16th Feb 2015 11:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change on Monday launched a new 'Power To Switch' campaign after it said there are 13.5 million households that could save over GBP200 per year by switching energy suppliers.
The Department said millions of households are missing out on their share of GBP2.7 billion worth of savings by sticking with their existing energy company and said it has launched the new campaign to encourage people to switch suppliers and to save money by visiting its new website - www.BeAnEnergyShopper.com.
The Power to Switch campaign will run for four weeks and will include national, regional and online advertising to try to encourage people to switch and save.
"With 26 energy companies on the market and some fixed deals GBP100 cheaper than they were a year ago, there?s never been a better time to find a great deal, switch and save," said the Department in a statement.
UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey launched the campaign on Monday and said the Department has "reformed the market so that there are more suppliers, more competition, and a much faster and simpler process to switch. That means millions of people can switch supplier and save hundreds of pounds today."
"With Ofgem?s strengthened Confidence Code for price comparison sites, people will be able to have greater confidence than ever before that by switching, they?ll see real savings," added Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change minister.
The UK government said it has reformed the market by halving switching times, encouraging new suppliers into the market, which has brought the total number of independent suppliers to 20, and working with the UK gas and electricity regulator Ofgem to make energy bills clearer for customers, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
In January, Ofgem urged consumers to switch to a fixed-price energy tariff, despite major firms committing to introducing price cuts to their variable tariffs in February, and said independent suppliers, rather than the so-called 'Big Six' suppliers, are offering the cheapest deals.
The 'Big Six' energy firms include EDF Energy, E.On, nPower, SSE PLC, Scottish Power Ltd, which is part of the Iberdola Group and British Gas, which is part of Centrica PLC.
All of the 'Big Six' suppliers announced cuts to their annual bills in 2015 as recommended by Ofgem, but the regulator said independent suppliers were offering cheaper fixed tariffs than the larger suppliers, stating independent suppliers' fixed deals averaged around GBP915 per year, compared with an average variable tariff bill being around GBP1,165 per year, according to the regulator.
Later in January, the regulator said large energy providers, or the 'Big Six', are set to experience a small increase in profits during 2015, because future wholesale gas prices have fallen by more than the cuts made by the companies to household bills.
However, Energy UK, the trade association of the energy market which includes the 'Big Six' energy firms, responded by calling the claims made by Ofgem "wildly exaggerated", and said Ofgem estimates had been "consistently out over the last four years by as much as 200%".
Centrica shares were down 2.5% to 279.71 pence per share on Monday morning, whilst SSE shares were off 1.7% to 1,541.30 pence per share.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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