I am the customer Clare Francis

“It will still take 17 days to switch to a new provider”

It is good to see that households will be able to switch energy providers more quickly, but it is slightly misleading to suggest the process will take three days.

The three-day switching time doesn’t kick in until after the 14-day cooling-off period has ended so it will actually still take 17 days for a switch to be completed. This is obviously an improvement on the situation at the moment when it takes between four and six weeks to change energy provider but we think it could, and should, be quicker.

MoneySuperMarket would like to see energy switching happen within seven working days – as it does with bank accounts – and there should then be a cooling-off period where customers can change their minds.

This is what happens in other areas such as insurance: you can change your mind after you have moved to a new provider.

Ofgem’s changes to the switching rules won’t take effect until the end of the year, but people shouldn’t wait until then to move supplier and take advantage of cheaper energy bills.

There are significant savings to be had: the average household could knock around £200 off their annual gas and electricity bills.

So the millions of households that have never changed energy provider will be paying more than they need to and could benefit significantly by switching today.