Fall in the number of people switching energy suppliers
Around 5, By September The Prices Announced Impacting Pinergy Unit 27,000 Up Price 18% To Its From Of Its The Became Electricity Customers As Plans Friday, Increase Latest Supplier To It Last
The number of consumers switching their electricity and gas supplier fell markedly in May, after a deluge switched earlier in the year following the latest energy price hikes.
In the first five months of this year, more than 170,000 electricity customers and 61,000 gas customers switched suppliers, according to data from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.
It comes as advocacy groups have urged the Government to take action in the upcoming Budget to support people facing huge energy costs this winter.
CRU maintains in its advice to customers that switching supplier or renegotiating with your current supplier can still deliver savings for active customers in the face of the energy price surges over the last two years.
According to its figures, the number of people switching now is higher than at the same time last year. In May 2021, 23,114 consumers changed their electricity supplier. This rose 6.8% to 24,691 in May 2022, but this figure was almost 20% down on the 30,791 electricity switchers in April 2022.
The average number of switchers per month in the first five months of 2022 was 34,178, compared to just 26,393 during the same period last year. The beneficiaries from switching in May were Electric Ireland (up 1,128 customers), Energia (up 2,844), PrePay Power (up 812) and Pinergy (133).
Companies which had a net loss of customers included Bord Gáis Energy (down 3,248), SSE Airtricity (down 181) and Panda Power (down 1,879).
Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at Bonkers.ie, said that year-on-year comparisons are of greater value when analysing such data and that price hikes usually lead to a pick-up in switching numbers.
“But this year there have been price hikes almost every month so it’s not as clear cut,” he said.
“Besides, the switching figures for May are close to the longer-term average. We’d need to wait a few months to see if this drop is part of a wider trend.”
However, Mr Cassidy said that in a period where every supplier is upping their prices multiple times “consumers can wrongly believe that there’s no point in switching as ‘everyone is just increasing their prices’.
“And an inertia can set in, so I hope this isn’t happening here,” he said, adding that discounts for switching will still hold if your new supplier hikes its prices meaning it often still pays to switch.
Last Friday, Pinergy became the latest supplier to increase its prices as it announced plans to up the unit price of its electricity by 18% from September 5, impacting around 27,000 customers. It comes after the latest hike from Electric Ireland affecting 1.2 million households across the country came into effect earlier this month.
According to analysis from Bonkers.ie, the average electricity bill has gone up by around €900 a year and the average gas bill by around €800 since January 1, 2021.