Brits can save money and the planet

Fourteen million households that have never changed their electricity tariff now have two compelling reasons to do so – saving money and the planet.

These households could save over £1.2 billion between them and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 million tonnes by swapping to the cheapest green tariffs, according to research from price comparison site moneysupermarket.com.

A 20 million tonne reduction equates to a three per cent cut on all greenhouse gas emissions and would play a major role in the UK meeting its environmental targets.

Scott Byrom, utilities manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Spending five minutes on our website to go to a much cheaper tariff hasn't been a compelling enough reason for millions of people in the UK to change.

"I would hope the extra prospect of playing a major role in reducing global warming – on top of saving money – might be the extra prod that people need."

Scottish Power Green Energy H2O is the cheapest green product for medium electricity users in 11 of Britain's 14 regions. Scottish Hydro Power leads the way in Southern Scotland and npower National Trust in Northern Scotland and North Wales to Merseyside.

Scott Byrom added: "If just one medium user of electricity in Southampton still on their original electricity tariff swapped to Scottish Power’s H2O tariff they would save £155 and reduce carbon emissions by 1.419 tonnes. Those sort of numbers show that even one person can make a big difference."