The average annual household energy bill decreased by 3.5% to £1,298 in 2015, the latest figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show.

For gas, the average bill – which takes into consideration credit, direct debit and pre-payment meter bills – was £38 lower at £714 in 2015 compared with the previous year of £752.

For customers paying by standard credit the average bill was £760. For those paying by direct debit, it was £681, and for those on pre-payment, it was £760.

But for electricity, the reduction was smaller with the average bill £8 lower from £592 in 2014 to £584 in 2015.

And for those paying by standard credit, bills averaged £615. For those paying by direct debit, it was £559, and on pre-payment, £618.

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Overall, across all payment types, the average energy bill fell from £1,344 in 2014 to £1,298 last year.

All six of the major domestic energy suppliers decreased gas prices at the beginning of 2015, reflecting the falls in wholesale gas prices.

There were no price changes from the six major suppliers (British Gas, EDF, E.On, NPower, Scottish Power and SSE) for electricity customers in 2015.

The DECC statistics also reveal that switching rates among consumers rose by 13% for electricity and for gas between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the fourth quarter of 2015.