What's the deal?
Moneysupermarket.com is offering one lucky competition winner the chance to pick up a cheque for £1,300 - the average cost of the best value gas and electricity deal on January 1, 2009. What's more, ten runners-up will also receive £300 off their bill, effectively allowing them to pay for this year's energy at last year's prices.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to change your energy tariff using our gas and electricity comparison tool before midnight on June 26, 2009.
It's a great opportunity to make some real savings on your energy bills. And even if you're not fortunate enough to win one of our prizes, you should still be on to a winner - if you've never changed your energy tariff, you could find you save an average of £174.
Why it is time to change
Households have long been urged to move to monthly direct debit tariffs - instead of paying quarterly by cash or cheque - due to the discounts available to those who pay this way.
There are also significant savings to be made by managing your energy supply online.
For example, a customer with average consumption levels on a standard British Gas deal could save £184.05 a year by moving to the British Gas WebSaver 3, which is the cheapest tariff in the country with an average bill of £1,018.38 a year. Average annual usage is based on 20,500kWh of gas and 3,300kWh of electricity - so depending on your level of usage, the area you live in and your supplier, the savings could be higher.
Even if you currently have a tariff with another provider and don't want to change suppliers, there are still sizeable savings to be made.
For example, a customer with a standard Scottish Power tariff will pay £1,361.95 a year but by moving to the same provider's Online Energy Saver 5 tariff, this cost would be cut to £1,064.25 a year - a saving of nearly £300.
And while monthly direct debit tariffs offer the largest savings, there are other options if you prefer different payment options.
According to research by industry regulator Ofgem, almost half of all bill payers are yet to swap to a better deal. This means that many people are still stuck on out-dated tariffs with their region's traditional gas and electricity supplier, and are missing out on potential savings as a result.
For example, a person receiving standard electricity from E.ON and standard gas from British Gas in the Eastern, North West and East Midlands regions could save more than £210 by moving to the cheapest monthly tariff in their area. Even by moving to the cheapest tariffs with quarterly payments, the same customer could save more than £70 a year.
These savings aren't limited to one or two hand-picked regions either. The savings available are often in excess of £100 as long as you get off the standard deal and on to the cheapest tariff in your area.
What are you waiting for?
Early switchers start saving sooner, so there is no reason to delay. And with our free energy for a year offer there is no need to remain on an expensive tariff for any longer. Check out our comparison tool and see how much you could save.
Disclaimer: Please note that any rates or deals mentioned in this article were available at the time of writing.
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