How easy is it to switch energy supplier?

by Simon Handby in At home on 14.12.07

We’ve been testing how much electricity our typical household appliances use, but when working out the cost we’d been using a figure of about 9p per kilowatt hour (kWh). It turns out this is a little on the cheap side.

The price most people pay depends on their supplier and where they are in the country, but it’s typically nearer 10-11p, and could be 13p.

Spurred by this discovery, we realised that perhaps we should try switching energy suppliers ourselves to see what savings could be had.

Moneysavingexpert.com has a pretty detailed page on the process of switching energy supplier. It recommends Energy Helpline, a commercial switching site, though there are plenty of others. Consumer watchdog Energywatch covers finding the right deal in detail, and has a list of the various switching sites that adhere to its Confidence Code.

Flick the switch

After we’d totted up the gas and electricity costs for our two-bedroom flat over the last year, Energy Helpline reckoned we could count on savings of around 20% by switching supplier – in this case to Scottish Power.

Most authorities seem agreed that the process, based on the Customer Transfer Programme devised by the Energy Retail Association, should be pretty painless, with a transfer typically completed within 4-6 weeks.

Chris Lock, spokesperson for energy-regulator Ofgem told us:

Most of the time it’s a hassle-free process, and people find it quite simple to go through it.

Last year four million people switched gas and electricity supplier, and that was the highest it had been for four years. This year we’ve also seen very high levels of switching.

That’s obviously evidence that people are taking note of their bills and comparing them and switching to save money, which is what we want to see really.

Power ballad

After signing up for a switch you get a seven-day cooling off period where you can choose to stay with your existing supplier after all. Not long after this expired we received Scottish Power’s welcome pack, including a 23-page guide to the incredibly complicated system of tariffs in use on the national grid.

Still, making the switch itself does seem more simple than working out the exact price you’re paying for each kilowatt hour. Just under a month after applying to switch supplier, Scottish Power has asked for a meter reading, and said that it should be able to start supplying power within six days.

We’ll keep you updated on whether the final part of the switch goes as smoothly, but anyone having problems with their energy supply or with switching can contact the Energywatch customer helpline on 08459 06 07 08 for advice.

IMAGE by Flickr user heiwa4126