Google searches for ‘energy bill help’ soar three thousand per cent after two more firms go bust
Google searches for ‘energy bill help’ exploded over three thousand percent in the UK on November 17, the same day two more energy suppliers collapsed.
Neon Energy and Social Energy Supply both ceased trading earlier this week, leaving 35,000 more customers in need of rescue from market regulator Ofgem.
Recent analysis of Google data from energy experts Boiler Central showed a massive spike in people looking for help with their energy bills.
This included a whopping 212 per cent increase in searches for cheaper heating alternatives including ‘portable heater’ on November 17 as well.
Since the start of September, 21 energy companies have ceased trading due to soaring wholesale costs, while half of the country’s dual-suppliers have crashed out of the market in the past 12 months.
Household gas bills have risen by 28.1 per cent and electricity bills 18.8 per cent in the year to October, according to the ONS.
Germany’s recent decision to halt approval of a gas pipeline from Russia has also caused wholesale gas prices to jump 17 per cent in the UK and EU.
Meanwhile, Ofgem is set to examine and potentially increase the energy price cap from its current £1,277 average use limit next year.
A spokesperson for Boiler Central said: “The rise in searches for help with energy bills in the UK, as well as an increase in searches for portable heaters, exposes how much recent soaring energy bills are affecting people.”
The organisation also pointed to grants and schemes available to help people on low incomes or universal credit with energy bills, such as a winter fuel payment or the warm home discount scheme – which could provide £140 discounts off electricity bills, in the form of vouchers for a household prepayment meter.