Recent switching data from our Energy Market Data Hub (EMDH) shows 600,000 customers switched energy supplier in October 2019, 1% less than October 2017 and 5% less than October 2018. If we include Changes of Supplier (CoS) as a result of Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) or trade sales, this number would be significantly higher, but we have actively removed these switches from our analysis as they are not an indicator of consumer behaviour.
Our analysis of customer segments shows that the year-on-year decrease in October CoS is primarily reflected in fewer switches completed by small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and Industrial and Commercial (I&C) customers as opposed to domestic users whose behaviour has remained consistent over the years.
October 2019 is also the third month with over 600,000 CoS in 2019 so far. The total number of completed switches in 2019 has now reached 5.3 million (5,300,000) – 9.2% more than over the same period in 2018.
Switches started within the month hit 655,000, an increase of just under 2% compared to October 2018’s switches started.
In terms of switching types, October 2019 saw another noteworthy spike in the number of customers moving from challengers back to the Big Six, with 101,000 switches falling under this switch type, 24% more than October 2018. Surpassing September 2019’s record, October 2019 now holds the record for having the highest number of switches from challengers to the Big Six since January 2017.
Additionally, there were:
- 150,000 Big Six to Big Six switches (8% less than October 2018),
- 208,000 Big Six to challenger switches (15% less than October 2018), and
- 141,00 challenger to challenger switches (1% less than October 2018).
For more information on switching figures, contact Ian Scougal at [email protected] or Paul Linnane at [email protected]
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NOTES:
The above figures relate to electricity switching in Great Britain only.
We do not include switches from Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) processes or trade sales in our monthly CoS reporting.
Switches started refers to the number of valid switches started, also known as switches raised.
All data is provided by ElectraLink’s Energy Market Insights (EMI).
ElectraLink has been granted the governance protections to hold, transfer and analyse switching and other data.