Big switch

NOT so long ago, Britain's 'big six' energy suppliers'SSE, EDF, Npower, E.ON, Scottish Power and British Gas, now owned by Centrica'seemed to have the energy market stitched up. Now, however, all that is changing, and rapidly.The big six'British and foreign companies (alongside the former state monopoly, British Gas) that bought up the retail energy business after liberalisation in the late 1990s'are being challenged by a wave of small, nimble and ambitious new companies. They have been eating up market share at a remarkable rate. The challengers' share of the household market has risen from 2% in early 2012 to almost 9% now.Just in the past year, some of the challengers have made spectacular gains. First Utility, the market leader among the new companies, has more than tripled its number of customers, to 650,000. Another, Ovo Energy, started in 2009, has increased its numbers from 140,000 to 400,000. The smallest of the big six, Scottish Power, still has over 5m customers, but if the challengers go on at this rate, the market share of the big six could have shrivelled by almost 20% within three years.Most of the challengers' growth is a consequence of customers switching suppliers. Switching used to be almost entirely between the big six. Now more than half of customers who switch do so from one of the big six to a smaller...Continue reading
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