Clean Energy Switch help page [this switch has now ended]

The winner of the deal is Good Energy! This means the deal is:

It’s 100% clean electricity – all Good Energy’s electricity comes from renewable sources

It’s a one-year deal that costs the average home £947 per year, which is up to £232 cheaper than a standard variable from the Big Six.

It comes with award-winning customer service – Good Energy regularly top the table for the Which? Customer Satisfaction Survey.

It’s energy made from from Cornish sunshine, Scottish wind and, um, Welsh rain (seriously!).

Good Energy was the winner of the deal because they fit the criteria prioritised by members in this poll: https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2015/09/03/clean-energy-switch-members-decide-the-deal/ and they offered the best deal.

Read more on Good Energy here: http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/

You won’t need to read your bills or meter to sign up for this deal – all you’ll need to know is your current energy supplier and tariff. Then the Big Deal will take care of the rest!

The industry standard time for a switch to go through is six weeks. You don’t need to do anything in this time – the changeover will be handled for you, and your gas and electricity will work as normal.

The Good Energy Fix deal is portable, so you can take it with you. If you move house you just need to give Good Energy a call on 0800 254 0000 to let them know.

Yes. Your unit rates for gas and electricity will remain the same for the whole year.

Good Energy can support Economy 7 meters. There will be a field when registering where you can identify that you have one, but you be able to then go through with the signing up as normal.

Unfortunately, Good Energy cannot support Economy 10 meters.

We’re afraid this deal is not available to those on pre-payment/key meters

Yes – it will be possible to switch to the new green supplier and continue to be paid under the FiT by your old one.

Your feed-in tariff is separate to the energy supplied to your home. When you switch energy suppliers the feed-in tariff will stay with whoever it is currently with.

If you want to you could contact the new green energy supplier when it is announced to arrange to switch your FiT too, but that isn’t necessary and not all energy suppliers offer to buy your energy via the feed-in tariff scheme.

The deal is available for dual fuel and electricity-only customers, and isn’t available for prepayment or gas-only customers

No sorry, Good Energy doesn’t currently offer the Warm Home Discount or the Green Deal.

No. That’s all taken care of for you.

Good Energy prefer customers to pay by direct debit as this helps them keep their costs down. So, only direct debits are accepted.

The deal is a fixed rate tariff for one year (until 31 October 2016).  After that, you’ll be free to renew your deal with Good Energy or switch to a different provider.

There’s a £20 exit fee per fuel for early cancellations. That’s below the industry standard of about £30 per fue

This deal will be available in England, Scotland and Wales. The cost of the deal does depend on the region of the country you live in. Hence why you receive a projection before you decide whether to switch which tells you exactly how much you will personally have to pay. Unfortunately the deal will not be available for customers in Northern Ireland.

No, no one will have to visit your house or change any equipment at all.

Yes, if you pay the bill directly then you can always switch your energy supplier.

No, there will be no interruption to your electricity or gas supply.

Unfortunately not. Our deal will only be open to domestic households.

Yes – you can always leave your contract.

If you’re within 49 days of the end of your fixed-term contract you can switch WITHOUT having to pay any exit fees.

If before then, you may incur exit fees (usually about £30 per fuel) which you should check with your supplier.

 It may still be worth switching given how cheap our deal is.

Yes – if you switched less than 14 days ago, then you are within the “cooling-off” period and you can switch without incurring exit fees. You will have to cancel your previous switch first though!

If it has been longer than that, then you may well incur exit fees if you’re on a fixed-term tariff (usually about £30 per fuel) which you should check with your supplier.

Yes. Once your current plan ends, you will be moved onto a standard tariff which will have no exit fees.

 You can also exit any fixed term contract upto 49 days before it ends without incurring an exit fee.

The Big Deal will be in touch about a month before it expires. They will have an idea of your needs and will come back to you with a recommendation on what to do next. You will never be abandoned to face rising prices.

Yes. But the more of us that sign up now, the better the deal will be. Signing up now does not mean you are in any way obliged to take the deal.

The deal closes on September 28th. There may be another switch in the future – but there’s no guarantee, so why not sign up now?

This deal from Good Energy will be available to the first 10,000 people who sign up to it.

For everyone who switches, 38 Degrees will get £12.50. We will use this money to fund campaigns chosen by 38 Degrees members.

The £12.50  commission will come be paid from the successful energy company, via The Big Deal who are dealing directly with the energy companies and will be processing the commission.

38 Degrees is not-for-profit, and fiercely independent. Taking this commission won’t endanger that. There will be no “strings” attached to this money. We will be free to spend it on whatever campaigns 38 Degrees members choose – which could include challenging energy companies if 38 Degrees members vote that a priority!

This is a new source of money for 38 Degrees. It won’t replace the main way we’re funded – by lots of small donations from 38 Degrees members.

The Big Deal will also make £12.50 per switch.

For each customer who switches, the energy company will hand over £40 commission. £15 of this will go on costs paid to third party providers including an OFGEM accredited switching support team and price comparison site. The remaining £25 will be split between The Big Deal and 38 Degrees. The Big Deal’s share will be ploughed back into their business.

The Big Deal is a start up that specialises in collective energy switching. It runs regular campaigns highlighting the wrongs of the energy industry and fighting for consumer rights. Big Deal campaigns have demanded fair prices from suppliers, transparency from comparison sites and negotiated money-saving deals.

Last year it revealed how the multi million pound profit making price comparison companies like uSwitch and Compare the Market hid the cheapest deals from consumers because they didn’t get a kickback from energy companies. The Big Deal’s research led to an investigation by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee of MPs and to the energy regulator Ofgem cracking down on these websites.

38 Degrees evaluated a few different potential partners for the clean energy switch before selecting The Big Deal. Our top priority was to identify an ethical and effective business who could help 38 Degrees members make collective consumer decisions. We decided to work with The Big Deal because it combines industry expertise with a commitment to people-power and consumer rights.

Henry de Zoete and Will Hodson are the co founders of The Big Deal. Henry has recently been invited to join the 38 Degrees board, in part because of his consumer campaigning expertise. The decision to partner with The Big Deal was taken prior to Henry joining the board. Henry volunteered to absent himself from all discussions or decisions relating to 38 Degrees’ partnership with The Big Deal, in accordance with our Conflict of Interest policy.

Henry de Zoete previously worked in government as an advisor to the former Education Secretary Michael Gove. You can read more about Henry’s past career here. The Big Deal has been endorsed by figures across the political spectrum including Lib Dem leader Tim Farron MP and Angus MacNeil, Scottish National Party MP and chair of the Energy Select Committee. 38 Degrees is satisfied that Henry, and The Big Deal, are independent of all political parties.

The Big Deal’s co-founder, Will Hodson, used to work for Ethical Consumer, whom 38 Degrees partnered with previously for our campaign against the “Olympic Tax Dodge”.

That’s great! You are still welcome to take the deal if you want to switch. Or you can help others switch – since you’ve already done this, you’ll be able to vouch for how easy and powerful it can be. There are links to share the campaign here: https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/clean-energy-switch?action=share

If you have questions about the switch, you can:

call The Big Deal at: 020 3468 0467 between 8:30AM and 6PM

email our expert switching partners, The Big Deal, on: support@thisisthebigdeal.com