THESE energy companies are hiking up their prices! Will you be affected?

As the weather warms up in the run up to spring many homeowners will be looking forward to lower energy bills.

But for some Brits the start of the new season will see the opposite trend taking place, as four of the 'Big Six' energy companies have announced that they will be increasing their prices.

British Gas has announced a 10.5 per cent hike in its standard variable tariff, which equates to an increase of £119, bringing the bill up to £1,254 a year for a dual-fuel household with 'typical use'.

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Last week Npower raised prices for 1 million standard variable tariff customers by 10 per cent – increasing annual bills for this group to £1,254.

These figures were matched by EDF who also upped their standard variable tariff by 10 per cent to £1,254 for a typical household. E.ON also increased prices by 10 per cent for 1.8 million customers.

The changes to standard variable tariffs will come into effect on April 1st.

They come just weeks after energy regulator Ofgem increased its price cap for default energy tariffs. Now set to £1,254 a year for a typical households in response to higher wholesale costs.

'Eight million households already know they’ll be part of possibly the largest price rise to ever happen on a single day, when the new cap kicks in on 1 April' explains Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at uSwitch.com.

'With more suppliers expected to raise their prices to the new cap, over half the energy customers in Britain could be affected. But they have a chance to escape being part of the grim statistics. Instead they can save hundreds of pounds by switching away.'

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Will you consider switching suppliers in response to the increases?