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Homeowners lose £70m per year to energy providers
18/04/2008 11:17:00
Over two million households waste an estimated £70 million each year through signing up to their utility provider's 'deemed tariff', one financial expert has claimed.
Fool.co.uk said that consumers who move house get put into a 'deemed tariff' which is typically 25 per cent more expensive than the cheapest offer available from the same supplier.
David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, said that moving house is an expensive exercise that can be exacerbated if consumers unsuspectingly sign up to penal energy tariffs.
"New occupants should not delay in switching away from deemed tariffs, even if it means transferring to a monthly direct-debit tariff with the same lender first. The longer you wait, the longer you will be on the most expensive tariff," he added.
While switching supplier can be done immediately upon moving into a new house, it can take up to four weeks for the billing to be transferred, warned the firm.
Previous research from Fool.co.uk showed that 16 per cent of Brits live in fear that their property price may plummet even further.
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