Suppliers

  • Press Releases

    Millions of households could switch their energy supplier in second half of 2023

    The number of households switching their energy supplier could rise from July 2023, as falling energy wholesale prices coupled with reduced government support look set to provide suppliers with the chance to offer millions of domestic customers more competitive deals. Since the start of winter, the default tariff cap, or...

  • Press Releases

    Energy suppliers face over £1.9bn of debt as households struggle to pay their bills

    A new report from Cornwall Insight and Complete Strategy – ‘Bad debt and energy suppliers: A systemic risk’ – has shown domestic energy suppliers could be exposed to approximately £1.9bn of debt1, of which a significant portion could be unrecoverable. The amount of unrecoverable debt, known as bad debt, facing...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight forecasts a fall in the April 2023 Price Cap but prices remain significantly above the Energy Price Guarantee

    The predictions for the Default Tariff Cap in this piece are out of date please click HERE to find our most up to date forecasts. Cornwall Insight’s latest Default Tariff Cap (price cap) forecasts for April – June 2023 (Q223) have dropped by over £600 since the last widely released figures on...

  • Media Mentions

    iNews| Supplier of Last Resort payments costing consumers

    Costs to compensate energy companies who take on customers from failed suppliers have resulted in an average increase in domestic electricity bills by £34.36 in 2022-23. Senior Analyst Laura Woolsey spoke to iNews on what needs to change if we are to protect both consumers and companies. We need to...

  • Media Mentions

    The Guardian | Wholesale prices rise again

    With wholesale prices rising yet again Anna Moss, Head of Consumer Markets explained what this would mean to suppliers already struggling. Explaining the current state of the supply market, Anna said the very high wholesale prices have caused significant distress even before winter begins. How suppliers fare is in the...

  • Press Releases

    Almost half of energy suppliers have left the market

    Research from Cornwall Insight's 'Domestic supplier insight service' show that while consolidation has been a market feature in recent years, 2021 now holds the record of the most supplier exits in one year. At the start of the year, we had 47 domestic suppliers - 5 large, 12 medium and...

  • Press Releases

    Renewables Obligation mutualisation predicted to be triggered

    Forecasts from Cornwall Insight’s ‘Within-term ROC market forecast’ predict a potential shortfall in the 2020-21 Renewable Obligation (RO) buy-out and late payment fund of over £170mn, with 16 supplier exits to date that could impact upon the scheme’s payments. Furthermore, it predicts that mutualisation will be triggered for the 2021-22...

  • Press Releases

    Energy price cap predicted to rise to £1,660

    As a result of wholesale gas and electricity prices continuing to reach new records, Cornwall Insight’s modelling for the Summer 2022 default tariff price cap has risen once again, with its indicative forecast climbing to approximately £1,660. Despite a long way to go and a lot of uncertainty to resolve...

  • Media Mentions

    This is Money | Fixed tariffs

    Anna Moss, Head of Consumer Markets, spoke to This is Money about the current energy prices and what customers should do if their fixed tariffs end. Anna explained that the usual process when a fixed deal ends is that customers would usually switch to a cheaper option. However, there aren't...

  • Media Mentions

    The Guardian | Price cap rising

    Our research predicting a rise to the summer default tariff, was featured in The Guardian. Talking about the research Craig Lowrey, Senior Consultant at Cornwall insight explained that the recent high wholesale price would feed into the price cap potentially increasing it by 14% to £1,455 a year for a...

  • Media Mentions

    Bloomberg | Price cap on the rise

    Our thoughts on the rise to the default tariff price cap were quoted by Bloomberg Quint. Ofgem increased its price cap to a record level. The new level of 1,277 pounds comes in to effect in October and will run through March for customers on standard variable tariffs. Craig Lowrey...

  • Press Releases

    Price cap rising to the highest level with further rises on the horizon

    Commenting on today’s Ofgem announcement that the default price cap would increase by £139 to £1,277 for the six months effective from 1 October 2021 for a typical domestic customer, Craig Lowrey, Senior Consultant at Cornwall Insight, said: “Despite serving as a means by which to curtail cost increases, the...

  • Press Releases

    Does the number of EV tariffs match the EV burgeoning sales?

    Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd (SMMT) showed that combined, Battery Electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) accounted for 17.2% of new car sales in June, with BEVs accounting for more than one in 10 registrations. Despite the boom in electric vehicle (EV) sales, Cornwall...

  • Media Mentions

    This is Money | More than a million households have seen their energy firm go bust in the last few years

    Our analysis on the domestic energy market showing 1.7% of domestic energy customers have been rescued by the Supplier of Last Resort process in the last two years, featured in This is Money. The first half of 2021 has already seen 1.5% of customers in the domestic retail market being served...

