Energy prices rise by £362 for thousands of households as gas and electricity deals come to an end Thousands of customers could face the heft addition to their annual energy bill from June if big providers fail to act.

Energy prices are set to rise by £362 for thousands of households as 60 fixed-price gas and electricity deals come to an end.

Thousands of customers could face the heft addition to their annual energy bill from June if big providers fail to act.

£42m added to energy bills

Four of the big six energy suppliers, British Gas, EDF, npower and Scottish Power, could up the prices as 60 fixed-price gas and electricity deals are about to end, This Is Money reported.

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If the providers do not switch their customers onto new deals after they draw to a close on 31 May, customers will be switched onto their default tariff plan, collectively adding £42m to the energy bills of around 193,000 households across Britain, according to price comparison website USwitch.

Npower customers will face the biggest price hike, with customers paying an extra £362 or £343 depending on what expiring plan they are on.

An Npower spokesperson said they will let customers know “what the cheapest new tariff would be”.

“The purpose of fixed-term tariffs is to let customers take advantage of the prices available at any one point in time. Therefore when these fixed tariffs come to an end, the ones that follow them might either go up or down.

“As some of our current fixed tariffs come to an end this May we have been be writing to all customers who are coming off these tariffs to let them know what the cheapest new tariff for them would be.”

Customers overcharged by energy networks

Other customers may have already faced a large price hike – and could have been overcharged for bills for more than a decade.

In 2017, Citizens Advice found Ofgem had made errors in setting price controls for energy networks, resulting in customers being overcharged £7.5bn over eight years.

Three energy network companies – SGN, Western Power and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks – returned £287m to customers following the findings.

But the charity said it had now found this was the “tip of the iceberg”, claiming that Ofgem made the same errors over a much longer period while regulator decisions across other markets including water, broadband and phone networks had cost customers money over the past 15 years.

It alleges that “misjudgments” by Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom in setting price controls had resulted in customers paying too much for the pipes and wires that connect energy, broadband, phones and water to their homes.

The charity said the overpayments partly occurred because regulators made forecasting errors in predicting that costs such as debt would be higher than they turned out to be, and also over-estimated how risky these businesses were for investors.

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “Regulator error has meant customers have been charged too much by energy, broadband and phone networks for far too long.

“At a time when so many people are struggling to pay their essential bills, regulators need to do more to protect customers from unfair prices. They have started to take steps in the right direction but it is vital they continue to learn from their past mistakes when finalising their next price controls.

“Companies need to play their part in putting this multibillion-pound blunder right. They must compensate customers where they have been paying over the odds. If they don’t, Government needs to intervene.”

Last week, Ofgem confirmed it will pursue even tighter restrictions on how much profit energy companies can make, in a move it said will result in lower prices for customers.

Additional reporting by Press Association