How the scheme works
Step 1: Register
To take part in the Winter Auction, you can register for free and without obligation before Tuesday 15 February.
All you need to do is have the details on your bill handy before starting the registration process.
For online registrations, a valid email address is required too.
If you live outside Warwickshire, you're welcome to join this scheme before the auction takes place.
Step 2: Auction
Three times a year (February, May, October), iChoosr holds a reverse auction with pre-vetted energy suppliers and selects the supplier(s) that offers competitive prices per customer at that time.
Step 3: Personal Offers
Those registered householders receive an offer letter with a quote showing whether the new tariff is cheaper than their existing arrangement and the potential savings that could be made.
Step 4: You decide
Registrants decide if they want to accept the offer.
Our dedicated helpdesk is always on hand to answer any questions. For post-offer helpline, customers are to contact the iChoosr helpline directly for any queries- on 0800 0488 285 or email them at bigcommunityswitch@ichoosr.com.
If householders wish to take up the offer, simply complete the enclosed forms you will be sent or follow the steps online.
You are not obliged to accept the offer; it is your choice. If you do not wish to switch, simply do nothing, and your existing arrangement with your energy supplier will continue.
Step 5: Take control
If you accept, iChoosr will handle the entire switching process for residents, so you don't have to do anything, and you will be one of the thousands who have taken control of their energy costs through our collective energy switching scheme.
Important reminder
Please note that your new contract will run for a minimum of 12 months, after which you will need to find a new energy contract. Warwickshire Switch and Save hope to run a similar scheme around this time, but it is your responsibility to change your energy contract when it expires. To take part in our scheme next year you will need to re-register with us.
Why was there no offer in October?
After running our auction on October 12th, it became clear that none of the tariffs secured were a better option for any of our customers than simply staying on their Standard Variable Tariffs.
Usually, Standard Variable Tariffs are the most expensive on offer, and we use our auction to obtain great value fixed rate tariffs for our customers.
However, in order to stop the Standard Variable Tariffs reaching excessively high prices, Ofgem imposes a tariff cap on them, which limits the amount suppliers can charge. This tariff cap is announced two months before it comes into place, and is based on wholesale energy prices from the previous 6 months.
As wholesale energy prices have risen so quickly and dramatically this year, the new tariff cap that came into force on October 1st is now keeping the Standard Variable Tariffs artificially low, and at present suppliers are actually losing money on these tariffs.
As fixed tariffs do not have any such cap, they are priced much higher than current Standard Variable Tariffs and reflect the actual situation in the wholesale energy market more accurately.
Given this extremely unlikely scenario, no supplier’s fixed tariff will currently be close to offering the same value as the Standard Variable Tariff, so there is no benefit at this moment to switching.
So what should you do?
If you are on a Standard Variable Tariff: don’t switch.
We would suggest you might want to stay on your Standard Variable Tariff. Your current energy supplier may offer you a fixed tariff which you might consider accepting if it is cheaper than remaining on the Standard Variable Tariff. This is unlikely right now.
If you are on a fixed tariff: don’t switch.
Assuming you fixed your tariff before the recent rises in the market, this is likely to represent a good deal compared to what is in the market now, so you will want to stay on your fixed tariff until the end of your contract.
If your contract ends before our Winter auction in February, your energy supplier will move you to its Standard Variable Tariff if you do not switch. Your current energy supplier may offer you a fixed renewal tariff which you might consider accepting if it is cheaper than remaining on the Standard Variable Tariff. This is unlikely right now.
