It may seem like an incredible figure, but average energy bills of ?200 a month could become a reality in only 10 years time. Those figures are nearly five times today?s average. This huge increase in price is predicted based on the continuation of current trends in energy usage but also on the new government energy rollouts in the next five years, which will secure long term supply but increase the cost of actual household bills by an average of ?548 a year.

Even without the government costs, consumers should expect energy bills of around ?4,100 by 2020 simply if current pricing trends continue. This price factors in both inflation and volatility in the market based on data from the 5 years.

If this seems like shock tactics to you, you only need to take a look back to 2004 when the average energy bill was half the price it is today ? a much more palatable ?580 a year.

The market is often at the mercy of volatile world demand for energy which is set to increase once the recession ends. Energy demand from emerging economies like China and India will push prices even higher at the same time that North Sea Oil will begin to run dry.

Government attempts to make households more energy efficient will definitely help but will only serve to cancel out the effects of the growing number of single person households and a constant reliance on high powered gadgets just as laptops and mobile phones.

The research was conducted by consumer site uSwitch.com. Director of Consumer Policy, Ann Robinson stated: ?This is a wake-up call for us all. The ?5,000 a year energy bill may seem like an outside possibility, but we have to remember that energy bills doubled in the last five years alone.? She went on to state that we were entering an era of ?high cost energy?.

To avoid paying more than you need to when it comes to your household energy bills, try to cut down on the biggest use of energy in your home ? heating. Also try to make little steps to cut down usage such as turning off lights and electrical equipment when not in use. Even small changes could add up to large amount of money over the course of year.

It?s also never been a better time to make your property more energy efficient, especially with government subsidies and funds available to make sure you make the most of your own property in terms of energy conservation. Spending a little bit now to make sure your house is as insulated as possible could save you thousands of pounds in the future, especially if uSwitch?s predictions come true.

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Not all appears to be doom and gloom in the recession this week as Halifax have revealed that the cost of running the average house fell from ?8,766 in 2007/8 to only ?7,298 this year. However, although the average went down, not everyone is better off. Only those who own their homes and receive a variable or tracker mortgage were affected, as the falls are directly related to income rates. If you?re a tenant or unfortunate enough not be on a fixed rate mortgage deal, you?ll have seen the cost of running a house rise rather than fall.

This is because despite cheaper mortgage prices, just about everything else has increased in cost. Energy now costs a massive 13% more, water 5% and council tax and other domestic rates have risen by 3%. Even with these rises though, the massive 47% saving on variable deals still meant that costs were down on interest repayments thanks to continued cuts by the Bank of England.

Halifax economist Suren Thiru said: “Such a sizeable drop in the costs of running a home will help to ease the pressure on household disposable income, providing some welcome relief to homeowners. Those living in London saw the biggest fall in housing costs over the past year, although the average annual expense of running a home in the capital remains higher than elsewhere.”

This follows other news this week that retail sales are climbing once again, and that the Council of Mortgage lenders expect to see a 10,000 house reduction in the number of houses being repossessed.

However, Chris Tapp director of Credit Action, a UK debt charity stated: “For a lot of people, things are still very tight and for significant numbers, life has become more, not less expensive. For those who don?t have mortgages, as well as borrowers on relatively high fixed rates or SVRs, this does not mean an awful lot, and it doesn’t take account of higher pressure on incomes from pay cuts or unemployment.”

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