Cost of energy and insurance has risen an inflation-busting 33% in just four years

The annual cost of energy, car cover and home insurance has risen £112 during the past year, data shows.

Prices have increased substantially since 2015, with an average difference of £675, according to comparison website, Compare the Market.

While the cost of energy, car insurance and home insurance averaged a total of £2,032 in 2015, this was £2,707 in 2019 – an inflation-busting jump of 33 per cent.

If these bills had risen in line with inflation since 2015, they would total a far slimmer £2,236.

This was calculated using our inflation calculator which uses official UK inflation data to show how prices have altered. 

Compare the Market says the price jump represents a ‘relentless rise’ in the cost of household bills and doesn’t include other expensive outgoings, such as council tax, broadband and water.

It analysed data on its website to find that energy bills are responsible for the vast majority of cost increases, with annual bills surging £106 over the last year.

The average bill is now £1,813 – increasing from £1,706 in 2018 but a much bigger jump from 2015 when the average cost of energy was £1,289.

This is despite the energy price cap being introduced at the beginning of 2019 -launched in a bid to keep down the cost of energy for those on standard variable tariffs.

In fact, the price cap has seen many providers hike their prices, in particular the Big Six suppliers, which account for a large majority of the market.

The regular price increases have led to an exodus of customers from more traditional energy suppliers who have flocked to smaller providers.

However, thanks to a series of recent supplier failures, many customers have since returned back to the Big Six, while wholesale prices have dropped in recent months, meaning some cuts may be on the horizon. 

Meanwhile, the cost of car insurance has remained mainly flat for the year with the average cost of motor insurance only increasing by £1 to £729 over the past twelve months.

Car insurance prices have been spiking towards the end of 2019, according to Compare the Market’s premium drivers report, with a £23 increase in motor premiums over the last quarter.

There has also been indications of further rises to come as a result of proposed delays to whiplash reform, government changes to the Ogden rate, as well as inflation in the size of claims people are making.

The cost of home insurance has also stayed broadly flat, increasing by just £5 to £164 when compared to 2018.

When comparing different areas of Britain, Londoners were found to be paying by far the most for their annual household bills at an average of £3,129 – more than £400 above the national average.

The West Midlands is the next most expensive region with household bills costing an average of £2,910 in 2019.

However, the cheapest area to live in is Scotland where households spend an average of just £2,470 per year on bills.

Customers should switch to see if they could save money by changing provider or switching tariff.  

Simon McCulloch, director at Compare the Market, said: ‘A lot of attention during the general election was devoted to financial difficulties that many people face around the UK.

‘These statistics are a stark reminder of not only the high cost of essential services, but of the huge increases that have been seen in the past few years. 

‘The average cost of energy, motor and home insurance is now £675, higher than 2015 – far above the rate of inflation.

‘Shopping around for a new provider is clearly an important step that we should all be taking to combat these rising prices.

‘With the average saving for these products standing at £482, shopping around clearly goes a long way to mitigating the dramatic bill increases we have seen in recent years.’