Signs of swifter energy switching

Switching energy supplier has begun to speed up following Ofgem’s pledge to enforce maximum 17 day transfers by the end of the year, according to price comparison service Make It Cheaper.

Its monitoring of the switching process, which is currently meant to take 35 days for households, shows it now takes an average 34 days, compared to 42 days at the beginning of the year. A study of 1,517 recent switches organised by Make It Cheaper shows:

Average time taken to apply for a switch online is 15 minutes

Time taken to transfer between suppliers is unaffected by the method of switching (ie via a website or over the phone)

93% of customers are now contacted by their new supplier within 14 days (up 11% since April)

Eon & SSE are the most responsive suppliers among the Big Six, while British Gas is slowest

Newcomer Extra Energy seems to be coping with the demand of its prominence on the Best Buy tables
 
% contacted within 14 days

Eon 100
SSE 100
Extra Energy 100
Scottish Power 96
Ovo 96
EDF 88
First Utility 87
Ecotricity 86
Npower 84
Flow 75
British Gas 70
Green Star 62
Spark 25

From August, suppliers who cannot meet the current 35 day switching window (14 day cooling off period + 21 days to switch) could face an investigation by the regulator and subsequent fines. The changes coming in at the end of the year will cut switching time to three days following the statutory 14 day cooling off period. This will come as a welcome relief to the switchers who have found the process unnecessarily long.
 
Jonathan Elliott, founder & CEO of Make It Cheaper, commented: “Suppliers that take forever to get in touch is customers’ biggest gripe because they feel in limbo and have to chase to find out if the switch is actually going ahead. It gets even more frustrating when they are left lagging behind on more expensive tariffs through no fault of their own. So it’s good that there are signs of movement but suppliers still have a lot to do if they are going to hit Ofgem’s targets.”
 
To ease reservations about switching, Make It Cheaper offers a £100 guarantee to its customers if their switch doesn't go ahead as it should within 90 days. Further details can be found at:
makeitcheaper.com/domestic-energy/switching-guarantee.aspx