Every Victorian household will pocket $50 if they visit a state government-run energy company comparison website.

The $48 million power saving bonus will be a part of next month’s Victorian budget, Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Sunday.

“So many of our energy retailers bank on our consumers not having the time or the know-how to shop around and get a better deal,” Mr Andrews told reporters.

“This is every single Victorian household eligible if they simply go to the website and in 10 or 15 minutes, a really sound investment they not only get a $50 rebate, a $50 cheque that’ll be sent to them, but seven out of 10 of them are set to save very significant amounts of money.”

Mr Andrews predicted a typical energy consumer would be able to save $330 on their annual power bills by using the site to “shop around”.

To be eligible for the bonus, households will have to use vic.gov.au/victorianenergycompare between July 1 and December 31 this year, but they are not required to take up an offer or switch power plans.

The cash will be limited to properties, not individuals, and the 700,000 people who have already registered with the website can get the payment if they go back to it during the six-month period.

All retailers are mandated by Victorian law to provide their detailed offers to the website so customers can do proper comparisons, unlike on private website that receive commissions from power companies.

Mr Andrews denied the cash was a pre-election gift, saying if people – especially concession card holders who get 17 per cent of their bills paid for out of the public purse – are incentivised to shop around then the state saves too.

-AAP