Cheapest Dual Fuel Energy in 2021

Dual fuel deals refer to having a single supplier for both of your energy needs - gas and electricity. Although the UK’s general trends suggest that people purchase gas and electricity from different suppliers, having a dual fuel deal can be a great way of saving money.

Wondering what the advantages of having a dual fuel deal are? Well, there are many. The most obvious one is the best dual fuel deals suited for you can help you save money! Many suppliers offer discounts to the customers that decided to purchase both of the products from them.

The reason behind the discounts offered on dual fuel deals is that this helps the supplier build a clientele as they would not want to lose the customer to its competitor for his different energy needs. Hence, both you and the supplier benefit from a cheap dual fuel energy deal.

Switching to a cheaper dual fuel energy deal is not as tricky as it may look. The first thing you might want to do is compare dual fuel deals available in the UK. For this, you can use different energy comparison tools available online, which will help you shortlist the cheapest dual fuel deals in the UK, as per your own needs.

However, it is essential to note that the best dual fuel deals available may differ from area to area. This is because the suppliers supplying energy may vary from region to region, so energy comparison tools ask for your postal codes before providing you with a list of deals available.

Apart from the postal codes, once you compare dual fuel deals, you might be required to factor in your current energy plans/bills and the units of energy you plan on consuming in the future. While emphasizing the importance of energy comparison, it should be noted that sometimes single fuel tariffs can be cheaper than dual fuel deals. Hence, energy comparison is essential.

In October, November, and January 2020, it was found out that you can save around £220 per year after picking the cheapest energy deal. The figure is compared with a tariff costing the maximum permitted by the energy price cap and average household usage of gas and electricity.

But right now, there are no electricity and gas deals that will help you save more than £166, according to the January 2021 statistics. Considering this situation, switching to a cheaper dual fuel energy deal can be the right way to go. Following are a few companies that offer the cheapest dual fuel deals in the UK:

• PFP Energy
• Simplicity
• Green
• Avro
• Outfox the Market
• E.ON

The annual costs of energy from the above-stated companies for low, medium, and heavy users range from £544-£568, £784-£854, and £1086-£1215, respectively. From the available data, it can be inferred that the cheapest dual fuel deals come as a courtesy of smaller energy companies.

However, you should keep it in mind that given the area you reside in, the type of deals and the number of suppliers available may differ. As we enter the year 2021, Ofgem raised the price cap for default domestic energy deals to cover the suppliers’ extra costs. A typical consumer of electricity and gas is expected to see a rise of £96 in his bills, going up to a total of £1,138 per year.

The rise in price caps is due to the ongoing pandemic, as the wholesale markets had to face a massive sum of costs that needed to be covered. Other than that, allowances were supposed to be given to the energy suppliers, keeping in mind that the households weren’t able to clear their bills on time.

As per the Citizen’s Advice, research done in December suggests that 2.1 million households were behind on their energy bills, accounting for a rise of 600,000 households before the pandemic.

Even if the households decided to switch to a different energy deal, the cost of the so-called fixed-rate deals has also been rising. The cheapest fixed tariff deal went up by more than £50 since the last three months of the year, capping at £851.

In order to save as much as possible on utility bills, households have started to shift towards cheaper dual fuel deals. This is the reason why switching towards dual fuel energy deals has started to become a norm.

If you are somebody with a prepayment meter and wonder if you are eligible for a dual fuel deal, and that too at a cheaper rate, the answer is yes. You can switch from one prepayment meter energy provider to another, and this can save money on the top-ups. However, the ideal situation would be to switch towards standard meters instead.

Before switching towards a cheaper dual fuel deal in 2021, you must consider its downsides too. One important consideration is that a dual fuel deal may not be cheaper every time. Although dual fuel deals are traditionally viewed as the cheaper option, it is not always the case. You must check your average annual bill estimates for both dual tariffs and single tariffs to ensure that you are getting a good deal.

Furthermore, if the supplier of your dual fuel deal decides to increase the energy prices, your utility price can go up by 2x. And if you choose to switch to a different supplier or an energy deal while you have already signed a contract with somebody else, you must contemplate the exit fee attached with the current agreement.

Conclusively, given the UK’s energy market in 2021, a dual fuel deal can help you save money, although the energy suppliers may not always signpost them that way all the time. In addition to that, cheaper dual fuel energy deals offer enhanced convenience, too, since you will have to deal with one supplier for both of your utility bills.

Often, choosing the correct dual fuel deal can be a balancing act between getting the cheapest tariff and finding a low maintenance deal.