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Cash-strapped householders could easily save themselves an average of £250 on their annual energy bills, according to research from the website iammoving.com. This is a scrap of good financial news in a week in which Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, announced that the consumer price index had reached a 16-year high of 3.3 per cent in May and said that it was likely to go above 4 per cent this year. Fuel bills were cited as one of the main drivers in the sharp increase: prices for gas and electricity have risen more than 13 per cent in the past year and are tipped to rise as much as 40 per cent this year.

The online address change service says that finding the best possible deal from our energy supplier falls off the bottom of the list in all the chaos of the typical home move. Yet according to the survey, householders in London, the Midlands and the North in particular could make big savings by seeking out the best available deal.

For example, a family living in a five-bedroom home in Birmingham could cut their energy bills by £460 by registering for a “dual-fuel” gas and electricity deal with the cheapest supplier. Even small properties can get in on the savings with a cut of £170 for a one-bedroom starter home. Londoners in larger properties could save £440; a switch for a similar-sized property in York could save £450.

Rising energy costs may encourage householders to adopt more eco-friendly habits and technology, something that the introduction of energy performance certificates in home information packs last year has proved slow to do. Such progress would be a rare piece of positive news - Atisreal, a European real estate adviser, has released research indicating that almost 90 per cent of housebuilders do not believe that all new homes will be carbon neutral by 2016.

The data shows how housebuilders are grappling with the escalating costs of achieving a zero-carbon property and the fall in house prices. Meeting the top level - 6 - in the Government's Code for Sustainable Homes would add tens of thousands of pounds to the build cost, but housebuilders say that it would not add any value to the house. Housebuilders surveyed by Atisreal report being keen to have their new homes assessed according to the code, but expect the homes that they build to achieve only a level 3 rating.

A level 3 home will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25 per cent over current building regulations and include features such as a high-efficiency condensing boiler, good insulation and no more than 105 litres of water used per person per day.

By contrast, a level 6 home will be completely zero-carbon, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 145 per cent on the current building regulations. This would mean using low and zero-carbon technologies such as solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and wind turbines. No more than 80 litres of water would be used per person per day.

The housing slowdown is affecting housebuilders so severely that there is little hope of a more concerted effort from them. Shares in the larger companies have fallen by as much as two thirds this year, and many of the smaller housebuilders are not building any new homes. The number of homes built in Britain in 2008 is expected to fall to its lowest level since 1945. Estimates look to be about 100,000, some 70,000 fewer than last year and 140,000 off the proposed government target of 240,000 for 2008.

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