650,000 customers switched electricity supplier in March – the second highest number ever recorded by Energy UK’s monthly figures.
After a relatively slow start to the year, the figure for last month has leapt by 42% compared to February and is also 10% higher than March 2020.
So far in 2021, 1,500,000 customers have switched supplier, which is 7% lower than at the same time last year.
Emma Pinchbeck, Energy UK’s chief executive, said:
“Although always remaining healthy, switching figures have been notably more volatile over the past year – and after a slow start to 2021, we saw a big increase last month.
“Traditionally switching is at its highest at this time of the year – and it’s also likely that customers have responded to being advised to check they’re on best deal in light of the recent price cap rise.
“As ever a few minutes checking out what’s on offer from your own supplier and on the wider market, can really be worth your while – and those looking to ensure a hassle free switch should also see if their new supplier is signed up to the Energy Switch Guarantee.”
Notes to editors:
- To see the latest monthly switching stats, please visit Energy UK’s website.
- From December 2020, larger suppliers in the market are British Gas, Bulb, EDF Energy, E.ON (including npower), Octopus Energy, OVO (including domestic business of SSE) and Scottish Power. This is based on Ofgem’s revised definition of classifying all suppliers with a market share of 5% or above in either fuel as larger.
- Gemserv Limited is the service company contracted by the MRA Service Company (MRASCo) to provide services in support of the MRA including the management of its governance and providing specialised expertise to MRASCo in support of the growing electricity retail market.
- The data referenced in these reports is for electricity only. These figures include both domestic (Profile Classes 1 and 2) & non-domestic customers (Profile Classes 3-8 and 0) but do not include customers transferred to another supplier as a result of the Supplier of Last Resort process (SOLR). Also, any switches between merged parties are considered as internal and are not counted in our switching statistics.
- These figures do not include internal electricity switching. Such statistics can be found on the Ofgem website.
- The Energy Switch Guarantee (ESG) is a set of 10 commitments – launched by Energy UK in 2016 – that makes switching simple, speedy and safe. The Guarantee covers nearly 80% of the retail energy market. Find out more on the ESG website.