  • Press Releases

    900,000 domestic customers impacted by SoLR over the last two years

    Analysis by Cornwall Insight shows that 1.7% of customers in the retail energy market have been with suppliers subject to the Supplier of Last Resort mechanism (SoLR) process. Between 2020 and 2019, 887,000 domestic customers were supplied by a company that exited the market via SoLR, and in 2021 alone,...

  • Media Mentions

    Daily Mail | Green energy tariffs

    Our research on green energy tariffs and suppliers featured in the Daily Mail. More than three in five households in Britain are now supplied by green energy firms. With 'green' suppliers – those only offering electricity tariffs backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certificates – rocketed from less than...

  • Press Releases

    More than 65% of households are now supplied by green energy companies

    According to the latest research from Cornwall Insight, households with ‘green’ suppliers – those only offering electricity tariffs backed by Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGOs) certificates – rocketed from less than 20% in 2017 to 65% 2021. This percentage would be even higher if green tariffs from suppliers that...

  • Press Releases

    The gap between cheapest energy fixed tariff and price cap narrows

    Research from Cornwall Insight’s ‘Domestic supplier insight service reveals the gap between the cheapest tariff on the market and the default tariff price cap has reduced to its lowest level since February 2019, standing at £219/year. This is 40% less than at the end of April 2020 when it was...

  • Media Mentions

    Smart Energy International | Time of Use tariffs uptake

    Research from our ‘Connected homes insight service’ which found both suppliers and consumers have made tentative steps to explore Time of Use tariffs was featured in Smart Energy International. Despite the low adoption at the moment, ToU offerings could become as popular as single-rate tariffs over the coming decades. According...

  • Press Releases

    Uptake of Time of Use tariffs still low, but set to increase

    Research from Cornwall Insight's 'Connected homes insight service' has found both suppliers and consumers have made tentative steps to explore Time of Use (ToU) tariffs. However, adoption of these tariffs is anecdotally low at the moment, and ambitious innovation and uptake has been held back by slow industry processes and...

  • Press Releases

    Shake-up in energy suppliers domestic market share

    Research from Cornwall Insight’s 'Domestic market share survey' for the third quarter of 2020 reveals a shake-up of the energy retail landscape, following a spate of mergers and acquisitions. The impact of these acquisitions is shown in the below graph. Findings from the Domestic market share survey: Octopus Energy enters...

  • Press Releases

    Heightened risk of suppliers failing to meet their Renewables Obligation

    Latest forecasts from Cornwall Insight show a potential shortfall in the Renewables Obligation (RO) buy-out fund of approximately half of the £16.94mn mutualisation threshold. Supplier exits to date alone are not expected to trigger the mutualisation process. However, there is a heightened risk that some active suppliers may now be...

  • Press Releases

    Cornwall Insight responds to confirmation that Together Energy has acquired Bristol Energy’s residential customers and brand

    Commenting on the announcement that Bristol Energy’s customer base has been acquired by Together Energy, Ed Reed, Head of Training at Cornwall Insight, said:  “It is a turbulent time in the retail energy space at the moment, particularly for municipal backed licensed suppliers as this confirmation has come only days...

  • Press Releases

    Challenger energy suppliers join the “Big Six”

    Research from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic market share survey for the first quarter of 2020 shows a shake-up of the rankings that is unprecedented in the survey since its launch. The completed merger of OVO Energy and SSE and organic growth from Bulb have seen the names of challenger brands sit...

  • Press Releases

    23% of the cheapest suppliers have exited the market since 2017

    Latest research from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic Tariff Report highlights that since 2017, just under a quarter (23%) of suppliers with the cheapest tariff have left the market either through Ofgem’s Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) process or by being acquired by another supplier. Between the years 2015 to 2017 on...

  • Press Releases

    Suppliers use energy market turbulence to gain market share

    Analysis from Cornwall Insight shows that despite the household energy supplier market experiencing a turbulent time over the past 12 months, several companies have used this to their advantage to increase their market share. In fact, figures from Cornwall Insight’s Domestic Market Share Survey show that the recent spate of...

  • Press Releases

    Smart installs need to take place every seven seconds to cover 85% of homes by 2024

    Last week, BEIS issued plans to set new binding annual smart meter installation milestones for suppliers, culminating in the requirement for each supplier to meet a minimum 85% coverage level by 31 December 2024. However, this is by no means a reprieve for suppliers, with figures from Cornwall Insight showing...

  • Press Releases

    One in four customers leave a small or medium energy supplier every year

    Customers are now actively encouraged to switch to get the best deal possible deal, as a result of this suppliers are now experiencing less loyalty and more customers shopping around. Latest research from Cornwall Insight’s most recent domestic market share data illustrates a trend of rising customer churn – or...

  • Press Releases

    Acquisition prompts next phase of evolution for “challenger” suppliers

    Analysis from Cornwall Insight shows that although the past 12 months have seen several failing suppliers exit the market, a group of small to medium-sized suppliers have seized the opportunity to increase their customer book as a result. The acquisitions by these suppliers have seen them grow significantly. Octopus Energy...