THERE has been good news these past few weeks, with Big Six energy suppliers British Gas, E.On and SSE all announcing that they are freezing their standard energy tariffs until the spring.

With wholesale gas prices doubling in the last three months, this shows the big players are doing their bit to protect consumers, whose pockets are being hit by a combination of rising inflation and stagnating wage growth.

Or does it? The suppliers themselves certainly seem to think so. SSE retail managing director Will Morris and British Gas chief executive Mark Hodges both stated that holding prices steady would give customers “peace of mind” that their bills will not rise over the colder winter months while an E.On spokesman said the move offers “reassurance”.

With the freezes only applying to the suppliers’ standard variable tariffs, however, others are not so convinced. Gocompare energy expert Ben Wilson and Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy both pointed out that the prize freeze may bring some relief to customers, but as suppliers’ standard tariffs are among the most expensive in the market the move simply locks in already-inflated prices.

“Energy customers on the standard tariff are already paying a premium - their bills are as much as £380 more than for those on cheaper fixed deals,” Guy said.

Wilson added that far from providing “peace of mind”, the price freezes serve as a reminder that people on those tariffs are “already paying too much for their energy”.

Comparethemarket energy head Peter Earl, meanwhile, said the cuts are designed “to encourage inertia on the part of customers”.

“The reality remains that standard variable tariffs, even if frozen for a number of months, are usually highly uncompetitive compared to the best fixed tariff deals currently available on the market,” he said.

Indeed research from switching site The Big Deal, a collective that was set up two years ago to facilitate group bargaining for cheaper deals, has found that standard tariffs from Scottish Power, SSE and E.On are among the most expensive being sold to Scottish cusotmers.

The Big Deal found the most expensive to be Co-operative Energy’s Green Pioneer deal, which costs £1,242 a year in the north of Scotland, where householders pay a premium to cover transmission costs, and £1,168 a year in the south.

Others on the list include SSE Scottish Hydro Standard, which costs an average of £1,143 across Scotland, and E.On’s EnergyPlan, which costs £1,121.

The Big Deal co-founder Henry de Zoete said the ethos of the collective is to help consumers switch to smaller energy suppliers, which because they are “more lean and have better IT systems” can generally afford to charge less than the biggest players in the market.

“The Bix Six were formed when the old electricity boards were privatised and they inherited a lot of old infrastructure so their costs are significantly higher,” he said.

“The Big Six are very large organisations and they haven’t moved into the 21st century in terms of cutting costs and being more efficient.”

While all the main price-comparison sites allow users to enter details of their energy requirements to find and switch to a cheaper deal, De Zoete said The Big Deal is different because it negotiates terms with suppliers such as Octopus Energy then switches customers in bulk.

“Last year 10,000 people went to Good Energy and saved £120 each at the same time,” he said.

Confidence in the smaller suppliers has been dented somewhat by the collapse of GB Energy Supply, which raised its prices by 30 per cent in October before falling into administration last month with all its customers subsequently being taken over by Co-operative Energy.

However, De Zoete noted that as suppliers such as Octopus Energy, which is backed by Octopus Investments, are unlikely to suffer the same fate as GB Energy Supply, customers should not be put off searching the whole of the market for a better deal.

“I really hope that GB Energy Supply does not put people off switching or going to smaller suppliers,” he said.

“They do tend to treat customers properly and they don’t have millions of customers sitting on their worst tariff – they don’t have different tariffs in that sense anyway.”

Of course not everyone has the time or inclination to regularly switch supplier, which is why Guy at Citizens Advice said the Government needs to step in to ensure that those least able to afford it are not locked into the most expensive deals.

“Price freezes by suppliers are welcome but it’s also important that the Government looks at a more permanent way to bring down costs for people on the standard tariff,” she said.

“One way to do this would be to automatically switch low-income customers who have been on the standard tariff for years to a cheaper deal.”