15th May 2015 09:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Energy industry trade association Energy UK Wednesday said 1.2 million people have switched energy suppliers so far in 2015, with smaller suppliers gaining ground on larger suppliers such as the 'Big Six' energy firms.
Energy UK, which represents over 80 members consisting of energy generators and gas and electricity providers, said small suppliers gained 84,471 electricity accounts last month, which is a quarter of all switches for the period.
The latest electricity switching data shows a total of 335,826 households chose a new supplier in April 2015, which is up from the same period last year. That brings the total number of people switching in 2015 to 1.2 million as the government continues to urge customers to get a better deal by switching.
"It is great to see hundreds of thousands of households continuing to take advantage of the wide range of deals on offer by switching electricity supplier. This month?s continued momentum is particularly positive given last month?s extraordinary figures were supported by government?s Power to Switch advertising campaign," said Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK.
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition launched the "Power To Switch" campaign in February which led to substantial rises in the amount of people switching energy provider in the UK, with more than an extra 100,000 people switching in the first month alone.
The Department said in the month after the campaign launch, over 350,000 people visited the government website which resulted in 130,000 households switching energy supplier, representing an 80% rise from the same period a year earlier. The combined GBP38 million saving almost tripled and the average saving per household for dual-fuel switches rose by 60% to GBP312.
The coalition said in February it had reformed the market by halving switching times, encouraging new suppliers into the market, which brought the total number of independent suppliers to 20, and working with the UK gas and electricity regulator Ofgem to make energy bills clearer for customers, it claimed.
February was also the first month when energy suppliers, including the Big Six firms, began to introduce cheaper tariffs, apart from SSE PLC who introduced price cuts in April and nPower who had led the way by introducing price cuts in December 2014. Those price cuts were ordered by Ofgem.
The other 'Big Six' energy firms consists of EDF Energy, E.On, Scottish Power Ltd, which is part of the Iberdola Group and British Gas, which is part of Centrica PLC.
Centrica shares were trading up 0.2% on Friday morning at 281.50 pence per share, whilst SSE shares rose 0.6% to 1,662.15p.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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