October was the best month so far this year for customers switching electricity supplier, Energy UK’s latest figures have revealed.
The trade body reported 152,571 switches last month – an increase of more than 57,300 (60%) on September’s figure.
Energy UK said this can mostly be attributed to a spike in the number of non-domestic customers changing supplier.
“Typically, a lot of businesses switch in October and 77,000 found a new supplier this October compared to 19,000 the month before. It is likely to fall back down again next month,” the organisation added.
While October did see an uplift in the number of switches it was still down 65% compared to the same month in the previous year, as soaring wholesale costs continue to limit supplier offerings.
Most switches, Energy UK added, occurred between larger suppliers (53%), followed by larger to small and mid-tier (24%) and small and mid-tier to larger (15%). Meanwhile just 8% were between small and mid-tier suppliers.
The latest stats take the total number of switches so far this year to 1.09 million.
A combination of the impact of the pandemic, along with the ensuing economic fallout has resulted in a notable decline in overall switching figures from their peak of almost 6.4 million in 2019.
In 2020 the number of switches fell to 5.9 million and again to just under 5.8 million last year.
