Big Six energy giants slammed for preventing customers from getting the best deals
Families are not allowed to switch to existing cut-price tariffs which could save them more than £300 in energy bills per year
THREE major energy suppliers have been slammed for banning their own customers from taking out their cheapest deals.
E.on, SSE and EDF Energy have rules saying families are not allowed to switch to their new cut-price tariffs - which would save them up to £312.
The ban has been slammed by consumer campaign group The Big Deal, who accused the firms of “customer discrimination”.
SSE and E.on currently offer the two cheapest one-year fixes on the open market costing just £759 and £760 on average.
But customers who are on SSE’s standard variable tariff stand to lose £312 and or E.on’s standard tariff will lose £287.
The deals are not available on price comparison sites or even via the company’s own websites or call centres if you are an existing customer.
And yesterday EDF launched a tariff costing an average £849 a year - again only for new customers. Customers on their standard tariff who pay by direct debit currently pay £1,069 on average.
Will Hodson, co-founder of consumer collective TheBigDeal.com, said: “Banning your own customers from taking your cheapest deals is a new low for the Big Six.
"It’s customer discrimination and sees millions of ordinary families paying £300 a year more than they should.
“This kind of behaviour is disgraceful. We urge the Government and energy regulator Ofgem to investigate, take action and halt this behaviour.”
SSE said: “The new tariff is only available as an introductory offer for new credit customers.
“The energy market is changing and SSEis working on ways to implement the remedies set out by Ofgem following the CMA report, including removing the restrictions on the number and type of tariffs suppliers can offer.
“This introductory tariff is an example of one of the ways we’re responding to the industry changes in order to drive further customer engagement in the energy market.”
And E.on said: “We constantly review our portfolio and E.ON Saver is a promotional tariff we are offering at this time.
“Earlier this year we offered a one year fixed tariff (E.ON Energy Fixed 1 Year v19) to all customers which was at the time the cheapest energy tariff available in Britain – based on national average consumption with payment by fixed monthly Direct Debit and paperless bills.
“We constantly review our portfolio are always working to try and offer our customers, existing and new, the best deals we can.”
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While EDF said: “We know that too few customers are benefiting from the full power of the intense competition between suppliers.
"This is because they are not making an active choice of tariff or supplier. We are responding by working with Price Comparison Websites to find different ways of reaching new customers.
“We work hard to make it easy for our customers to choose the best deal and be in control of their energy bills.
"Around 42% of our customers have actively chosen to be on our fixed Blue tariffs, compared with an average of a third for our major competitors.”