By Florian Ritzmann

With the first quarter behind us, now is a good time to take stock of what has happened to British energy consumers since the start of 2008.

Energy prices have shot up by 14% in the last three months on the back of surging gas and electricity wholesale cost, the price at which energy suppliers buy energy in bulk. The result of the price increases has been felt by every household, with the average cost rising by about £150 per year in one go. In total, UK energy consumers are being asked to pay in excess of £2 billion more for their gas and electricity this year.

UK energy consumers who have not switched suppliers before, can now expect to be spending between £1,017 to £1,050 per year for their gas and electricity, when billed on their suppliers standard rates*.

Details of recent price increases by supplier are below:

British Gas: 15% Gas increase, 15% Electricity increase

EDF Energy: 12.9% Gas increase, 7.9% Electricity increase

E.ON: 15% Gas increase, 9% Electricity increase

Npower: 13% Gas increase, 17% Electricity increase

Southern Electric/Scottish Hydro/Swalec/Atlantic Electric and Gas: 16% Gas increase, 17% Electricity increase

ScottishPower/Manweb: 15% Gas increase, 14% Electricity increase

So what now?

Despite these increases, the potential for savings from switching suppliers is actually better now than it was at the beginning of the year. This is because suppliers are actively competing with each other, trying to win new customers with alternative discounted rates that are typically not available to their own existing customers!

Here is how the savings have developed in the last three months:

The average annual switching savings presented to our customers in early January was £163, with high energy usage customers able to save to save around £450.

Since then, the average saving has increased significantly, the overall average saving from switching gas and electricity providers for all our customers by the end of March had climbed by 25% to £202 per year, with the savings for maximum users as high as £503.**

So not all is lost and it is possible to claw back at least some of the recent increases by switching suppliers! Energy providers are actively competing for your business with attractive prices and switching supplier online using our comparison service is as easy as ever - but you do need to act, whether you have switched before or not.

Doing nothing at this point means that you will be paying more for your gas and electricity than you have to.

And you might not even have to actually switch supplier to get the best savings: British Gas and Npower are two suppliers who have made their cheapest tariffs available to their current customers, and you can upgrade your account almost instantly using our comparison service, no strings attached!

Remember: You won't lock yourself into a minimum contract with your new supplier (meaning, you can switch as often as you like), so the only thing you can lose out on is an average annual saving of £202

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*average gas and electricity consumption of 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity

**Average savings January period represents the average of savings quoted to 2,600 users between 26/12/07 and 06/01/08. March period represents the average of savings quoted to 4,500 users between 19/03/08 and 27/03/08. Maximum savings for both periods represents the average saving of the top 10% of energy users in the sample groups.