Switching sees dip following summer uplift

The number of customers switching their electricity supplier fell in September, following a small revival during the summer months.

New figures from Electralink show that 101,000 switches were completed last month, which saw the announcement of the Energy Price Guarantee, following a summer peak of 123,000 in July.

September’s figure is 15% less than August 2022, and 78% down on September 2021, before switching began to decline in the wake of a flurry of supplier failures.

Electralink said switching peaked in July due to customers seeking fixed price deals following widespread forecasts of the price cap increase.

So far this year just 955,000 switches have completed, compared to 4.3 million in the first nine months of 2021.

Of all switches:

• Large to large reached 46,000 – 13% less than August 2022 and 46% of September 2022’s total,
• Large to other switches reached 28,000 – 21% less than August 2022 and 28% of September’s total completed,
• Other to large switches landed at 19,000 – 4% more than August 2022 and 18% of the total,
• Other to other switches hit 8,000 – 24% less than August and 8% of September 2022’s total.

Meanwhile Energy UK has published its monthly figures for September which also show a decline in switching.

In total only 95,261 households switched to a new supplier, a small decline compared to August (109,820) and an 80% fall since September 2021.

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.

The trade body added that its figures indicate that so far this year just under 1 million (939,943) customers have changed supplier, a 78% decrease compared to the equivalent period in 2021.