With its origins back in the early nineteenth century, British Gas is still the UK’s largest and best-known energy provider. It supplies gas and electricity to over 12 million customers and commands a share of about 20% of the electricity market. Is it still the best choice today?
Bulb are a tech-focused energy startup on a mission to fix the 'broken' energy industry and make renewable energy "cheaper, simpler and greener" for households and businesses in the UK.
Daligas is one of the few energy providers in the UK to only supply gas. Its offer is straightforward: just two gas tariffs - one for domestic customers and one for businesses. Could it be worth signing up with Daligas? Find out on this page.
Scottish Power is one of the UK’s most established providers, having been formed in 1990 in preparation for the privatisation of the previously state-owned Scottish electricity industry. Now owned by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, it continues to supply around five million customers in the UK. Can the Big Six giant continue to hold its own in a market with an increasing number of independent providers offering affordable green alternatives?
Founded in 2010, Co-op Energy is the only co-operative supplier on the UK energy market. Since August 2019, its supply, billing and customer services have been run by Octopus Energy - how has this affected customers? Find out on our provider page.
With a base of around five million customers, EDF Energy is one of the UK’s biggest energy providers. It is a French-owned company which entered the market in 2002 by acquiring several formerly state-owned electricity boards and power stations. However, in an increasingly competitive market with more and more green options, can it continue to hold its weight?
Ecotricity is the trailblazing supplier that started the green energy movement. Founded by renewable energy maverick Dale Vince OBE in the mid-nineties, it was the world’s first renewable supplier and the UK's first vegan energy supplier. Now, it generates its own energy through various wind, solar and sea projects, is involved in numerous eco-initiatives and claims to be "Britain's greenest energy company".
German-owned Eon entered the UK energy market almost twenty years ago with the acquisition of Powergen - a familiar name to this day. It has established itself as one of the country’s major providers, with over four million customers, but is it worth switching to?
Good Energy is a renewable supplier and energy-generating company on a mission to create a ‘cleaner, greener future’ for Britain. Established in 1999, it was one of the UK's first green energy suppliers and has gone on to win multiple awards and invest millions of pounds in solar and wind farms. But is it as good a supplier as its name suggests?
An early adopter, Green Energy UK has been offering green electricity to the UK market for nearly two decades. This has become common enough, with many providers picking up on the demand for renewable products, but the provider has set itself apart once again by offering 100% green gas. Could it be the right supplier for you? Read on to find out.
We all know and love M&S, but did you know that this British retail institution also dabbles in energy supply? It’s been on the home energy scene since 2008, when it partnered with SSE to sell tariffs under the M&S brand. It has since begun a partnership with new provider, but is it worth considering? Find out in our comprehensive guide.
Npower has been a mainstay of the UK energy industry for two decades, beginning life under the name Innogy in 2000. Operating as Npower since 2002, it was one of the country’s major suppliers in its own right until it became a subsidiary of another industry leader in 2019.
OVO Energy is one of Britain’s largest and fastest-growing green suppliers, recently acquiring 3.5 customers after its purchase of Big Six giant SSE, it is now the UK's second-largest supplier in terms of customer base. As yet the only independent supplier to have worked its way into the Big Six, OVO is bringing renewable energy to the masses.
Octopus Energy is one of the fastest-growing green energy suppliers in the UK, reaching 350,000 customers in its first three years. It also has an excellent customer service record and is the UK’s largest investor in solar farms - generating a huge 40% of our total solar power. Clearly, it's doing something right, but is it the best green supplier on the market?
Outfox the Market touts an “all the frills and low bills” approach as an energy provider. They have previously claimed that they bill their customers at wholesale prices, which nets them 0% profit on gas and electricity. It’s worth seeing if these bold claims still hold up under scrutiny.
The People’s Energy Company is a relatively new provider, being founded less than five years ago. It was set up in order to offer “fair, affordable energy” to everyone, providing an alternative to “big providers chasing big profits” at the expense of ordinary people. Has it succeeded in providing an affordable and reliable alternative to the bigger providers?
