Get a Fixed Tariff if you Want to Save Money on Fuel Bills

Fixed Tariff is a better bet for Consumers

Plus deals are getting better each year so make sure you are on the right tariff.

Around a third of UK domestic energy customers are on a fixed price tariff. Fixed tariffs are where the amount you pay for your energy is fixed for an agreed period of time. In 2015 average dual fuel fixed tariff bills were around 10% cheaper than consumption on a variable rate, so an average saving of £143 for the year.

Average annual fixed price tariffs have been cheaper for direct debit customers since 2012. Currently the cheapest rates for energy are being offered on a fixed rate tariff, so unsurprisingly the trend is continuing to rise quarter-on-quarter. Interestingly the majority of consumers are still on viable tariffs, despite the savings on offer, so it is well worth checking your fuel bills and tariff to see if you can improve your deal.

Information on tariffs was collected by DECC Domestic Fuels Inquiry Survey and shared on the Government’s .Gov website – see the link at the bottom of the page for more information.

National Energy Trends in 2016

Total energy production was 4.4% higher than in the first quarter of 2015 but down on the strong growth levels seen in quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2015. Imports fell by 8.8%, while exports rose by 15.9% in the same period.

Average UK temperatures in January and February were warmer than a year earlier, so domestic consumption fell by 3.4% due to this warmer weather. Service and Industry consumption also fell over the same period – the only increase was in the transport sector.

However the total primary energy consumption for energy fell by 4.4%. As temperatures in the quarter were on average 0.5 degrees warmer than a year earlier it meant that, when adjusted to take account of weather differences between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, total primary energy consumption fell by 2.5%.

Final energy consumption (excluding non-energy use) was 1.2 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2015.

Fossil fuel dependency was 82.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, but as coal fields are depleted, and mines close the overall coal production fell 69% (or 2.1 million tonnes) in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the first quarter of 2015. Deep-mined coal output was down 99% and surface mine production was down 55%, in spite of this coal imports are at an 18-year low as low carbon electricity’s share of generation increases: Showing a rise from 41.8% in the first quarter of 2015 to 43.8% in the first quarter of 2016. Renewable energy’s share of electricity generation increased to 25.1%, compared to 22.8% in the first quarter of 2015, mostly due to increased capacity.

Gas demand was also 5% higher than the first quarter of 2015 driven by an increase in use by electricity generators, whilst electricity consumption was 0.3% lower than in the first quarter of 2015. See the full energy report from the .Gov website.