Brits will lose out on £167million if price comparison sites hide cheapest energy deals

BRITS will lose up to £167million a year if energy price comparison sites hide the cheapest deals.

Sites want to push more expensive tariffs to get paid commission.

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Current rules set by the energy watchdog Ofgem state that all deals must be shown up front. But, under pressure from the sites, ­regulator the Competition and Markets Authority has said it may allow them to hide deals.

Critics including consumer groups like Citizens Advice argue that price comparison sites should act fairly and show all deals whether or not they receive a commission for them or not.

The Sun exposed how the UK’s biggest energy comparison site uSwitch has been breaching the rule by initially hiding the cheapest deals from customers.

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Instead it has been pushing deals for which it gets commission. These are on average £70 dearer than the cheapest tariffs on the market.

The Sun looked at what would happen if the Big Five price comparison websites - ComparetheMarket, GoCompare, MoneySupermarket, uSwitch, and Confused - were allowed to do the same. If they only showed deals for which they got commission then the difference between the best deal they displayed and the best on the market would be £68 on average.

Together that adds up to £167million a year based on the 2.5million switches a year done on energy price comparison sites.

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Ed Molyneux of consumer campaign  said: “The true cost of hiding the cheapest deals from families has finally been revealed. £167million is simply staggering. Hiding the cheapest deals to boost profits is not acceptable.”

How The Sun's People Power campaign is helping readers save big

CASH-CONSCIOUS Hamid Ali and his family are saving £300 a year on bills with The Sun’s People Power campaign, despite having already switched energy several times before.

“There is a huge difference in what we’re paying and we’re still using the same amount of energy, so it’s been a good saving,” Hamid said.

The canny father-of-two says: “I always keep an eye on my bills. The last thing you want is for them to increase the rate, so I do keep checking them.

A print worker at a major publishing plant, Hamid, 39, his wife Humera, 38, and children Harris, 11 and Hannah, 10, share a three-bedroom, semi-detached home in Harlow, Essex.

Hamid says: “Previously I was on £1,100 with up to £200 of extra payments on top and now we’re paying £960 a year.”

The extra cash would go towards paying for petrol, food shopping and will mean living more easily without having to calculate if you can afford it,” he said. However the family are also hoping that they may find the extra money to take a family holiday to Morocco in future.