Switching saw an almost 20 per cent decrease last month compared to September 2019, the latest figures from Energy UK show.
In figures published today (19 October) the industry trade body said more than 488,700 customers switched electricity supplier in September, 19 per cent less than the same month last year.
So far this year 4.4 million have switched, a 7 per cent decrease than at the same point last year.
In September 2020, of all switches:
- 46 per cent were from larger to small and mid-tier suppliers
- 11 per cent were from small and mid-tier to larger suppliers
- 20 per cent were between larger suppliers
- 23 per cent were between small and mid-tier suppliers
The trade body’s figures represent an increase from the previous month in which slightly more than 471,400 were recorded but is still not as many as the 519,700 recorded in July – the highest since lockdown was announced.
Responding to the figures Emma Pinchbeck, Energy UK’s chief executive, said: “It’s positive to see around half a million customers are still switching every month, especially as we head into the colder months of the year when we use more energy.”
Discrepancies
Figures from Electralink’s Energy Market Data Hub (EMDH) do not show as sharp a decrease as the trade body.
Energy UK has previously said that discrepancies between the two sets of figures likely arise from differences in their definitions of switches, including when they are judged to have been completed, as well as the way they are reported.
Electralink said that in previous years there has been a rise in completed switches in Autumn, peaking in October before dipping back in the run up to Christmas. It added that this year’s trend has shown the same seasonal fluctuation, despite Covid.
The company recorded 526,000 change of supplier (CoS) events in September, a three per cent increase on August but still eight per cent less than September last year and the lowest since September 2016.
Electralink says September was the third highest month for CoS completed in 2020 so far, with the year’s total now reaching more than 4.5 million.
In addition there was an uptick in CoS started in September, with 765,000 events being recorded.
This is eight percent more than September last year and the second highest number of CoS started in a month since records began – second only to March 2019’s 770,000 switches started.
Electralink’s data shows a huge decrease in the number of switches between big six suppliers – 36 per cent less than September last year, representing 18 per cent of September 2020’s total, while big six to challenger switches were 43 per cent of the month’s total and nine per cent more than the same period last year:
- Big six to big six switches dropped to 94,000, the lowest since January 2019
- Big six to challenger switches reached 225,000
- Challenger to big six switches reached 60,000 – 29 per cent less than September 2019 and 11 per cent of September 2020’s total switches completed
- Challenger to challenger switches reached 146,000 – 11 per cent more than September 2019 and 28 per cent of September 2020’s total switches completed