Established by the founders of Virgin Mobile, Pure Planet is one of the UK’s first “app-only” energy supplier and is using innovative technology and an alternative pricing model to offer customers cheap green energy. Not only do they claim to sell energy with a 0% mark-up, they’ve also ditched call centres in favour of an app-based chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to help you via your smartphone. Let’s see how the balance between price and customer service stacks up.
Once one of the UK’s major providers with a base of 3.5 million customers, SSE has sold its retail energy division to a competitor and its customers will gradually be switched over. Are you an SSE customer? Read on to find out how you’ll be affected.
Do you do your shopping at Sainsbury’s? If so, you may be interested to know that you could save money on your weekly shop by signing up for home energy with Sainsburys Energy. The provider went bust in 2019 when a deal with British Gas fell through, but it resurfaced some months later under a new agreement with Npower. If you were a Sainsburys Energy customer in the past, this may leave you wondering where you stand
A household name for its success in the petroleum industry for many years, it might be news to you that Shell branched out into home and business energy supply with its acquisition of First Utility. The brand it took over was one of the biggest challengers to the industry’s Big Six, but could Shell Energy be the best choice for your energy supply?
So Energy has established itself as a UK renewable electricity supplier in just a few short years. From the outset, it has tried to present itself as a sustainable energy company that takes the side of residential energy consumers, who are so often ripped off by their providers. Does it have what it takes to stand out in the crowded UK energy market?
Symbio Energy calls itself the UK’s lowest-priced electricity supplier but has come under fire in recent months after a series of PR disasters. Is the supplier in trouble? Is the service Symbio offers worth the savings? We’ll take you through everything you need to know about its offer on our page.
Utilita is an independent provider which specialises in prepayment tariffs. It was responsible for the installation of the UK’s first smart meter in 2008, claiming to have “helped transform the energy industry for the better” by pioneering this technology.
Looking for information about Utility Warehouse? Don’t know the Clubhouse from the Partner Portal? We can help you there, as well as providing information about reviews and tariffs. You’ll also find login help and contact numbers.
Zog Energy began life in 2013 with the intention of providing transparent, easy-to-understand tariffs for those sick of the convoluted way Big Six providers set out their deals. It’s a gas-only provider, which may put off customers looking to combine their gas and electricity bill for simplicity’s sake, but is Zog worth considering anyway? Find out in our complete guide.
For a long time, a small group of energy providers had a monopoly on the UK energy market. This left customers at the mercy of large, profit-hungry corporations with little incentive to keep prices low or invest in renewable energy sources. In recent years, however, this has all changed - around sixty suppliers are now vying for your business, meaning you’re able to be more discerning about how you power your home.
Compare energy providers carefully before you decide with the help of our complete guide!
Energy providers buy up electricity and gas in bulk on the wholesale market in order to sell it on to households and businesses for profit. To give you the full picture, the UK’s energy sector is made up of several layers:
Energy providers, then, are the last step in the journey that your electricity and gas takes to power your home, and they charge you for energy that you use. Some people think that being with a cheaper energy provider means a less reliable supply and more vulnerability to power cuts - this is a fallacy.
In reality, all energy suppliers essentially source from the same place, and power cuts have nothing to do with your provider. These are the domain of Distribution Network Operators, and your provider will refer you to yours if you call them to complain about one. When you compare energy providers, the one thing you shouldn’t factor in is how well-known the provider is. Read on to find out why.
Despite the fact that there are dozens of energy providers with more competitive offers available, many still seem to prefer not to compare energy suppliers and instead stick with the devil they know. The Big Six, as they are collectively known, is made up of the following companies:
Collectively, these companies still command a 70% market share, but the tide is turning on these energy giants. In 2004, these companies had a market share of 100%, though they weren’t exactly the same - independent provider OVO only joined the party in January 2020 when it purchased former Big Six supplier SSE and acquired the second-largest customer base in the UK.
Who is the biggest energy supplier in the UK?The supplier with the largest share of the UK market is British Gas, with around 18% market share according to recent data.
