More than a million British Gas customers have had their rates reduced after a so-called 'prepayment penalty' was removed. The change means pre-payment meter customers will pay the same for gas as those who pay by direct debit - they had been paying more.
It will save those customers an average of around £59 on their energy bill a year after taking effect on April 1. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had already announced in his Spring Budget last month that the prepayment penalty will end from July - but British Gas brought the price cut forward by three months.
The move to bring gas prices for prepayment customers in line with direct debit rates will lower bills for around 4.5 million households across the UK. But the change won't affect electricity-only prepay customers as they are currently charged slightly less than those on direct debit on average, according to MoneySavingExpert.
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From April 1, MSE said the average yearly British Gas energy bill for pre-pay users will be reduced from £1,403 to £1,343 for gas and from £2,544 to £2,485 for duels fuel (gas and electricity). People with pre-payment meter will continue to pay £1,141 for electricity compared with £1,156 for direct debit customers.
British Gas says the lower prices will apply for all existing and new customers. You don't need to do anything to get the new rates, as they should be applied automatically when you top up.
The energy giant says its prepayment customers will be well over £10 million "better off" over the next three months as a result of the move, with the average saving being £15 per household, reported the Mirror. British Gas has around 1.24million customers with prepayment meters - though around 158,000 of those only have electricity prepayment meters so won't benefit.
Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, the parent company of British Gas said: “We know that more help is needed for prepayment customers, and we support the Government’s decision to lower prepayment prices to the same level as direct debit customers. We wanted to do more to support this group of customers by introducing this change as soon as we could so British Gas prepayment customers will benefit immediately.
Other energy providers have not confirmed whether they will also lower prices before July 1. However, Utility Warehouse has reportedly told MSE that its prices will be remaining the same for the time being.
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