Ten companies have actively taken steps with Ofgem to make it simpler and easier for prepayment customers, who are in debt, to switch supplier, by making changes to how they operate the Debt Assignment Protocol (DAP). The changes will enable the customer’s switch to automatically proceed, even if they are in £500 debt per fuel, by transferring the debt to the new supplier.

Over 400,000 households switched electricity suppliers in March, an increase of over 100,000 from the previous month. This brings the number of switches for the first quarter up to 900,000. The latest electricity switching data shows 417,000 households chose a new supplier in March 2015. This is an increase of 57% from the same period last year. March saw 97,702 households choose a deal with a small supplier.

In response to the uSwitch press release stating how 14 million households went cold this winter to cope with sky-high energy bills, Lawrence Slade, chief executive said:

The All Party Parliamentary Group has published a report on energy costs.  The guide provides information about the structure of Great Britain’s wholesale gas market and the level of competition in the market compared with those of other member states in the European Union.

In response to the Opposition announcement about bringing in new powers to cut energy bills and freeze prices until 2017, Lawrence Slade, chief executive said: 

One hundred thousand more households switched electricity provider in February compared with January. This is an increase of around 50 per cent from month to month. The latest switching data shows that 317,000 households chose a new deal, well above the monthly average for 2014. Net switches to small suppliers also increased to 82,000. 25 per cent of all switches in February were moves to smaller electricity providers.

Energy has once again stepped up its investment in the next generation joining the industry. There has been an increase in the intake of apprentices to 2,160 since 2011. This week marks the eighth annual National Apprenticeship Week and energy suppliers are committed to continuing their investment in the future of the energy industry by hiring more trainees.

In response to Caroline Flint’s statement Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK said:

Fuel Poverty Awareness Day is the national day of action, raising awareness of the problems faced by low-income households. The initiative, coordinated by National Energy Action (NEA), falls at the end of its winter Warm Homes Campaign. Home Heat Helpline supports the initiative and will be working closely with the NEA on future campaigns. 

In response to the Contracts for Difference allocation round results. Energy UK said: