THE cost of the average energy bill has risen again after the UK's cheapest energy tariff was pulled from the market. British Gas has withdrawn the most competitive deal across all UK regions – its online Click Energy 5 plan – and replaced it with a more expensive version, Click Energy 6.
"This is a blow for cash-strapped consumers who have just seen the most competitive energy deal disappear from under their noses," commented Ann Robinson, consumer policy director at uSwitch.com. "It proves that customers need to keep on top of the d
eals on offer if they are to minimise the impact of soaring energy prices this winter."
The average existing customer on the dual-fuel Click Energy 5 deal will now pay £1,150 a year, compared with £845 a year previously, while the average Click Energy 6 bill will be £1,057, uSwitch calculated. However, the latter deal is still the most competitive on the market, although the gap is significantly narrower.
For example, the same average dual-fuel customer paying by monthly direct debit with Scottish Power's online plan pays £1,157 a year on current rates. The same customer on a standard Scottish Power plan paying on receipt of a bill pays £1,368 a year, £311 more than the average Click Energy 6 customer, said uSwitch.
"With winter approaching, my advice is to make sure you are paying the lowest possible price for your household energy and learn to use less of it," said Robinson. "Paying by direct debit and moving to an online plan will still cut your energy bills – but you need to act now."
Retirement a fading dream for many caught in the debt trapMORE people could be forced to delay retirement in order to pay off their debts, new research has indicated.
Those aged between 50 and 60 owe an average of £41,400 in unsecured debts, 25 per cent higher than the average unsecured debts of other age groups, according to a survey of 40,000 consumers by debt solutions company Payplan.
The situation is worsened by the longer than average time it takes those "pre-retirees" between 50 and 60 to pay off those debts.
They have an average repayment term in a debt management plan of 11 years, said Payplan, compared with nine years for other age groups.
The research also found that pre-retirees spend 15 per cent of their total expenditure on energy bills, compared with 13 per cent across the other age groups.
John Fairhurst, managing director of Payplan, said: "Most people imagine that as they reach the countdown to finishing work, they will have paid off their mortgage and be busily saving for a comfortable retirement.
"These figures show that this is simply not the case for many pre-retirees and highlights a hugely concerning trend towards indebtedness in later life."
Scots who have pensions don't know how much they are worthMORE than half of all Scots who have a pension don't know how much it is worth, according to new research.
The study, published this week by investment brokers and managers Killik & Co, found that 62 per cent of adults in Scotland have some form of pension, compared with an average of 56 per cent across the UK and lower only than the south-east of England. Despite that, 51 per cent never check the performance of their pension fund and (partly as a result) 57 per cent don't know how much that fund is worth, while four in five don't have a strategy for their pension.
That apathy towards pension planning is the biggest obstacle to providing for a comfortable retirement, said Malcolm Cuthbert, managing director of financial planning at Killik & Co: "Once you have kicked the tyres on your existing pensions, you'll be better placed to decide whether you're happy with the investment choice and performance so far, or consolidate them into a self-invested personal pension – particularly if monies are in closed life companies or in with-profit funds."
The full article contains 677 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
