New. Big Energy Switch Event 12
We've negotiated cheaper than the cheapest 1yr (10,000 avail) and 2yr fixed deals

Many can save over £200/yr on gas & elec

The energy market has been hellish for months, and in the last 3 months EVERY cheap deal has been pulled and has been replaced by something more costly. So switching and making big savings now is far harder.

To help, we've negotiated two special, cheap direct debit tariffs (not avail in N Ireland) with our customer service stamp - ie, if you've problems, we'll try to intervene. Here are the key need-to-knows:

1) Both MSE Big Switch 12 fixes undercut the market's cheapest and are 100% renewable electricity. There is regional variance, but on average they're both the cheapest fixes. To show the size of the saving, while someone on a big 6 standard tariff with typical usage will pay an average £1,220/yr, on the same usage...

• The Green Network Energy MSE 1yr fix is £979/yr incl MSE cashback, so £240/yr less. Yet there are ONLY 10,000 switches available, so it could go quickly. The next cheapest 1yr fix is only £1 more, but it's from a firm where we've had a long-standing customer service warning.
  
  
• The Green Network Energy MSE 2yr fix locks in your rates over two winters at £1,010/yr incl MSE cashback, but as it locks you in longer you could save more than £400 over the period. It's substantially cheaper than the market's next cheapest 2yr fix at £1,061/yr.  
  
  If you don't want to switch often or want price surety, locking in longer works. There's no cap on switch numbers, but it ends on 30 Nov.

The links above take you via our Cheap Energy Club to compare against the rest of the market, as new tariffs launch all the time.

If you're wondering who Green Network Energy is, it's been in the UK since Oct 2016 and is backed by a large Italian firm (don't confuse it with our past collective winner Green Star). It's been a big switch winner before.

Its service rating is a strong 61% 'great' in our latest poll (but only got 36 votes), and it scores 7.6/10 of 1,109 reviews on Trustpilot. We've arranged enhanced customer service, so basically if it doesn't sort the problem we can get involved. Both deals...

- Are for dual fuel (ie, gas & elec), elec-only but NOT gas-only.
- Are for new custs on monthly direct debit & paperless bills.
- Have early exit fees of £25/fuel (£50 dual fuel).
- Are not portable, so you can't take them with you if you move.
- Are 100% renewable for electricity (not gas).

2) If you're coming off a cheap deal, don't expect lower bills. Energy prices have exploded over the last year. The cheapest fixed deal today is 18% more than a year ago (it's up 13% in three months alone).

So if your old fix is ending, while the savings shown will likely be £100s, that's compared to what you'll pay if you don't switch, not to what you have been paying - which is likely less.

3) A couple of small suppliers have cheaper variable deals. Fixes give peace of mind so you know the rate you'll pay (not price, that depends on use) for a set time. A couple of small, newish providers, that we've very little feedback on, have cheaper variable deals. These will appear in your comparison results. Yet of course, their prices can move anytime. To see your cheapest, do a Cheap Energy Club full market comparison.

4) Two big names have competitive deals depending on where you live. Both EDF and Scottish Power have cheapish 1yr fixes. Yet there's huge regional variance. In one region, they actually just undercut our Big Switch tariff, elsewhere they can be £200/yr more.

As a guide, both are good in Southern and Eastern English regions, EDF is good in the East Midlands, North West, Scotland and South Wales, while Scottish Power's cheap in the Midlands. If cheap, you'll see them in your comparison results. You can also do a cheapest big name ONLY comparison.

While it won't impact the price you pay if you switch to a fix, it WILL impact the amount you save, if like over 50% of homes you are on a standard tariff now, or you are on a fix that will soon revert to a standard tariff.

1. From 1 Jan, the cap is set at £1,137/yr for someone with typical use. Yet that's not what you pay - just the cap based on typical use.
   
   The cap is based on rates, not price. So if you use more, your cap will be higher or if you use less, it will be lower. There's also regional variation. In general for most big 6 standard tariff customers, bills will be £80/yr less than now, pro-rata, but...
    
2. On 1 Apr, the cap is likely to be set at a higher £1,250/yr. The initial £1,137/yr cap only lasts for three months, with a new cap coming in on 1 Apr. The cap is reviewed every six months, so the next one will start on 1 Oct.
   
   Ofgem has published the methodology that dictates the cap's rate. It is based on the average wholesale price (the price energy firms pay) over 6mths - for the April cap, that's 1 Aug 2018 to 31 Jan 2019.
   
   As we're already halfway through that period, and wholesale prices have risen hugely, it's been calculated that at the current run rate the new cap will rise to £1,250.

So the big question for comparison sites (incl our Cheap Energy Club) is what do you use as the base price someone pays?

In the above write up, we've done it based on both the two prices above, which over the next year average £1,219 on typical usage. Yet in an actual comparison, your cap depends on your region and use.  

So far, only E.on and Npower have published their post-cap prices. If you're with them, our comparison bases your savings as if the price stays at the rate of the first cap for the next year (so we're likely substantially underestimating the saving).

With others, we assume their current standard price remains, so we're probably slightly overestimating (but not by much). It's a difficult call, so on Friday I wrote a letter to Ofgem asking for it to create consistent rules all sites can use.

You can still switch and save...

- Prepay customers: Try our prepay comparison - savings are smaller, typically £110/yr, but it could still be worth doing. For bigger savings, see if you can switch to a credit meter. See cut prepay energy costs.

- Northern Ireland: Our Cheap Energy Club, like all UK comparison sites, does not currently include NI, but you can do a comparison via Cheap NI Electricity or the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland's tool.

For more, see the full Cheap Energy Club FAQs.

Q. What info do I need to switch? It's best if you have a bill, and input kilowatt hours (kWh) into the Cheap Energy Club, rather than cost. But don't worry if you don't know your usage, the tool can guesstimate for you. While the answer won't be perfect, the sin of inaction is bigger than the sin of inaccuracy.

Q. Does MSE make money from this? Yes. Like all energy comparison sites, we're paid each time you switch through us, yet we give you about half (that's what the cashback is).

This is money you wouldn't get if you went direct (not that the fixes above can be got directly anyway). Thus it's a win-win. The rest helps cover our costs and hopefully makes us some profit.

Q. Will prices of cheap deals keep rising? It's tough to say as the rise in wholesale prices seems to have tailed off for the moment. So we think we'll probably see the cheapest deals at or around these prices for the imminent future. After that - especially with Brexit coming - who knows?

And lots more help, incl...

Switching with smart meters | Why's price risen when I'm fixed? | Reclaim credit | Switching in debt help | Switching if I've solar panels | How direct debits are set | I've an independent gas transporter - can I switch? | Can I pick a switch date? | How do you compare my rates?

Martin Lewis Money Show LIVE, ITV, 8pm Tue

Next Tue 20th, to kickstart the new series (which after that confusingly moves to Mondays) we're doing an 'ask me anything' - not scary on live prime time telly just before I'm a Celeb. Plus of course, as every year at this time, I'll be knackering myself doing my FESTIVE FORECASTER predictions. So do watch, or set the Betamax.