Officers at the council have investigated the energy switching auctions arranged by some other local authorities.
Some councils have asked their council tax payers for expressions of interest in switching energy suppliers with a view to signing up significant enough numbers to make it worthwhile arranging an auction amongst electricity supply companies for the custom of those households signed up for the scheme. The intention is to achieve lower electricity bills.
South Somerset District Council had considered such a scheme to see if it would be of benefit to its council tax payers but discovered that tariffs negotiated by other councils were exactly the same as that normally offered by the winning energy supply company. As there is a cost of 10s of £1,000s to a council operating a register of interested households and an energy auction, this council has decided to simply share what was discovered about electricity tariffs in South Somerset.
Councillor Henry Hobhouse, portfolio holder for Property and Climate Change said, “South Somerset District Council encourages householders to investigate alternative energy suppliers to achieve a lower tariff or electricity with a higher renewable energy content. Through doing our own investigations, we have found that it would not be beneficial to our residents in South Somerset to hold energy switching auctions.”