Millions Spending Over £900m More On Gas & Electricity Bills

Close up of £20 sterling note

According to a new study by Forbes Advisor UK, an additional £900m has been spent by consumers on gas and electricity bills as a result of consumers spending more time at home, with the increase overall being attributed to more people now working from home.

The poll that was conducted by OnePoll shows that on average an additional £127.88 was spent on energy bills since those polled started working from home.

Related: Find The Best Energy Deals

The poll itself asked more broadly what people were seeing in rising costs associated to their personal finances as a whole since COVID-19 and the outcome was that the highest rise seen in expenditure was energy bills, with 61% of respondents saying largely that’s been where the additional costs have come through associated to the pandemic:

We covered earlier in the month that there would likely be rising costs associated to people’s energy bills due to lockdown in a post entitled ‘No travelling, always in-doors, and colder weather; equalling skyrocketing energy bills‘ and quoted a parliamentary motion which was submitted for debate to parliament in May 2020 citing that energy bills would increase by as much as £400 per year.

There have since been many measures in place taken to help those vulnerable who have been unable to keep up payments:

At the moment, your energy supplier won’t disconnect your gas or electricity if you miss a payment. If you’ve got a prepayment meter and you don’t top it up, your energy supply might still stop.

Source: Citizens Advice

Rising Costs In Energy Consumption & Bills

The research went into detail in asking those polled how much exactly they’d seen their energy bills increase:

  • 13% spent less than £50 more
  • 22% spent between £50-£100 more
  • 22% of people said their bills bills increases between £100-£200 more
  • 22% of people said that their energy bills increased by £200 more

Of those now specifically working from home have seen their energy bills increase by:

  • 11% spent less than £50 more
  • 25% spent between £50-100 more
  • 26% spent between £100-£200 more
  • 14% spent an extra £200 or more

According to research by the Evening Standard, 55% of consumers disclosed that they are spending more money on their energy bills.

Overall, energy consumption and usage has increased, and relative to that so have people’s energy bills by over £100 on average according to the results of this survey. With the energy price cap increasing in April, it is wise to start shopping for a new energy tariff now to lock in a 12 month fixed rate tariff.



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