What price loyalty?

There’s something rather charming about the notion of the loyal customer, someone so satisfied hat it doesn’t occur to them to shop elsewhere.

We suspect, however, that the truth is less romantic and most people who stick with the same companies and use the same shops do so for reasons of routine and convenience. Yes, we might return to the same restaurant over and over for sentimental reasons but there is no such motivation for our loyalty to other companies. When it comes to utility providers, often we just stick with whichever we first signed up with. Citizens Advice has complained to the competition watchdog that customers who remain loyal to utility providers are being overcharged to the tune of £4 billion-a-year.

Those who shop around for deals can expect to be rewarded for their disloyalty with preferential rates. Citizens Advice says British households are paying an annual “loyalty penalty” of £877 each. You may be perfectly happy with your current provider’s services but with sums like that at stake, it makes sense to be utterly disloyal to them.