Less than four months since their last price increase, Budget Energy have announced they are increasing prices again, this time by 14.9%.
In a move that is bound to take customers by surprise, electricity supplier Budget Energy has announced an increase of 14.9% in their tariff rate. This news comes less than four months after the energy supplier last increased its prices for customers.
No doubt this latest hike in prices will be unwelcome news for customers, as many continue to spend increased time at home using more electricity due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
What does the price increase mean for customers?
The latest price change will come into effect from 2nd July 2021 and will mean an increase of around £92 for a typical customer on a standard rate bill pay tariff*. The price increase applies to both the tariff unit rate and daily standing charge applied by Budget Energy.
A standing charge is a fixed amount added on top of your tariff rate to cover an energy supplier’s fixed costs – to pay for supplying your house with power. Although all suppliers apply this cost some suppliers, including Budget Energy separate this charge out and add it to your bill on top of the tariff rate you pay.
In March 2021, Budget Energy increased prices by 3.9% which added around £23 to a typical standard rate bill. Coupled with March’s increase, customers have been hit with a total increase of 18.8%, adding around £115 to an average standard rate bill.
What Budget Energy have said
Commenting on the price increase Budget Energy have stated that, “Market energy and network costs which are outside of our control have been increasing steadily in recent months. While we have made every effort to absorb these costs through the winter for our residential customers, we now need to reflect those increases in our electricity prices.”
Budget Energy – the company
Budget Energy has almost 93,000 customers which is just over 11% of the domestic market in Northern Ireland. In the Consumer Councils Customer Satisfaction Survey of Electricity Suppliers (September 2020) 69% of customers were satisfied with Budget Energy as their electricity supplier. In May 2020, Budget Energy was acquired by Flogas.
Budget Energy provide Pay as You Go (Keypad) and Credit (Bill Pay) tariffs for customers. You can choose between discount rate tariffs or tariffs that come with a range of cashbacks or other promotions.
The vast majority of Budget Energy customers Budget Energy, almost 9 in 10, choose a Pay as Go tariff.
Switch and save
If you are looking to offset the price increase the quickest and easiest way to do so is to compare suppliers and switch to a cheaper deal using on Power to Switch. On average people who have switched using Power to Switch have saved £143 off the electricity bills.
And remember when your supplier changes their price they must inform you at least 21 days in advance of these changes coming into effect. During this time, and up until the new tariffs kick in, you can leave and switch to another supplier without having to pay an exit fee.
We compare all tariffs and deals across all electricity suppliers to save you money. Switching is quick, hassle-free and means you keep more money in your pocket – you don’t even have to tell your old supplier you are leaving!
For more information, advice and support on energy issues visit Power to Switch or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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* Based on Bill Pay Standard 24Hr tariff and 3,200 kWh annual usage
