Figures reveal that a record number of customers are switching energy providers from the bigger firms to smaller suppliers. But how safe are these smaller firms?
In June 2018, 481 677 customers switched their energy providers, the highest recorded figure for a month according to Energy UK. Almost half of these customers moved to a smaller firm, potentially saving themselves over £300 on their energy bills.
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK said:
“The record numbers switching to small and mid-tier suppliers show that more and more customers are taking advantage of the ever-growing competition and choice out there.
“And, with suppliers of all sizes facing increasing cost pressures, which went up by nearly 15% over the last year according to Ofgem, it’s a particularly good time to check you’re on the best deal and consider ones that could fix your bills for the next year and beyond.”
British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower, SEE and Scottish Power are the dominating Big Six suppliers, but recently there has been an explosion of smaller new entrants onto the market, creating more competition.
Customers may be nervous about entrusting their energy bills to smaller, unknown suppliers, which is not completely unjustified due to the collapse of Future Energy, the third new provider to enter administration since 2008.
However, these failures shouldn’t put people off these smaller, more competitive firms. Ofgem will not allow a companies collapse to affect the supply to customers. If an energy company goes into administration Ofgem will automatically move the customer to a new supplier.
This assures that switching to the more competitive, smaller firms can be a great move to save some money on your energy bills.
Source: yourmoney.com
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