Utilities cuts pencilled in for Easter

Though the Christmas festivities may have only just come to an end, it's likely that millions of struggling consumers are already looking forward to the next holiday season.

For while Easter may not be a time of great gift-giving or feasting, it looks set to coincide with a range of utilities price cuts recently pledged by the UK's leading utilities firms.

Leading the way, Scottish Power has confirmed that it is to slash the cost of its fixed-price gas products by as much as ten per cent within the next three months, with all of its 'Big Six' counterparts also expecting to pass on the recent reductions in wholesale fuel prices to their long-suffering customers by Easter.

Though a ten per cent drop would still contrast with the 42 per cent increase in the average fuel bill witnessed over the past 12 months alone, it can hardly be sniffed at, particularly when millions of households are also having a hard time with rising mortgage rates and a higher cost of living in general.

Indeed, savvy consumers switching energy suppliers over the coming months are likely to pocket big savings.

For some, however, even this is far from good enough, particularly when it is considered that the price of gas on the wholesale market has fallen by around 30 per cent since its 2008 peak.

According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, the promised round of price cuts will fail to lift many Britons out of their current financial predicaments.

Nick Ansell, debt advisor at the Blackpool branch of the service, explained: "The average benefit claimant is on around £60 a week and almost half of that goes on keeping themselves warm.

"Any move to cheapen energy prices is to be welcomed, but I think they should be doing more seeing as the wholesale price has come down so much."

Furthermore, even the industry regulator Ofgem believes more can be done, stating recently that it expects consumers who opt to switch energy suppliers to benefit to the tune of £200 million.

The optimist, however, will see that at least the industry is moving in the right direction and now it is up to the consumers themselves to take the initiative and make cutting back on their gas and electricity outgoings their number one New Year's resolution.