Today, Wednesday 14th November, Peterborough City Council launched an initiative that could save residents from across the city money on their energy bills.

The Peterborough Collective Energy Scheme will allow residents to combine their purchasing power and to bulk buy their energy as a group, enabling those registered to switch to cheaper energy bills.

It will make it easier for people to switch energy provider and it’s expected that savings will be between £60 and £200 a year – but the more people that sign up, the bigger the potential savings.

Registration for the scheme will stay open until 17 December 2012.

The collective switching scheme will work by means of a reverse auction where energy suppliers will be invited to bid the lowest price to supply energy to all those signed up for the scheme. The auction will take place on 18th December and the results will be announced before Christmas.

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Offers will then be sent out to residents either as an email or a letter from Christmas Eve and residents will have until 14th January 2013 to decide whether they want to switch to the new deal. There is absolutely no obligation to accept the offer once you receive it.

This will be the biggest scheme of its type in the UK as Peterborough City Council is joining with 11 other councils who will also be asking their residents if they're ready to switch. So if someone signs up in Blackpool or in Peterborough - they'll all become part of the same group and go to the same energy auction to save on their gas and electricity bills.

By running it across 12 councils it means that a larger group of households can be formed and greater savings can be achieved. In total over 1.5 million households will be eligible to join the scheme.

The Peterborough scheme will also be one of the first in the UK to accept people on pre-payment meters.

Peterborough City Council will work with a specialist company called iChoosr who will negotiate with the energy companies on behalf of everyone signed up to the scheme to get the best tariff possible.

Cllr Nigel North, Cabinet Advisor to the Leader of Peterborough City Council on Environment Capital, said: "We hope this innovative scheme will bring people from across the city together for a common cause – fighting back against the big rises in energy costs in recent years. Over 10,000 households in this city are classed as being in fuel poverty and the more people that sign up for this scheme, the more money we can put back in their pockets."

(CD)