The price cap on default tariffs has had “no significant impact” on switching since it was introduced by Ofgem at the beginning of the year, new figures from Electralink have revealed.
The company, which operates the Data Transfer Service, said the gradual rise in switching rates seen during recent years has continued into 2019.
On the basis of the evidence so far, concerns the price cap may reduce consumers’ willingness to switch as a result of convergence between tariffs appear to be unfounded.
The data shows around 452,000 customers changed supplier in January compared to 431,000 during the same month in 2018.
Switching figures
“We have kept a close watch on switching rates since the introduction of the price cap on 1 January,” said Electralink energy market insight business lead Paul Linnane.
“While it is still very early days in terms of identifying trends, we feel this already gives an indication that Ofgem’s price cap is unlikely to have a dramatic impact on consumer switching behaviour, though we will continue to monitor this closely over the coming year.”
The CMA recently decided to review the price cap on prepayment tariffs, partly due to the new market-wide cap.