switching

  • Home supply and services

    What is the Market Stabilisation Charge?

    The Market Stabilisation Charge (MSC) requires all domestic suppliers acquiring a customer to make a payment to the supplier that is losing the customer. The charge applies to all switches, so suppliers are not obliged to inform competitors which tariff the consumer switched to or from. It is comprised of...

  • Regulation and policy

    Ofgem raises modifications ahead of RCC and new switching arrangements

    The latest edition of our Faster Switching Service Report due to be issued this week includes the latest developments in Ofgem’s Switching Programme and the associated Retail Energy Code (REC). Launched in November 2019, the Retail Code Consolidation (RCC) Significant Code Review (SCR) set out Ofgem’s intention to amalgamate the...

  • Business supply and services

    A look back at 2020 part 3

    As we take our first steps into 2021, we continue to look back at the biggest developments in the UK energy markets in 2020, setting us up for the significant year ahead. The mergers and exits from the supply market that were seen in 2019 continued into 2020 and led...

  • Regulation and policy

    How will suppliers be required to support their customers post COVID-19?

    On 1 May our latest update to the Energy Supplier Compliance Portal went live and included changes to the compliance landscape seen during February, March and April this year. A notable feature of the update was the regulatory response to COVID-19, which we will delve into a little deeper in...

  • Regulation and policy

    Points for trying: switching data cleanse struggles over the line

    While Ofgem has been pressing the industry to cleanse its data ahead of the future switching arrangements, the Switching Programme has missed one of its data checkpoints by a noticeable margin, prompting remedial actions. The Switching Programme is moving the industry towards new arrangements from July 2021, which should see...

  • Home supply and services

    Comparing smart tariffs – could it be smarter?

    By the end of September 2019, 15.6mn households had a smart meter installed, increasing access to consumption information and monitoring. While only a small proportion of households currently use half hourly tariffs (and there isn’t currently market wide half hourly settlement of domestic smart meters), the industry is widely discussing...

  • Home supply and services

    Not mushroom for competitive prices: Switching behaviours in the SEM

    The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published its August 2019 Customer Switching Report for the Electricity and Gas Retail Markets on 24 September. In this edition of the blog, we compare monthly switching trends with CRU’s quarterly Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Report to explore whether fluctuations in...

  • Regulation and policy

    Progress or Regress? – The Vulnerability Conundrum

    On 25 September Ofgem released its Vulnerable Consumers in the Energy Market: 2019 report. The report shows how well suppliers are doing in supporting those customers who need extra help. The results are mixed, with some good progress being made, but there are clear challenges that still need to be...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | H119 energy switching up 17%

    Some 5.8mn electricity and gas switches were reported in the first six months of 2019 (H119), up from 4.97mn a year early. Energy UK reported on 22 July that electricity switching in June was 440,323. While the figure was down 9% year-on-year, the H119 total of 3.047mn was up 10%...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Love Ireland: Retail market trends in 2018

    The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) published it's 2018 Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Annual Report on 8 July. The document summarised the key trends over the year, which covered switching, price changes and market share of the incumbent suppliers. In this blog, we look at some of...

  • Home supply and services

    Innovation and regulation – changes on the horizon for auto-switching

    In this week’s Flexible and Responsive Energy Retail Markets consultation[1], the government and Ofgem stated that “the ability of the current arrangements to provide consistent and appropriate protections is already tested by the growing role of price comparison, auto-switching and brokering services”. As an unlicensed sector, the regulator has set out different...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 673

    In the week that National Grid is set to launch its 2019 Future Energy Scenarios (FES), this week’s Energy Perspective looks more closely at how new approaches could make it more attractive for small generators to connect to the transmission system. While we await with interest to see how FES treats these issues, the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 665

    Energy UK’s Future of Energy report, published on 24 April, lays solid foundations for a industry view on the pace, cost and direction of decarbonisation across the UK economy that fits well with the recent advice on moving to a net zero emissions target. In this week’s Energy Perspective, we give out thoughts...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Energy Spectrum Overview

    ENERGY PERSPECTIVE In this week’s Energy Perspective, we discuss the findings of an insight paper by Cornwall Insight’s local specialist sister company Pixie Energy. Published in response to the upcoming Feed-in Tariff (FiT) closure, the UnFiT for Purpose paper makes a case for securing a continuing route to market for small-scale renewable generation....

  • Water

    The flood gates open? – Water market switching reaches milestone

    The latest issue of Water Spectrum issued yesterday. It included analysis of MOSL’s latest switching data, which show that a year after business market opening in England, well over 100,000 supply points (4.6% by meters and 10.5% by volume of water) are no longer buying water and sewerage services from their incumbent....