Tweet
Consumers who are fed up with paying through the nose for gas and electricity are being offered the chance to 'group buy' cheap energy by clubbing together in a scheme set up by Which?. The consumer group estimates that households are paying £4.1billion extra collectively because they have not switched to a cheaper energy tariff. Which? has teamed up with online campaigning group 38 Degrees to launch the 'Big Switch' campaign. Consumers will be able to join thousands of other households to form a group on whose behalf Which? will then seek to secure the most competitive energy deal. Anyone interested is being invited to sign up by the end of March....Read more here--: The Big Switch: Households offered chance to 'group buy' cheap gas ad electricity by Which?
- Hi & Welcome to the AAD Consumer Forum
We're a FREE consumer debt and legal forum offering help, support and debate in many areas of day-to-day life. You will need to Register a Free Account before you can join in with the discussion and contribute with your own posts. Remember to also check out the FAQ's so you can get to grips with how the forum works ready to start posting your new topics. Read about the new GDPR 2018 Rules and how it affects you as a member of AAD.
EDF Energy is the latest supplier to confirm it will compete for 280,000 energy customers as part of the Which? Big Switch. The 'reverse auction' - where energy firms will compete for the customers - is set to take place on 9 May. Last month E.ON announced that it will bid for cash and cheque customers and will also make the tariff, if its bid is successful, available to all its customers.....Read more here--: EDF Energy joins Which? Big Switch auction for 280,000 customers
Gas and electricity prices secured by consumer group may not be cheapest on offer, and are available only to limited number.
Almost 300,000 people who thought they were signing up to the cheapest gas and electricity through the UK's first collective bargaining for energy may find they are not being offered the best deals available. The Big Switch, organised by the consumer group Which?, had promised to use collective bargaining power to negotiate the most competitive energy prices. The auction was won by Co-operative Energy, but comparison sites have warned that the deals may not be the cheapest for all customers.
The uSwitch website said a variable dual-fuel deal from First Utility would be an average of £21 cheaper than the fixed-rate deal offered by the Co-op, and £117 a year cheaper than the Co-op's variable-rate deal. Mark Todd of the energy switching website Energy Helpline said: "It's a very difficult thing to pull off – I'm not surprised it's turned into a shambles.
"The only way it can really work is by sacrificing commission, so the cheapest deal becomes cheaper. But Which? hasn't done that." A Which? spokeswoman said First Utility's iSave Dual Fuel V10 deal did not meet the criteria it had set for the auction. Which? is also likely to have angered potential customers by failing to tell them that the number allowed to switch to the winning deals might be limited. Only 30,000 of the 285,000 people who signed up will be allowed to switch to Co-operative Energy....Read more here: Which? faces criticism over cheap energy deal