28 October 2006
People who pay for their electricity and gas using prepayment meters could save themselves £100 per year just by switching their supplier, Ofgem has revealed.
According to a new report by the energy regulator, switching accounts could save prepayment customers around £40 more than direct debit customers.
The pre-payment energy market has been frequently criticised for being too expensive and difficult to change accounts.
"Pre-payment customers should take advantage of the competitive market if they are to see further falls in their energy bills," Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem chief executive, said.
"By changing supplier they can save on average around £100. But in some regions this can be as great as £170 per year," he added.
According to figures from National Energy Action (NEA) 14% of electricity consumers (3.6 million) and 10.4% of gas consumers (2.2 million) use prepayment meters.
Over 40% of electricity prepayment customers and 36% of prepayment gas customers have switched energy supplier at some point.
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