Post Author: Marghaid Howie, Gas and Electric Reporter

Ofgem wants suppliers to reduce the maze of tariffs, and SSE and British Gas has been the first to react.

SSE, which includes Atlantic, Southern Electric, Scottish Hydro and Swalec, has removed its online-only tariffs, giving access to customers who prefer to manage their account by phone and with paper bills.

British Gas has withdrawn its cheapest online tariff, Websaver 13, so it now only has one online variable tariff and one fixed, in addition to its normal standard and green tariffs.

However, are these changes really in the customer’s favour in the short term? It seems that this winter it will just leave consumers with fewer choices to keep their gas and electric bills as low as possible.

Customers on standard rates across all of the Big Six suppliers have now had their prices increased, with EDF’s last to come into effect on 10th November 2011.

There are still some cheap energy tariffs available at around £300 less than the typical £1,345 bill. What’s more, several of these are fixed rate tariffs, giving you the peace of mind that your prices can’t go up next year, or even the year after that.

Here are the Top 10 Cheapest Tariffs:-

* based on typical tariff costing £1,345 per year. All calculations are for an average usage dual fuel household paying by monthly direct debit. Average usage as defined by OFGEM is 16,500 kWh pa of gas and 3,300 kWh pa of electricity. Correct as of 10th Nov 2011