The consumer group Choice has launched a $99 service to compare prices from electricity retailers, monitor them for 12 months and automatically switch subscribers to the best deal.

Canisaveonenergy.com.au, which was launched on Monday, allows consumers to upload a recent power bill PDF and find out how much they could save with a new service based on a price comparison from 33 providers. However, they won’t be told which retailer is offering the best deal unless they pay the annual fee.

After the $99 fee is paid, Choice will handle the switch and also any subsequent switches to better deals within that 12 months, according to The Guardian.

Guardian Australia tested the new service with quarterly electricity and gas bills worth a combined $517.97. Choice analysed the bill and advised that an immediate switch to a new provider would save $271 a year. Less the $99 fee, that is a saving of $172.

Choice’s head of media, Tom Godfrey, said bigger savings could be unlocked by switching providers every three months or so, which was what the Choice Transformer tool was designed to do.

He said prelaunch testing of the “concierge service” software found savings of up to $1,500 for individual households. Research Choice conducted with MI Retail concluded that Australian households were paying an average of $324 more than they needed on energy every year.