Wales clobbered by highest energy bills in UK

Wales has the highest energy bills in the whole of the UK, with households spending an average of £800 a year on their bills – £60 more than the UK average (£757)
Of the UK’s top ten local authorities with the highest energy bills, four – Ceredigion, Gwynedd, Carmarthenshire, and Powys – are in Wales
London is the UK region with the cheapest energy bills (£606 a year) and Tower Hamlets in London is the local authority with the cheapest energy bills

Wales has the highest energy bills in the whole of the UK, new research can reveal.

Households in Wales spend an average of £800 a year on their bills – £60 more than the average UK bill (£757), and nearly £200 more than London, the UK region with the cheapest energy bills.

The research, by energy experts Boiler Central used new ONS data to analyse the energy bills in every region and local authority in England and Wales, to discover which area had the highest energy bills, and would be worst affected by the 54% increase in energy bills in April.

Of the main UK regions, Yorkshire and the Humber and the West Midlands have the second most expensive energy bills (with residents paying £779 a year), followed by the East Midlands at £776 a year.

Research also shows that of the top ten UK local authorities with the highest energy costs, four are in Wales.

Ceredigion has the highest energy bills in Wales and the second highest in the UK, with residents paying £1092 a year on their energy bills – £335 more than the average UK bill, and £669 more than Tower Hamlets, the UK area with the lowest energy bills.

Gwynedd has the second most expensive energy bills in Wales, and the fourth highest in the UK. In Gwynedd, households pay £1016 a year for their energy bills – £259 more than the UK average and nearly £600 more than Tower Hamlets.

Carmarthenshire also has some of the highest energy bills in Wales, and comes fifth in the UK for expensive energy. Households in Carmarthenshire spend £958 on their energy bills – £201 more than the UK average and £593 more than Tower Hamlets. In Powys, households spend £953 on their energy bills which is £196 more than the average UK bill, and £530 more than Tower Hamlets.

Myles Robinson, a spokesperson for Boiler Central, commented on the findings:

“Energy bills are already sky-high and with bills soaring by a predicted £600 in April, it is concerning to see the stark regional differences in energy bills across the UK. In some areas of the UK, Wales and the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall, residents are paying well over £500 a year on more on energy than the cheapest places, all of which are situated in London. It is those homes which are least energy efficient which will suffer the most from rising bills, as escaping heat will mean that your heating system works harder to compensate for the lack of warmth, costing you more.

The government is advocating heat pumps as a solution to soaring energy bills, but these will not be effective without proper floor insulation – which 65 percent of homes in the UK currently lack. While households can use some hacks to insulate their homes better, for example, buying inexpensive pipe insulation from a DIY store, unless something serious is done about the energy crisis, we will see many more households driven into poverty.

Some energy suppliers offer hardship funds, where you can get up to £750 off your energy bills if you are living in fuel poverty, so if you are struggling, it’s worth checking if your supplier offers this”