Energy News

Suppliers pledge £400,000 to energy saving awareness programme

Wednesday 19 October, 2011

By Martin Fagan

Following “energy summit” on consumers switching to save money, four companies donate cash to campaign

Following Monday’s “energy summit” in Downing Street, four of the UK’s “big six” energy suppliers have together pledged £400,000 to expand the Energy Best Deal, a campaign co-ordinated by energy regulator Ofgem and national charity Citizens Advice.

Launched in 2008, the campaign has 5,500 “frontline workers” trained to give guidance on switching energy suppliers or tariffs, which has helped over 94,000 people to save money and avoid getting into debt.

EDF Energy, SSE (the new name of Scottish & Southern), British Gas and E.ON have together pledged £400,000 for an Energy Best Deal campaign this winter.

On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron and energy secretary Chris Huhne sat down with the country's six major energy suppliers, consumer groups and the energy industry watchdog in order to discuss soaring gas and electricity bills.

The summit was expected to result in power companies agreeing to slash costs to consumers, but ended with the government saying it would do more to help Brits insulate their homes and switch to cheaper deals.

Commenting on the summit, Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which? said: “It took years to get into this mess and it will take more than an afternoon to fix it.”

“The energy companies are agreeing to measures that should have been put in place long ago. To ensure real change, next we need the government to produce an energy plan that shows consumers how they'll be getting fair and affordable energy.”

But Monday’s meeting has seen a surge in people visiting comparison websites and comparing energy tariffs; by Tuesday, the number of quotes for gas and electricity prices surged by 128%, according to Confused.com.

But the message has still to be heard by many, as Gocompare says 2.4 million households have never switched energy providers.