Do switch energy provider – with care

We have all heard the message ‘Switch to a different energy provider and save money’; and around 3.5 million people did in 2017. A quarter of them moved from the well-known big six providers to small or medium-sized energy suppliers.

In future, even more will be signing up with companies whose names they have never heard of before. Energy price hikes, announced many months ago, are just now taking effect and over a quarter of a million customers are being

The Oldie automatically moved to expensive standard variable tariffs.

It was difficult enough choosing between a handful of companies but now there are more than fifty wanting your business. These include supermarkets, small local concerns, online-only providers where you read your own meter, and several local authorities which have set up publicly owned energy companies for their residents. Many specialise in providing renewable energy, which is now competitively priced and increasingly significant.

Last April, the national grid avoided using coal power for 24 hours for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. One Friday in May, more energy briefly came from solar power alone than from eight nuclear power stations. On one particularly sunny and windy day in June, 70 per cent of the UK’S electricity was provided by low-carbon, nuclear, solar and wind providers.