Customers of all major utilities risk confusion after being contacted about a price change effective January 1.
The biggest providers have all confirmed to the BBC that they will change their prices at the beginning of the new year.
But the changes will likely only add pennies, not pounds, to the bills.
The Government says a typical annual bill will still be £2,500 but maximum rates are being updated.
It will affect the UK’s 12 energy regions from early January and means suppliers will be allowed to change their prices up to these new highs.
News of a price change has worried many customers at a time when prices have already risen dramatically and bills are difficult for many to understand.
The government’s energy price guarantee means the average customer on a standard variable tariff pays 34p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electricity and 10.3p per kWh for gas. At these rates, a typical energy consuming household pays £2,500 per year.
However, the prices are only an average value. There are different tariffs depending on which of the 12 UK regions you live in and how you pay your bills – by direct debit, regular bills or using a prepaid meter.
The government has updated Energy Price Guarantee tariffs from January 1st, allowing businesses to make small price changes for almost any customer.
Generally, the changes are fractions of a cent, so customers are urged not to panic if they receive an email mentioning a new price. Whilst there is only tinkering around the edges for most, there are differences across the UK.
The biggest changes affect customers who pay for their energy in monthly or quarterly bills. Prices are rising in all 14 areas for both gas and electricity, with the biggest changes being in North Wales and Merseyside and London, both of which rise by more than 1p per kWh for electricity.
The billed price in Merseyside will be the highest in the UK at 38.26p per kWh, more than 4p above the government’s oft-cited average price of 34p.
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Direct debit customers in Merseyside and North Wales will see the electricity price they are allowed to be charged increased by 0.4p, while the electricity price for people in the northern areas of north-east England will fall by 0.4p.
Electricity tariffs were also reduced in eight areas for prepaid customers. However, the biggest increase is again for Liverpool and North Wales, which posted a 0.4p increase.
Scottish Power, Bulb, EDF, British Gas and Shell have all confirmed to the BBC that they will fully pass the government-approved changes on to customers.
Octopus said it would pass cuts, but not increases, to customers. The company said it will absorb the increases, except for Economy 7 customers. EOn is making changes to direct debit and billing customers, but not increasing rates for prepaid customers.
Although the price cap set by regulator Ofgem will be increased in January, the government guarantee replaces it, meaning the government will have to pay the difference to suppliers to cover that price increase.
“Ofgem’s price cap change as of 1 January means that some customers will receive notifications of price changes up or down from their energy suppliers, but these changes will mostly be small,” a government spokesman said.
He added that Ofgem’s price cap has been set at different levels for different regions based on the cost of supplying electricity, and the energy price guarantee provides a fixed discount on tariffs, so these small differences remain.
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