Hi,

There are just 4,000 switches left of our cheapest Big Switch tariff from British Gas. They're unlikely to last the day out, so if you want it, go quick.

Here's what Martin had to say about our Big Energy Switch tariffs...

Last week, we launched our first Collective Switch since the energy crisis. Already 46,000 switches for the main British Gas tariff have gone - we had 40,000 and have managed to get 10,000 more so it's likely to be done within a day or two.

A Collective Switch is a regulated process which allows 'member groups' to invite energy firms to bid to offer special deals that undercut what they offer elsewhere. We did. They did. This is the result. It offers by far the cheapest fix available, which gives a serious saving and is from a big energy beast.

I picked three fixes - meaning you lock in a rate so it's guaranteed not to rise for a set time, giving you peace of mind of price certainty. That's unlike the ~~Price~~ Pants Cap tariffs most homes are on right now, which rose 2% last week (and are strongly predicted to stay high across winter and beyond).

Whoever your provider is, if you're on the Cap, you could save £100s. On the back of sending our email announcing this last week, I was chuffed to get Sam's email a few days ago: "A success story for MSE's Cheap Energy Club. A lot of friends and family are on the Pants Cap. We used the tool (which is very good, as it automatically fills in the info for you), and it's collectively saved my household £200/yr, my parents £500/yr, my partner's mum £400/yr, my partner's dad £300/yr and my partner's grandparents £400/yr! Thank you Martin."

The three MSE Big Switch winners
All have agreed to MSE enhanced service

Ends: When limit is hit or 13 Oct. For: Eng, Scot, Wales.

When you click a link below, it'll take you to our full comparison (as your exact prices & winner depends on usage and location).

None of these tariffs require you to have a smart meter.

WINNER 1: Cheaper-than-the-market's cheapest.
British Gas 14mth fix for both new & crucially existing customers. This is the cheapest BG fix since Sept 2021 and is an average 15.2% less than the new 1 Oct Price Cap.

Existing BG customers can get it too, so it's a no-brainer for them... and if you're on a BG fix already, it won't charge you early exit fees to switch to this. Early exit penalties: £50/fuel.

How many left? At the time of sending, 4,000 switches. We launched with 40,000 last week, and persuaded it to increase that by 10,000. So as you can see the remainder could go quickly & almost certainly far before next Monday's cut-off.

A backup: We've arranged an exclusive 13mth fix with British Gas, at 12.2% less than the Price Cap (still a top tariff, and cheaper than any BG fix direct). It's just gone live and we have 10,000 switches of that too. As it's not a Collective, anyone going to our energy club can get it - there's no membership requirement.
WINNER 2: Cheapest from the top service firm.
Octopus Energy 10mth fix for new & existing customers. I picked Octopus as frankly it's a really popular firm, primarily due to its customer service, which is top rated. This is cheaper than any fix Octopus has available direct and is an average 10.3% less than the Oct Cap.

Existing Octopus customers can get it, and if you're already fixed with it, it won't charge you early exit fees to switch to this. Early exit penalties: £25/fuel.

How many left? At the time of sending, 20,000 switches. We launched with 50,000 last week, so it may go before next Mon's cut-off.
WINNER 3: Cheap smart prepay & pay in receipt of bills.
EDF 13mth fix for new & existing customers. I went for this bid, as while the other two only allow monthly Direct Debit payments for newbies, this allows those plus a wider range of payment methods too.

At an average 11.3% less than the Oct Cap, it's the cheapest smart prepay & payment in receipt of bills fix. It's also cheaper than any EDF fix available direct. Existing EDF customers can switch to it, but those who are already fixed would need to pay early exit fees to switch, so factor those in. But it can't charge you exit penalties within the last 49 days of the fix (nor can any firm). Early exit penalties: £75/fuel.

How many left? This is uncapped, so switches will continue until the cut-off, next Mon (13 Oct) at 8.59am.

PS: The saving is slightly more for pay in receipt of bills and slightly less for prepay as the Price Cap varies depending on payment method.

