Majority stay loyal - but one in four energy customers set to switch

While the majority of Britain’s energy customers plan to stick with their existing energy supplier, one in four say they’re considering switching, according to new research from Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs).

In a survey carried out at the beginning of this year, the organisation behind Direct Debit found that a quarter of British people definitely wouldn’t change the energy company they used, with a further 34% not very likely to do so - good news for companies which have been hard hit by media hype over pricing.

But utility providers should take note that one in ten have already voted with their feet, and a third of respondents were considering taking their business elsewhere in 2009.

Michael Chambers, Managing Director of Bacs, said: “While more than half of the people we surveyed aren’t planning to leave their current supplier, that still leaves a large number who are unhappy enough to go elsewhere.

“We would urge utility companies to look at how they can improve loyalty rates and hold on to those customers and, from our own research we know that Direct Debit may be able to help with that.

“We survey 3,500 people every year; last year 39% of Direct Debit users said they would be less likely to switch provider than they would be if they were making payment by another method – that’s surely got to be good news for energy companies looking to keep their customers.”

Advice on marketing Direct Debit to customers is available from the Marketing Centre of Excellence at www.bacs.co.uk/MarketingDirectDebit, and Bacs has also produced a suite of materials to educate call centre staff about the payment option – find out more at www.bacslearning.com

Notes:

Bacs surveys 3,500 people over the course of the year for its Bacs Family Finance Tracker, with questions asked on a bi-monthly basis to ensure information is as current as possible. The research is carried out by Ipsos MORI.