11th Mar 2015 12:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - The number of UK households that switched energy provider in February increased by 50% month-on-month, or by an extra 100,000 households, said Energy UK on Wednesday, after energy companies introduced cheaper tariffs and the government began a marketing campaign to try and save consumers money.
Energy UK, the trade organisation that represents 80 members made up of generators and gas and electricity suppliers, said 317,000 households switched to a new energy deal in February, up by 100,000 households compared to January and "well above the monthly average for 2014," it said.
The organisation also said 25% of households that switched in February moved to smaller suppliers, with 82,000 households switching to them during February.
In February, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change launched a four week 'Power To Switch' campaign which includes national, regional and online advertising to try to encourage people to switch and save, including a new government website.
The campaign was launched as the government said millions of households are missing out on their share of GBP2.7 billion worth of savings by sticking with their existing energy company.
February was also the first month when energy suppliers, including the Big Six firms, began to introduce cheaper tariffs. Of the Big Six, EDF Energy, E.On, Scottish Power Ltd, part of the Iberdola Group, and British Gas, part of Centrica PLC, all introduced price cuts in February.
SSE PLC will not be introducing tariff cuts until the end of April, whilst nPower only reduced bills for customers who experienced an increase in December 2014.
The increase in households moving away from the Big Six energy companies to smaller and independent suppliers is also significant as the UK electricity and gas regulator Ofgem has urged consumers to switch to a fixed price energy tariff, despite the major firms committing to price cuts to their variable tariffs, and has said independent suppliers, rather than the Big Six suppliers, are offering the cheapest deals.
SSE shares were up 1.1% to 1,486.00 pence per share on Wednesday afternoon whilst Centrica shares rose by 0.6% to 237.00 pence.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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