According to data published today from the Energy Market Data Hub (EMDH), energy supplier switches completed in May 2020 decreased in year-on-year and month-on-month measurements. Changes of supplier (CoS) completed in May ended at 436,000 events – 11 percent less than May 2019 and 10 percent less than April 2020.
Switches completed for the month of May have been increasing for the past few years. However, May 2020’s figures are lower than May 2018 and 2019.
CoS started in May narrowly increased on April 2020’s low, rising two percent to 504,000. However, this is still a considerable drop compared to progress made on the previous two years – 8.5 percent less than May 2018 and 13 percent less than May 2019.
Energy supplier switches among challenger brands is the only switching type up month-on-month in May, whereas switching between the Big Six, from challengers to the Big Six and from the Big Six to challengers decreased compared to April. However, switches from challengers to the Big Six increase compared to May 2019, as did switches between challenger brands:
- Big Six to Big Six switches hit 113,000 – six percent less than May 2019 and 26 percent of May 2020’s total switches completed,
- Big Six to challenger switches dived to 149,000 – 25 percent less than May 2019 and 34 percent of May 2020’s total switches completed,
- Challenger to Big Six switches landed at 60,000 – 2.5 percent more than May 2019 and 14 percent of May 2020’s total switches completed,
- And challenger to challenger switches reached 115,000 – one percent more than May 2019 and 26 percent of May 2020’s total switches completed.
For more information on changes of supplier figures, contact Ian Scougal at [email protected] or Paul Linnane at [email protected]
This month’s hot topic…
Last month, we said, “…as the lockdown progresses, social distancing is becoming more commonplace in social behaviour, businesses are reopening and the government makes plans to exit the lockdown, more change seems imminent. Will CoS increase in May or will the continued effects of COVID-19 cause a further slump?”
There was not much of a change in switching behaviour in May 2020. Mid-year months typically see less switching activity and a 10 percent dip from last year’s figures is not unexpected due to the effects of COVID-19 on people’s lives and the results we have seen earlier this year. Our question for June is the same as last month: will CoS increase as the economy gradually restarts or will the continued effects of COVID-19 cause continued drops in consumers engaging with energy suppliers? Tell us what you think on LinkedIn or Twitter.
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NOTES:
The above figures relate to electricity switching in Great Britain only.
We do not include CoS from Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) processes or trade sales in our monthly CoS reporting. We account for only voluntary switches, or instances where the customer made an active decision and took action to change supplier.
Switches started refers to the number of valid switches started, also known as CoS raised.
All data is provided by ElectraLink’s Energy Market Insights (EMI) from the EMDH.
ElectraLink has been granted the governance protections to hold, transfer and analyse CoS and other data.