RWE npower, one of the main gas and electricity suppliers in the UK, recently predicted a rise in energy bills of up to 20 percent by the year 2020. This is concerning most energy suppliers, as consumers tend to think that the majority of profits from their energy bills are going into the company's pockets. In fact, companies typically control about 16 percent of your energy bill, so they don't have a lot of say in how high your bills rise.

The main reason RWE claims energy bills will be increasing to an average of £1,487 per year by 2020 is because of government subsidies and taxes that promote clean energy and renewable power. Obviously, RWE has a stake in the matter, but even when gas is phased out as an energy source, our current electricity suppliers will likely own the main power stations that produce whatever types of renewable energy power the grid at that time. Any company in this position would want to look to the future, and it's smart that you take the same steps as a consumer.

"Why" Is Not The Most Important Question

Gas companies, politicians, government agencies, and environmental groups almost universally agree that the price of a power bill is going to be increasing over the next five to ten years. Clearly, that is not the issue at stake for each of these groups and their own interest in the price rises – they're interested in promoting the solutions they feel best to our energy dilemma.

Yet for the consumer, the ultimate goal is likely the lowest possible power bill, so for you, the reasons for the increase are much less important than ways to counter it and bring down your bill.

Can Prices Decrease In The Long Term?

The goal of many clean energy initiatives is to help prices decrease, or at least remain stable, over the long term relative to the price of gas. Since worldwide gas prices are rising, a fact that nobody can dispute and the government attributes the forecasted price rises to, power bills would be very expensive if we continued to rely on the current power mix. As such, it's almost inevitable that price rises in the short term would be necessary to pay for the switch to clean energy, but hopefully, they will decrease again in the long run as energy costs less to generate and can be found for free through solar and wind power, for instance.

Keeping Your Power Bills Down Will Help

To help pay for your power bill in the short term, keeping your consumption of power down is a good strategy. There are lots of energy-saving strategies you can use to decrease your reliance upon the energy grid, including everything from switching lightbulbs to repainting your roof. You can take advantage of Green Deal assessments that provide customised suggestions based on your household. Some programmes exist to help you pay for an energy-efficient boiler, give you discounts on your heating bills if you are at risk of fuel poverty, and so on.

Individual Sustainable Energy Might Be The Way Of The Future

Government schemes promote the installation of personal solar power – power panels attached to your roof that generate energy. You are rewarded at a certain fixed rate per kWh generated, no matter whether you feed that energy into the grid or not. It's possible that the future will be focused on ensuring every household can generate its own energy one way or another if possible. You can get an early start on that by assessing whether your household is right for solar panels or solar hot water heating. This could help you drastically decrease your electricity bills, if you can decrease your reliance on energy from the grid.

Current disagreements between gas and electricity energy suppliers, the government, various political groups, and energy groups make it difficult to determine just why these price increases are going to happen, but it's good to pay attention to the various reports that bandy about potential average energy bills in the future. Most groups agree that prices are going to go up, though they might disagree on why the increase will happen and what the best way to face this change is. As a consumer, you can be armed with information on what the future will bring so you can start to plan for future energy-efficiency improvements in your household.