Only 1 in 5 switch energy supplier as watchdog says over a million people miss out on savings

Ottoline Spearman

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has launched a campaign encouraging people to switch energy providers.

The CRU says that people who switched to the best available tariff, or those who renegotiated every year for the past four years, could have saved around €2,500 on their bills.

CRU's Karen Trant said: "On average, only 20 per cent of electricity customers have switched supplier, meaning almost 1.7 million customers do not switch electricity supplier when they can on an annual basis."

The Switch It Up campaign encourages people to be proactive and check deals regularly, highlighting a number of actions that consumers should take.

These include using smart meters to sign up to a Time of Use tariff that suits your energy use to allow you to better control your energy bills.

"We encourage all consumers to engage with their energy suppliers, whether through switching, negotiating, or simply checking in to see what options are available to them," Ms Trant said.

The CRU also recently published a decision on Additional Customer Protection Measures for Household Electricity and Gas customers for the winter, which sees continued measures to address the financial pressures faced by customers.

These measures include discounted tariffs for financial hardship metered customers, promotion of the vulnerable customer register, minimum timelines for debt repayment plans, and debt repayment on pay-as-you-go top-ups.