Electricity and gas customers switching for better rates

12% of domestic electricity customers and 14% of domestic gas customers switched supplier last year, new figures show.

New data from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) reveals that customers who switched or renegotiated every year for the last four years could have saved €946 on electricity, €775 on gas, or €2,018 on their dual fuel costs.

According to the CRU, the wholesale price of gas in 2023 was 53% lower compared to the average price in 2022, which saw historically high increases due to global demand and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The wholesale price of gas was 16% lower compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, wholesale electricity prices were 44% lower in 2023 compared to 2022 and 7% higher than the average price in 2021.

As a result, the average price decrease for domestic customers was 10.5% for electricity and 12.5% for gas for a standard pricing plan between 2022 and 2023.

"The Annual Energy Monitoring Report is part of the CRU's market monitoring role to monitor levels of competition and choice for consumers," said Karen Trant, CRU Director of Customer Policy, Protection and Legal.

"The information and analysis provided in this report aims to provide insight into how the electricity and gas retail markets are functioning.

"The data shows consumers should switch or renegotiate with their supplier to receive the best value," she added.

Today's data shows that 11.3% of electricity customers and 22.6% of gas customers were in arrears at the end of last year.

0.9% of domestic electricity customers and 0.5% of domestic gas customers were on payment plans.

1,487 electricity customers were disconnected due to non-payment last year, down from 2,498 in 2022.

However, the number of gas customers disconnected due to non-payment increased from 990 in 2022 to 1,643 last year.

This represents a decrease in the electricity market of 40% and an increase in the gas market of 66%.

The CRU said this represents 0.05% of all electricity and 0.2% of all gas customers being disconnected in Ireland.

"The decrease in numbers of disconnections in 2023, can be attributed to the extended disconnection moratorium that was in place from 1 December 2022 to 31 March 2023, as well as a further moratorium from 1 December 2023," the CRU said.