If you’ve just moved house, rented an apartment or taken a room in a house share, it’s quite possible that you don’t know the answer to ‘Who supplies my energy?’.
Perhaps you don’t need to worry, especially if you have a landlord who sorts the bills out themselves, however, if you’re asking yourself ‘Who supplies my energy?’ because you’re looking to get a better deal, you’ve come to the right place…
If You’ve Just Moved House
On top of moving home, removal van fees, heaps of paperwork and new mortgage figures to pay, the last thing anyone needs is over-inflated energy bills! When people leave a property, it’s their responsibility to inform the energy company, but a lot of the time they forget.
There are a few really easy ways to find out who your energy supplier is. If you fit into this category:
- Ask the previous owner
- Ask the estate agent
- For gas, call the Meter Point Administration Service on 0870 608 1524
- For electricity, call your local distribution company
If You’ve Moved Into A Rental Property
Shared housing and rented apartments are popular living options, but they do create their own mysteries, and if you’ve moved into a place with ‘all bills included’, you may never need to wonder ‘Who supplies my energy?’.
However, if you’re trying to get your rent down or save your landlord a few pennies, it may be good to know, and you can find out by:
- Asking other tenants
- Asking the landlord
- Asking the lettings agent
- For gas, calling the Meter Point Administration Service on 0870 608 1524
- For electricity, calling your local distribution company
If You Are A Landlord Or Estate Agent
When renting out properties, the purpose is to make as big a profit on top of the bills as possible, so wouldn’t it be wonderful if you were able to reduce the price of the bills and widen that profit margin?
Fortunately, by switching your energy provider, you can save hundreds of pounds, but like many landlords in the UK, you may have your properties being managed by another company, and so you haven’t had to deal with this matter yourself.
If your tenants pay the bills directly, they may have changed supplier already to save money. It’s important to know too that landlords who try to block their tenants from doing this are breaking the law, unless bills are included in the price of the rental agreement. We suggest you:
- Ask your tenants
- Ask your property management team
- For gas, calling the Meter Point Administration Service on 0870 608 1524
- For electricity, calling your local distribution company
But Who ACTUALLY Supplies My Energy?
In the UK, there are six main energy providers, often referred to as the ‘Big Six’. In recent years, their domination of the market has reduced dramatically.
Having owned 99.8% of the market eight years ago, independent suppliers have now entered the scene, increasing overall competition by offering better deals, customer service and even eco-friendly energy options. Now the independent energy companies have at least 13.4% of the market!
In the final quarter of 2016, the Big Six market share looked like this (figures rounded):
- British Gas – 23%
- EDF 12%
- E.ON 14%
- Npower 10%
- Scottish Power 11%
- SSE 15%
The Independent Energy Providers Made Up The Rest:
- Co-operative Energy 1%
- Extra Energy 1%
- First Utility 3%
- OVO 2%
- Utilita 1%
- Utility Warehouse 2%
- Others 4%
Now you know the answer to ‘Who supplies my energy?’, do you have everything you need to switch energy supplier? Find out if you’re missing anything here [Link to ‘what do I need to change energy supplier’]
