City householders signed up to Peterborough City Council's Ready to Switch? scheme stand to save up to £149 and an average of £122 on their energy bills.

The collective switching scheme spearheaded by the city council was launched in November with the aim of using the combined buying power of residents to negotiate cheaper prices with energy companies.

In total, 1,787 Peterborough households signed up to save on their gas and electricity bills. Across the entire scheme, which was run in partnership with 12 other councils, there were exactly 21,000 people who registered.

An auction with energy providers took place on Tuesday 29 January where the Ready to Switch? scheme was combined with a similar scheme being run by 13 councils in Greater Manchester to get the best energy deal possible. This made it the biggest council collective energy switching auction in the UK with over 56,000 households coming together to save on their energy bills.


A total of three energy suppliers won contracts:

•Scottish Power will be offering to supply all dual fuel (electricity and gas) customers. Those paying an online monthly direct debit will save on average £149 a year, paper billing customers will see an average yearly saving of £78 and for prepayment dual fuel customers they will save an average of £54

•Scottish Power will also be offering to supply electricity only prepayment customers, with households set to save on average £44 a year

•Ovo Energy will be offering to supply energy to online electricity only customers, with those registered saving an average of £98 a year

•Co-operative Energy will be offering to supply electricity only paper billing customers, with those registered saving an average of £77 a year

From Monday 4 February 2013, personal letters and emails will be sent to each registered city householder explaining exactly how much they will be saving. With the exception of the offer to pre-payment customers where the tariff is variable, all the offers are a fixed 12 month contract.

(CD)