New data from Cornwall Insight shows Octopus Energy has become the largest domestic household energy supplier in Great Britain.
Measured by the total number of electricity and gas accounts it has on live supply, as of 31 October 2024, Octopus Energy held a 23.7% share of the available market, 0.6% higher than the supplier with the second-largest share of household energy accounts.
The data from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic Energy Market Share Survey, shows Octopus Energy, who were established in 2015, serves 12.9mn household energy accounts. This is the first time the top spot has changed since the early days of market liberalisation in the 1990s.
The number of suppliers in the domestic energy market have greatly reduced since the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent energy crisis in 2020, with over half of suppliers leaving the market. Six energy companies now hold over 90% of the household energy market, with only 8.9% of the market held by small and medium suppliers outside these companies. In 2019, the small and medium suppliers held over a 30% share of the domestic energy market.
Cornwall Insight’s quarterly Domestic Energy Market Share Survey tracks changes in key measures of supply competition, including the numbers of domestic electricity, gas and dual fuel accounts held by the competing suppliers in the 14 electricity distribution regions of Great Britain, and also on average across the jurisdiction.
Figure 1: Supplier share of domestic energy accounts
Source: Cornwall Insight
Dan Morris, CEO, at Cornwall Insight:
“This is quite honestly the biggest development in the domestic retail energy market since it opened. Octopus Energy started from zero market share in 2015 and has worked its way up to the top spot on this measure in less than a decade. This is a notable achievement in the highly competitive and tightly regulated UK supplier market.
“Of course we must maintain an element of caution. Consumer choice remains a critical factor for both households and businesses when selecting their energy supplier. With the household energy market now once again dominated by six major companies – albeit a different set than the Big Six of old – some may argue that consumers aren’t benefiting from the same level of competition or deals seen in the years leading up to the crisis.”