All three have agreed to 'MSE Enhanced Service'. That means if there's an issue, go to the energy firm first, but if it doesn't sort things, contact our Cheap Energy Club and we can and will escalate it and try to help.

All three include MSE £20 dual-fuel cashback. Unlike other sites, we don't default to hiding tariffs that don't pay us to facilitate a switch. Instead, we show the whole market, but when we get paid to switch you, we give you a chunk of it as cashback and factor it in, meaning those that pay us are relatively cheaper, so you're more likely to switch to them. Win-win.

Are you 'eligible' to get one of these? Almost certainly, YES! While rules say it must be 'members only', we define our members as all who were signed up to get the MSE weekly email by Friday 26 September, plus those signed up to our Cheap Energy Club by then. If you can't see the deals, you're likely not eligible - but we'll still show the top deals for you. A few people had bugs with this, we think they're fixed, so try again, but if it's not, contact energyclub@moneysavingexpert.com.

What happens if you're in credit when you switch? Your old energy provider should pay you all the credit you are owed within eight weeks of you no longer being its customer. You will need to give a final meter reading to ensure everything is as it should be.

If you're in debt, then it's usually fine to switch, as long as it's not huge, but there are no hard rules except for prepay, when it's a £500 debt per fuel maximum. Of course, you will still have to pay back the money you owe (you may be able to sort out a repayment plan if needed, ask it).

The Price Cap rate moves every three months, due to moves in wholesale costs (see how to check whether I'm on the Price Cap), and it increased by 2% last Wed (1 Oct). The Cap limits the max Standing Charges and unit rates firms can levy - see new Price Cap rates.

The next Cap starts on 1 Jan, but as it's all time-lagged, the price you'll pay then is based on average wholesale costs from mid-Aug to mid-Nov.

A graph titled 'Energy Price Cap predictions' shows past, current, and forecasted changes in the UK energy price cap between January 2025 and October 2026. The January to March 2025 Price Cap was £1,738 a year, which then rose by 6% to £1,849 a year for the April to June 2025 Cap. It fell again by 7% to £1,720 a year for July to September 2025. According to supplier forecasts from EDF, E.on, and British Gas, the Price Cap is expected to rise by around 2% in October 2025 before falling by 0.5% to 1% in January 2026. Predictions then suggest another increase of 5% to 8% in April 2026, followed by a potential fall of around 1% in July 2026. The dotted range highlights the uncertainty around future projections into late 2026. For comparison, the MSE British Gas collective fix remains flat at around £1,500 a year, shown as a reference line below the predicted market caps.

The current prediction is Jan's Cap will be a smidge lower than Oct's, and as we're already halfway through the assessment period, the current predictions can move but likely won't by too much. That means it's highly likely all these fixes should be considerably cheaper than the Cap across the high-use winter months.

After that, predictions are more crystal ball-gazing, but currently analysts predict the Cap will rise substantially in April. All this means is that it would take a huge fall in worldwide energy prices for you not to be better off fixing, and in the very unlikely event that did happen, and you wanted to take advantage of far lower prices, you could just pay the early exit penalties and leave.

Fixes are the easy peace-of-mind option. Yet there are alternative models, though some of them are tough to display via a traditional comparison site, so here's a quick checklist to see...

Low user? EDF's tracker has lower Standing Charges. It's essentially a price cap, but with £50/yr lower Standing Charges, it's good, but ONLY for very low users (eg, under roughly £80/mth use).

Got an electric car? Consider a special electric vehicle (EV) tariff. There are fixes which give cheaper rates for charging your car.

Sophisticated user? Rapid price-change tariffs can lead to big savings. Tariffs such as Octopus Agile or Octopus Tracker see price changes either daily or hourly. For those comfortable with this, especially if you can shift usage patterns or have storage batteries, these can mean big savings.

Got solar panels? Is an all-in-one deal cheaper? Some firms give you better solar panel rates if you get your energy supply from them too. Our guide takes you through who it's worth it for (and who it isn't).

Thanks,
Martin

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