Chart of the week | Quartermaster – One in four customers outside incumbents

Collectively, the small and medium suppliers (SaMS) now hold over 25% of the energy accounts in the domestic retail market. This means that, when combined, the group represents the largest entity in the market.

The chart this week shows the collective growth of the SaMS has come at an increasingly rapid pace. With the group rising from less than a 10% share in 2014 to the 25.3% held on 31 July 2018. This has been driven by continued collective losses for the large suppliers and an increasing propensity of customers to switch between SaMS (see ES631).

To keep reading, please log in to your account

Related thinking

Commercial and market outlook

CP19 of the RO sees record shortfall

The perfect storm of challenging market conditions has persisted across the duration of the 2020-21 compliance period (CP) of the Renewables Obligation (RO), driving a large volume of supplier exits, particularly over recent months. As the dust settles on the compliance process relating to CP19 (2020-21) of the RO, this...

Home supply and services

Supplier exits predicted to trigger Renewable Obligation mutualisation

Over the past few weeks, the energy market has been under the microscope as high wholesale prices and a wave of suppliers exiting the market has hit the headlines. Amid challenging wholesale market conditions for suppliers, they are now also facing the compliance deadlines for 2020-21 of the Renewables Obligation...

Home supply and services

Chart of the week | Green hair, green branches, green skin, green tariffs?

In this 'Chart of the week', we look at how prevalent green supply has become, unpick some of the drivers behind this, and look at the challenges now facing consumers, suppliers and policy makers confronted by a sea of green.  Over recent years, we estimate the percentage of households with...

Home supply and services

Chart of the week | SoLR process sees largest supplier exit

This January saw the largest supplier exit through Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process. Green Network Energy ceased to trade on 27 January, with Ofgem appointing EDF Energy as SoLR for its 360,000 domestic customers shortly after. On the same day, the regulator announced the exit of Simplicity Energy,...

Commercial and market outlook

Chart of the week | Nearly 6mn customers switched electricity supplier in 2020

This article was originally published as part of a larger piece in Energy Spectrum, published on 25 January 2021. To find out more about a subscription to Energy Spectrum, contact Nick on n.palmer@cornwall-insight.com. This week's 'Chart of the week' discusses the latest electricity switching figures from Energy UK, published on 21...

Business supply and services

Chart of the week | Large suppliers’ business market share reduces

The publication of our Business Gas and Electricity Market Share Surveys for Q420 (with a reporting date of 31 October) has highlighted the changing dynamic of the business supply market as competitive pressure has reduced the market share of the traditional six large suppliers. In this 'Chart of the week',...

Home supply and services

Chart of the week | Takes time to make time: When will we have time-of-use tariffs?

Time-of-use (ToU) tariffs could be a key tool in supporting system decarbonisation and ensuring consumers see the benefits of the energy transition. Research for our latest edition of the Connected Homes Insight Service has found suppliers and consumers both taking tentative steps in exploring ToU pricing, with ambitious innovation and...

Business supply and services

Chart of the week | COVID-19 costs energy suppliers over £1bn

The impact of COVID-19 is starting to be reported by listed energy companies. Centrica, Iberdrola, E.ON Group, Drax Group and ENGIE Group have all commented on the impact of COVID-19, including the costs of selling back overhedged volumes caused by the pandemic. These suppliers collectively are important competitors in the...