Consumers keen to manage money as well as possible in the current economic climate may be delighted by what is clearly snowballing into something of an energy price war.
Last year brought misery for utility bill payers as energy firms hiked their prices. With the providers insisting this was due to rising wholesale costs, all six of the main suppliers put up their prices, with the average increase being over 14 per cent.
This month has brought better news as reductions by minor suppliers like Co-operative Energy and Ovo brought a response earlier this week from EDF Energy, which trimmed five per cent from its gas prices.
Now, British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) have followed suit. The former has lowered its electricity costs by five per cent with immediate effect, claiming it is now the cheapest electricity supplier on the market, based on "standard consumption" levels.
SSE has revealed it will lower gas prices by 4.5 per cent from March 26th, which it said will trim the typical annual bill by £28.
Its director of generation and supply Alistair Philips-Davies said: "I hope that this package of measures will give our customers some respite from the seemingly endless rises in household costs that we have seen in recent times."
Of course, such news will be positive for consumers and consumer groups have welcomed it. But chief executive of Citizens Advice Gillian Guy said there should be more to come, remarking: "Suppliers can do more and the rest of the energy companies need to follow suit - wholesale prices have dropped and customers must feel these benefits as soon as possible."
But while lower energy bills may bring some respite from rising prices and squeezed incomes, consumers who really want to step up their budget management to cope with an age of austerity might wish to make use of a budget planner.
This can help identify where money is going on all areas of household spending, not just bills but also food, leisure, clothes, pets and anything else.
By establishing where large amounts of money are being spent, those areas may then be focused on to see where costs could be cut.
Having cheaper energy can help, but there is plenty else that pro-active consumers can do to help themselves.
