People in North Wales, Cheshire and parts of Merseyside pay the highest tariff for their electricity under the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee.
Customers in this region are paying 36p per unit, compared with the average of 34p and the lowest of 32p, new figures show.
Over a year, those on a typical direct debit dual-fuel bill pay £121 more than those in the cheapest region.
Energy regulator Ofgem says the price differences “reflect how much it costs to transport energy to where you live”.
It adds: “The charging regime … is a way of splitting the costs of running and maintaining the energy grid.”
The BBC has analyzed official figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Ofgem.
The new figures show the price per unit of electricity and gas under the Energy Price Guarantee in the UK’s 14 industrial regions. These departments date back to the structure of the power plants prior to nationalization in 1947.
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North Wales and Mersey – known as ManWeb – extends from Aberystwyth to Anglesey and as far east as Warrington and Crewe, including Liverpool. There are around 1.4 million households in the region.
It’s not the most expensive region for gas, paying just a fraction above the 10.3p average. That leaves a typical dual-fuel electricity and gas bill the most expensive at £2,566 a year, higher than the typical £2,500 quoted by the government for their guarantee.
The cheapest region for electricity is the North East of England, where 1.5 million households now pay just over 32p for each unit. Typical households in this region pay around £2,445 a year.
Prepaid customers in North Wales and Mersey, and those who pay quarterly there, also have the highest typical annual bills – £2,621 and £2,785 respectively – as subscription fees are higher and flat rates for these payment methods are the highest in the UK.
On October 1st, the day the new prices went into effect, Ben Saltmarsh of energy poverty charity National Energy Action Wales gave his reaction to the BBC Radio 4 piggy bank.
“It’s a big question if that’s fair. It’s very significant. We have a growing number of people living at home without heating or electricity for long periods of time, which is detrimental to their health. Every cent counts,” he said.
The Energy Price Guarantee will apply to Northern Ireland from November, but instead of a capped price per unit there will be a rebate of 17p per unit of electricity and 4.2p per unit of gas. The savings are retroactive to October.
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