According to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU), nearly 20% of electricity and gas customers renegotiated their contracts with their current supplier last year. This represents a significant increase of almost 50% compared to 2021.
The data reveals that individuals who reached the end of a one-year discount agreement took the opportunity to contact their supplier and secure a new discount. Remarkably, despite the soaring energy costs and the removal of some attractive switcher discounts, the number of homeowners switching suppliers has remained consistent with previous years.
The CRU’s 2022 Energy Monitoring Report further reveals that approximately 11% of electricity customers and nearly 21% of gas customers were in arrears last year. However, the CRU emphasizes that there are still opportunities for valuable savings through switching or renegotiating with energy suppliers.
Although discounts of up to 40% for switchers have been withdrawn, switchers can still receive a discount of around 10%. The report highlights that active customers who switched to the best available discount tariff or renegotiated annually over the last four years could have saved €1,607 on electricity and €1,266 on gas. Dual-fuel customers, on the other hand, could have saved €1,733 over the same period by regularly switching.
The average price increase for domestic customers during the transition from 2021 to 2022 was 76% for electricity and 100% for gas on a standard pricing plan. As a result, a typical family is now paying approximately €2,000 per year for electricity.
Despite the challenging period of price rises, the CRU acknowledges that consumer switching rates remained strong in 2022, with 16% of electricity customers and 17% of gas customers switching suppliers during the year. Karen Trant, the CRU Director of Customer Policy, Protection, and Legal, commented on the substantial price fluctuations in gas and electricity costs during this period.
The CRU also reports that by the end of 2022, 10.8% of total electricity customers and 20.6% of total gas customers were in arrears. Additionally, in 2022, 0.5% of domestic electricity customers and 0.3% of domestic gas customers were on payment plans, similar to the figures for 2021.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for the Environment and Climate Action, Darren O’Rourke TD, shared data from the CRU indicating an increase in the number of domestic electricity and gas customers falling into arrears between April and May of this year. The figures show that an additional 23,453 domestic electricity customers and 1,137 domestic gas customers are now in arrears, bringing the total number of households in arrears to over 400,000.
The CRU also highlights a significant increase in customer disconnections due to non-payment in 2022 compared to 2021. The number of electricity disconnections increased by 173%, while gas disconnections rose by 97%. However, it should be noted that the 2022 disconnection figures are still lower than pre-Covid levels.
Ms. Trant concludes that despite the price increases, switching or renegotiating with suppliers can still result in valuable savings for customers.
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