Energy bills go up

8:10am Sunday 7th September 2008

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ENERGY bills for hundreds of homes in the Knutsford area have increased.

ScottishPower has put up its charges, which means the average household will now pay 9% more for electricity and 34% more for gas.

Stephen Edwards, of Edwards Electrical in King Street, said that would increase his quarterly running costs by about £50 to about £550.

ScottishPower, which is one of the main suppliers in the Knutsford area, said it had been forced to follow what other providers had done.

“Although we’re one of the last companies to announce increases, we’re sorry we couldn’t hold on any longer,” said Willie MacDiarmid, director of energy retail.

“We have worked very hard to protect people for as long as possible from considerable increases in the wholesale market.”

The average annual gas bill for ScottishPower’s customers has risen from £642 to £863.

Its electricity has gone up from £406 to £444. Meanwhile, an average customer’s dual fuel bill will rise from £1,040 to £1,299.

On Monday Npower also increased its gas bills by 26% and electricity costs by 14%. That followed price rises this year from all the other main energy providers.

Mr Edwards believes such increases are forcing his customers to think about their energy consumption.

Shoppers, he said, are still buying as many electrical items but they are also increasingly asking for energy-saving light bulbs to reduce their bills.

“We sell a lot more of those now,” said Mr Edwards. “More and more people are asking about them.”

The cost of energy is rising because the price of coal has gone up by 45% and the price of wholesale gas has increased by 65% in six months.

Mr MacDiarmid said the continuing volatility of the global energy market was to blame.

“ScottishPower is not immune to these rises,” he said.

One in four ScottishPower customers will not be affected because they are currently protected by fixed rate deals.

But when their contracts run out those customers will also see their bills increase.

Woods Butchers in Princess Street has got a similar deal for its electricity with British Gas.

Steve Connor said his business’ monthly £100 bill would eventually increase.

“Obviously if it goes up then it’s a lot of money,” he said.