Energy

The average household will save around £30 a year on energy bills from 2017 as a result of a shake-up of the Government's energy efficiency scheme, Chancellor George Osborne announced today in the Autumn Statement.

Co-operative Energy has blamed ongoing problems with its new IT system as the reason why it was the most complained about energy provider in the third quarter of the year.

An energy provider found guilty of a number of failings including mis-selling and not telling customers about price hikes is to pay £250,000 to charity Citizens Advice. And affected Economy Energy customers may also be due compensation.

The prices providers pay for energy – known as wholesale prices – have fallen to historic lows with gas prices dropping by 20% over the last year, and electricity prices down 15% over the same period.

British Gas customers should change their passwords now as the energy giant has revealed it suffered a "data leak" last night affecting just over 2,000 customers.

Switching between household utility suppliers should become quicker and easier under proposals unveiled by the Government in a bid to help millions of consumers save billions on bills.