Simon Moynihan

As we move into October, home energy bills are arriving and UK households are seeing in bold print the effect of the summer's staggering price increases. It's estimated that bills this winter will be 40% higher than they were last year and experts believe that without government intervention, prices will increase again in the New Year.

These shock price increases have led many people to take action, and gas and electricity comparison services have seen a surge in the number of people checking for better deals - more people switched suppliers in August than any other month this year.

Energy comparison services are a great way to find the best deal on home energy, but the results are only as good as the information you provide. If you want to make sure you sign up to the best deal, you must know how much gas and electricity you use. Unlike our European neighbours, this information is not on our bills, but can be obtained with one short call to your supplier.

Knowing how much you use is important because the suppliers compete in different niches of the market. Some are cheaper for high users, some are cheaper for average users and there are an array of tariffs catering for everything from electricity only users, customers with Economy 7 night storage heaters and prepay customers to name a few.

Before contacting your supplier, check your meters and write down the readings. Call your energy company, give them the readings and ask how much gas and electricity you have used in the previous 12 months. You will be given your usage in kilowatt hours (kW/h). If you have an Economy 7 meter, make sure they tell you how much electricity was used at the night rate. The average home in the UK uses 3300 kW/h of electricity and 20,500 kW/h of gas per year.

When you know your annual consumption, use an Energywatch accredited comparison service like the ours to check for the best supplier. You'll be able to see how much your current supplier will charge in the coming year and how much all other suppliers will charge for the same amount of gas and electricity.

Running a comparison based on your annual spend or your monthly direct debits can provide you with a good idea of the best supplier but recent price changes and inaccuracies with direct debit can sometimes skew the results. So make that phone call. It will save you money, and if you want to try and reduce your usage in the coming year, it's the best information you can have. Best of all, if you switch, you should be able to get your direct debit just right, so it'll only need adjusting if prices change.

When you look at switching, do be aware of tariffs that may change in price soon. After the recent price hikes, two of the major suppliers kept their internet tariffs unchanged, scooped up customers looking to switch to a cheaper provider and then increased prices before many of them even went on supply. A number of quality price comparison sites, including ours, have now introduced price change alerts on their results pages to help warn customers of imminent rate hikes like these.

It is also worth being aware of energy company reps and promotions. At this time of year, the big suppliers know that people are thinking of switching before the colder winter weather takes hold, so they up their efforts to get new customers by phoning your home, calling door-to-door and running big promotions.

Be careful! If you are being pitched to switch, the company representatives may be right that their company is cheaper than yours, but they are not showing you the whole picture. There will almost certainly be a better deal available elsewhere because door-steppers and cold-callers only sell standard high-price deals. And worse, they can rarely if ever put you on their own company's best deal. Using an accredited energy comparison service to see the whole market will get you the best results.

For the 50% of us that have never switched, now should be the time. Prices have skyrocketed of course, but average user paying by cheque is handing over almost £20 per month more than he needs to. Gas and electricity are undifferentiated products, electricity from one company won't run your appliances any better than electricity from another, so why pay more than you need for it?

To get the best deal:

• Read your meters
• Call your supplier and provide the readings
• Ask how much gas and electricity you've used in the previous 12 months
• Compare all deals using an accredited energy comparison service
• Watch out for tariffs that may change in price soon
• Find to the cheapest deal or the one that suits your needs best
• Remember that paying by direct debit and managing your account online is usually cheapest
• Switch!

Energy companies respond to market forces and rarely reward loyalty. They usually only offer the best deals to new customers. So play them at their own game, find the best deal and be a new customer. It could save you a bundle.