More than one million households across the East of England are missing out on their share of £250 million by sticking with their energy company.

By shopping around and taking advantage of the best energy deals on the market, hundreds of thousands of people in Suffolk and north Essex can save around £200 – and some even more.

The Power to Switch campaign, launched today, encourages people to change supplier and save money.

There are more than 25 energy companies on the market and some fixed deals are £100 cheaper than they were a year ago.

Launching the campaign, energy and climate change secretary, Ed Davey, said: “When it comes to switching, the power is in people’s hands to get a better deal and save.

“We’ve reformed the market so that there are more suppliers, more competition, and a much faster and simpler process to switch. That means millions of people can switch supplier and save hundreds of pounds today.”

The Government’s changes to the energy market include:

Halving switching times – it now takes 17 days to switch energy supplier down from five weeks last year

Encouraging new suppliers on to the market – there are now 20 independent suppliers

Legislating to back Ofgem reforms that force energy companies to make energy bills clearer – and providing information for customers about how to switch

Ofgem has recently strengthened its Confidence Code for price comparison websites, setting tighter standards on how tariffs are displayed with websites given until the end of March to comply

Money saving expert, Martin Lewis, said: “We need to shout loud about the benefits of switching tariff.

“Too many people think energy firms are ‘all the same’.

“That’s far from true, there are huge differences on both price and customer service.”

For more information, visit www.beanenergyshopper.com or call the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234.