The Big Switch, a campaign run by 38 Degrees, the UK’s biggest online campaigning community, used the collective buying power of participating consumers to pressure energy companies into providing better value gas and electricity tariffs. People signed up to join a mass switch over of their energy tariffs to the company that offered the best deal.

Co-operative Energy came forward with the cheapest package, which will save each of the 200,000 households involved an average of £119-£182 a year. Those currently on the worst value tariffs, estimated to be 35,000 households, could reduce their bills by over £200 a year.

38 Degrees praised Co-operative Energy, a relatively small company, for providing the cheapest tariff and having a more ethically-minded business model. The campaign group hopes the campaign will send a strong message of consumer dissatisfaction to major energy companies.