UK annual household bills sky rocket by £200 in 2016, thanks to higher energy, car and home insurance bills.

Figures reveal that a whopping 10% hike was observed in annual UK household bills thanks to increasing car insurance, hike in energy prices and soaring home insurance costs. The total average price of car cover, energy bills and home insurance was estimated to be £2,216.02, which is around 9.7% higher than 2015.
The highest increase was observed in car insurance where motorists have to pay an extra £96.79 in a year. One of the biggest reasons is the government’s implementation of higher Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). It was observed that there was a 7.3% rise in energy bills and the consumers had to pay £94.23 more on their average annual bills. Nonetheless, if we consider the period between 2014 and 2016, energy bills did reduce by £130.68 or 8%.
According to experts, home energy prices started soaring in the second half of 2016 and may increase in the near future, all thanks to the rise in wholesale energy prices. Regionally, people living in the North West paid the highest energy bills equating to around £1,467.39. Contrary to this, people living in the East Midlands paid the cheapest energy bills with an average of £1,295.65.
Apart from the consumers, the price rise has affected many energy suppliers due to increase in wholesale prices. One of the biggest examples is the collapse of GB Energy supply. Although, some of the Big Six energy suppliers have frozen their energy prices for the winter season, experts forecast a fair chance of price rise after the cold season.
Increasing car insurance cost is considered as the main pushing factor behind the plump household bills. This hike is attributed to the two times rise in IPT during two consecutive years. It was observed that IPT got increased from 6 to 9.5% in November 2015 and it got pushed to 10% in October 2016. The Autumn statement made it clear that that it would further increase to 12% in June 2017.
It was also observed that the average cost of car insurance varied across the UK in 2016, with Greater London having the highest car insurance premiums equating to an average of £1,103.60 while people in Scotland paid the lowest cost equal to £514.18. In contrast to this, the price of home insurance displayed a stable curve with the average reaching to £140.85 in 2016. This figure is just £3.70 costlier than the home insurance cost in 2015 and went down by £5.12 than what it was in 2014.
Talking about the overall cost of all the three factors, it was found that people of Greater London paid the highest average bill with an average equal to £2,615.64 in 2016. Following it closely was the households in North West that paid £2,403.06. Third position was occupied by West Midlands where the average household bills reached to £2,318.89. The cheapest bills were paid by the Scottish households with an average of £2,012.61 in 2016.
Shay Ramani, founder of FreePriceCompare.com expressed his opinion on the price rise scenario by saying that “This kind of rise in household bills would be hard hitting for the consumers. As importing energy has become expensive, the suppliers have shifted the burden to the consumers by raising the energy prices. Moreover, the increase in IPT made car insurance costlier. Therefore, consumers need to act smart and save on their bills by switching suppliers. This is one of the best ways to deal with the price rises.”
To conclude, the average household bills increased by a whopping £200 annually. This is not the best scenario for UK energy and insurance customers. They need to face this hardship and the best way to cut down these prices is by switching the supplier and grabbing the BEST discount deals.