’s favourite thing to do but if you’re unhappy with your energy supplier you need to complain. So if you aren’t happy with the service or if your supplier is being sluggish about a query about over charging, then make your complaint heard with our guidance on how to complain.

If your supplier doesn’t give you a satisfactory response within eight weeks then you have the right to take your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman.

6. Can you switch in the future?

It used to be the case that the key to avoiding energy price hikes was to shop around and switch your energy supplier. However cheaper energy deals have been largely non-existent in recent months, except in certain cases for example where suppliers have offered a deal directly to customers. We’re not expecting this to change any time soon but it’s worth keeping your eye out just in case.

7. Do you need to pay higher energy bills?

Before the Energy Price Guarantee was announced, the energy price cap was set to soar to £3,549 a year. And further energy price hikes were expected in January 2023. Amid fears of how people would manage to pay their bills, many signed up to the ‘Don’t Pay’ movement which demands ‘a fair price for energy for everyone’. It says that when a million people sign up they will withhold payment to energy companies.

It’s unclear if this campaign is continuing in light of the energy price guarantee however the website is still up and running. But there are serious consequences if you stop paying your energy bills. For example your supplier could enforce a pre-payment meter or cut off your energy supply. And your credit score could be impacted too.

If you’re struggling with energy price hikes read our guide Energy bills help – what’s available and how to access it.