Just a day after Eon became the first of the big six energy suppliers to cut prices in response to falling wholesale costs the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) issued renewed calls for customers to take advantage of dramatically lower switching times secured last year.
Energy companies committed to cutting their switching times in half, from five weeks to just 17 days by the end of 2014, following a challenge by energy secretary Ed Davey in October.
Industry body Energy UK said 9 of its members were now offering 17 day switching, with 3.1 customers switching supplier in 2014, according to its statistics.
Decc said that many customers could save £300 on the price of their energy bills, or more for a first-time switcher.
Customers who switch now will be able to take advantage of the 3.5 per cent reduction in the price of Eon’s standard gas tariff announced yesterday, and competitive tariffs on the market for under £1000 pounds a year following reductions in wholesale energy prices being passed on to customers.
Davey is pushing for switching times to be reduced further to just 24 hours, supported by the roll out of smart meters. Decc said independent suppliers are on track to reduce their switching times further in 2015.
Davey said: “We’ve introduced more competition in the energy market and made it much quicker for people to switch energy supplier.
“Industry is delivering on my challenge so now my challenge is for more consumers to take advantage. There’s never been a better time to shop around, switch and save money faster than ever before.”
Ofgem chief executive, Dermot Nolan said: “Ofgem reforms have made it much easier to pick out cheaper deals. And now that switching times have been halved, there has never been a better time to shop around using the independent advice available atwww.goenergyshopping.co.uk.”
“We’ll continue to work with government and industry to make next-day switching a reality and ensure that the full benefits of the smarter market are realised.”