A summary of Big Six price rises and reductions.

Looking at just the price hikes (and not actual tariffs) it is E.On customers that seem to have done the best. Its price rise does not even take effect for another ten days, whereas British Gas customers have already seen their price rise implemented and then cut back.

SSE customers will have to wait until the end of the month and Scottish Power customers until late March to see prices fall back slightly, and Npower customers still don’t know if their prices will fall.

Maybe the scheduling says something about how flexible the supplier’s IT and billing engines are. It certainly raises questions about how accurate bills will be, unless customers are to be asked to provide readings on the relevant dates (and companies are prepared to take in all those readings).

It would be interesting to know how gas and electricity reductions are calculated. Electricity costs fall because Eco has been rescheduled and because the cost of the Warm Homes discount has moved to tax.  Gas costs only fall because Warm Homes discount has moved to tax, as the costs of Eco  fall on electricity bills. So how is the reduction the same?

Janet Wood