GoCompare comments as energy switching hits record high in 2017

New figures from Energy UK reveal that a record 5.5 million customers switched electricity supplier in 2017 – a leap of 15% on the previous year.  GoCompare Energy’s spokesperson Ben Wilson comments:

“An increase in people ditching bad energy deals is certainly to be celebrated, but 5.5 million customers still represents a significant minority of UK households. People’s willingness or ability to address their energy bills is still alarmingly low – research that we conducted with Populus among 5,000 people shows that 32% of households have never switched their gas and electricity, amounting to them paying over £930 million more every year for their energy than those who switch.*

“People are being bombarded with seemingly reassuring messages at the moment – the Government’s price cap, and some energy suppliers promising to end their super-expensive and rather innocuous-sounding ‘standard variable tariffs’ (SVTs). BUT, none of these initiatives guarantee good deals, and the single best way for people to ensure they get value for money when heating and powering their homes is to take matters into their own hands and shop around. It takes minutes, and switching is easy – so set aside some time this weekend to see if you can save.

“And if you know someone – a friend, family member or neighbour, perhaps – who can’t access or use the internet, why not help them out too. They’ll thank you for it!”

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For further information please contact:

Anders Nilsson or Martyn John at GoCompare on 01633 654 054 / 01633 654 725

Gordon, Jason or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845

Keep up-to-date with the GoCompare on Twitter; @GoCompare

Notes to editors:

*Research conducted by Populus on behalf of GoCompare. Populus interviewed a nationally representative sample of 5,000 online respondents aged 18+ in Great Britain between 16 and 21 May 2017.

About GoCompare

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

GoCompare does not charge people to use its services, and it does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. Gocompare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

GoCompare does not sell its customers’ data.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest, and has teamed up with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.

GoCompare is the only comparison website to be invited to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For more information visit www.gocompare.com and www.gocomparegroup.com