Energy News

Brits live in fear of their bills

Thursday 29 September, 2011

By Martin Fagan

Rising cost of living means households dread receiving bills and some delay opening them for weeks.

The rising cost of bills for utilities, credit cards and other services has left cash-strapped Brits so stressed they experience everything from mild tension to a full-blown panic attack before opening envelopes, according to a new survey.

Increasing consumer worries over how they will pay spiralling bills is giving rise to a new state of “bill phobia” among UK adults, with a quarter of Brits admitting they get tense before they open their bills and one in five so stressed they delay opening the envelopes.

Over half said the biggest cause of stress was the simple fact that bills just keep rising, which meant they struggled to deal with them.

Nearly a third of worried Brits said they panic because they have more money going out of their current account every month than they have coming in.

Since the start of 2011, the “big six” energy companies that supply 99% of UK households with gas and electricity have raised their prices on two separate occasions. The latest round of price increases was announced over the summer, when Scottish Power, British Gas, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), E.ON, npower and EDF Energy all hiked prices by an average of 17.8% for gas and 11.1% for electricity.

“Consumers are battling with bill increases coupled with a fall in disposable income, so it’s understandable that a bill phobia has developed amongst almost 13 million UK adults who now dread their bills,” said Clare Francis, personal finance expert at moneysupermarket.com.

"The worst thing people can do is bury their heads in the sand. So people should be reviewing all of their outgoings as a priority to see where they can get better value and free up vital cash. Bills have to be paid and debts won't go away, so ignoring the problem will just make the situation worse in the long term.

"It's also really important not to forget that there is help available,” she added. “If you feel things have got too much and you can no longer cope financially, speak to one of the free-debt charities such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) or Citizens Advice.”