How to Check You're Getting the Cheapest Electricity Prices

The sheer number of variables out in the world that can affect electricity prices is truly staggering. A friend who works in the stock markets once told me that he would monitor the weather forecasts along the Rhine in Germany to see how hard it was going to rain. If the annual rainfall fell below a certain level at the peak of summer, then the Rhine dries up, sometimes lowering the depth of water along the river by several metres.

If the water level drops too drastically then oil tankers cannot travel far enough along the river to deposit their cargo; consequentially, the oil supply is restricted. Demand remains constant but now there is insufficient supply to satisfy demand, which pushes gas and electricity prices up.

The level of water in the Rhine can have a trickle-down effect on the electricity prices in the UK - that's the reality of the global energy market. However, for the average consumer, keeping an eye on the local weather forecasts in Cologne is not a practical solution to judging how best to make savings and find the best electricity prices. In reality, this kind of specialist knowledge is best left to the experts and consumers should stick to a less rigorous set of guidelines to watch.

One of the easy things you can do is monitor when energy providers change their tariffs for electricity prices. These are not often announced in widespread advertising campaigns but are much more likely to occur on a company press release that will go largely unnoticed to the unwary observer. Signing up to the free newsletter from the top energy providers in the UK is a simple way to get regular updates sent to your email address from suppliers announcing the new tariff changes.

Alternatively, if you don't wish to be spammed with regular emails from energy providers, you can opt to check manually by going to each company's website. Each provider will have a news or media section dedicated to their press releases which you can check as often as you like to stay on top of which company currently has the best electricity prices.

Of course, you can save yourself time by using a price comparison site in order to sift through the current prices of the day to see which provider is the cheapest. Once you find a cheap provider with reasonable electricity prices, get yourself switched on to a new tariff and enjoy cheaper energy, without having to worry about the water levels in the Rhine.