Energy price rises? We're like turkeys voting for Christmas But volatile prices are no excuse for not ringing your energy supplier and asking to be transferred onto its cheapest tariff. This is the biggest household bill many of us have and it only takes a minute to do. All of the suppliers have cheap deals that they can offer. If you have never switched you only have to ring and ask. Dedicated moneysavers can save more by doing something more complicated - waiting for other energy companies to play their cards so you can end up with the very cheapest deal and then deciding whether to switch to a variable deal or fix using a comparison site such as USwitch, Moneysupermarket or Energy Helpline. But for the fifty per cent of you who have never bothered to come off your standard tariff and know in your heart of hearts that you will never get round to this, the biggest win is available right now at the end of the phone. Find your energy bill. Do it now, and call your supplier before you turn your heating on this evening. Otherwise you're just telling British Gas and its rivals that you don't care what you pay them - a dangerous signal to send, indeed. Phil Bentley, the British Gas managing director, put the blame for most of the increase down to rising costs largely outside the company's control. "Britain's North Sea gas supplies are running out, and British Gas has to pay the going rate for gas in a competitive global marketplace," he said. Furthermore, the investment needed to maintain and upgrade the national grid to deliver energy to our customers' homes, and the costs of the Government's policies for a clean, energy-efficient Britain, are all going up. Britain's biggest energy supplier said the increase will come into effect on 16 November, just as the nights grow darker and colder. The annual dual fuel bill for British Gas customers with average consumption will increase by to £1,238, the company said.