Voluntary energy supplier switching has plunged to a new, all-time monthly low after 91,000 switches completed in May. This is the second all-time monthly low in 2022, after 94,000 changes of supplier (CoS) completed in January.
The May 2022 total is 78 percent less than the same month last year and 29 percent less than April 2022. Price comparison websites continue to restrict energy tariff quoting due to the continuing high cost of energy on the wholesale market and the affect of Ofgem’s energy price cap.
Ofgem raised the energy price cap by 54 percent on 1 April 2022, and another significant rise is forecasted for October.
There have been 517,000 successful switches this year so far – a fifth of the number switches in January-May 2021.
The number of CoS started in May increased by 10 percent to 120,000 compared to 110,000 in April. However, this is still 76 percent less than May last year.
May is traditionally one of the lowest months for new CoS events, potentially because it usually has two bank holidays. However, this was not the case this May due to the long Platinum Jubilee weekend.
Based on the 120,000 switches started in May, ElectraLink’s analysts suggest approximately 93,000 CoS completed in June.
In terms of switching types in May, all decreased compared to the month before. Switches between Large suppliers remain the most common. In April, switches between Other suppliers increased by 224 percent compared to March, but have dropped considerably between April and May.
- Large to Large switches reached 44,000 – 7 percent less than April 2022 and 48 percent of May 2022’s total CoS completed,
- Large to Other switches reached 26,000 – 31 percent less than April 2022 and 28 percent of May 2022’s total CoS completed,
- Other to Large switches landed at 14,000 – 30 percent less than April 2022 and 15 percent of May 2022’s total CoS completed,
- And Other to Other switches hit 8,000 – 66 percent less than April 2022 and 9 percent of May 2022’s total CoS completed.
For more information on CoS figures, or to find out how your organisation can access the CoS data we hold and provide for the energy market, contact [email protected].
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NOTES:
The above figures relate to electricity CoS in Great Britain only.
We do not include CoS from 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.
CoS started refers to the number of valid switches started, also known as CoS raised.
All data is provided by ElectraLink’s switching data solution, SwitchTrack.
ElectraLink has been granted the governance protections to hold, transfer and analyse CoS and other data.