Nor is OVO the only challenge to the Big Six’s dominance - Npower, a mainstay in the group for decades, has seen its market share fall from 16% in 2007 to 5.8% at the end of 2020 according to Ofgem data. This is in line with a general decline in the market share of the major providers generally, particularly in the last decade.
At the same time, independent providers Octopus Energy and Bulb Energy have seen their share of the market rise to 5.7% and 5.9% respectively, raising the question of whether we should now be talking about a Big Eight! ‘Smaller Suppliers’ (those with fewer than 150,000 customers), as Ofgem calls them, have also seen a big increase in their market share - from nothing in 2009 to around 8% according to recent data.
All of this seems to be evidence that the whole concept of a Big Six is becoming redundant, something we’re glad of as it means more competition and more room for cheaper, greener independent suppliers to flourish! We would certainly recommend that you compare energy providers before plumping for one of the big names, and we hope this page will help.
We think that everyone should compare energy providers before they sign up to a tariff. Whether it’s to find the cheapest price, the most reliable service, or a tariff which sources most or all of its energy from renewable sources. Ideally, of course, you’ll find a balance between all of these things - you certainly won’t, though, unless you do your research!
In this section, we’ll take you through the important questions you need to ask about the UK energy market in order to pin down the perfect provider for you.
There are several providers vying for the title of cheapest energy supplier in the UK - for electricity, the cheapest at the moment seems to be Symbio Energy, whose dual-fuel customers on the Low, Fair and Green 15-month fixed tariff pay just £393 for electricity.
For gas, Zog Energy customers pay the least, with its dual-fuel customers on the Mercury 12-month fixed tariff paying just £371 annually. Of course, these prices are for dual-fuel deals and can’t be combined with each other to make one super-cheap tariff - if only!
Both providers, however, could stake a claim to having the cheapest overall deals, though several providers are currently offering dual-fuel tariffs with an estimated cost of under £1,000 a year. Octopus and Pure Planet both offer such deals, with fixed 12-month tariffs estimated to cost you £944 and £958 a year respectively, with the added bonus of being renewable energy tariffs.
What does a fixed tariff really mean?Many people think that a fixed tariff means that they’re guaranteed to pay a certain amount every month/year no matter how much energy they use. This is incorrect. A fixed tariff is one in which your daily standing charge and your unit rate (per kWh) does not change for the length of your contract, but your monthly cost can certainly change depending on usage.
We suggest you compare energy suppliers before making your choice, as the UK energy market is an ever-changing landscape in which a better value deal than the one you’re on may pop up at any moment.
The greenest energy suppliers in the UK at the moment are Good Energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy UK. Many providers claim to offer 100% renewable electricity or even 100% renewable energy (which is more difficult if it involves gas), but what each supplier means by this can vary.
As we explain in our article about REGO certificates, in general, there are three ways a provider can source a renewable energy tariff:
If you consider yourself a discerning consumer concerned with how your home energy consumption is impacting the environment, you’ll want to carefully look into which of the above practices your potential provider is engaging in. Of course, it’s best to support those producing green energy if possible, but if you need to balance cost concerns with environmental ones, make sure you do so with the above in mind.
It is true that several suppliers in the UK, even some of the Big Six, have invested in green energy production to some extent. Few of these, however, source 100% of their electricity from renewables that they produce themselves, and not one has yet managed to source 100% renewable gas.
This is because of the difficulty of producing enough biogas to meet demand, a problem which has yet to be overcome anywhere in the world. Even the greenest UK supplier produces no more than 15% of its own biofuel for your gas supply, generally then engaging in carbon offset practices in order to reach 100% green credentials.
Here a breakdown of the cheapest green dual-fuel tariffs on the UK market right now. Bear in mind that not all of these providers are quite the same level of green:
[block:cheapest_df_renewable]A tariff can be as cheap or as green as you like and not be the best on the market. Reliable service and good customer service, for example, are prime considerations when it comes to choosing an energy supplier - the worst situation to be in after signing up to a tariff is to have a problem of some sort and not be able to get it resolved.
What we all hope for when we sign up with an energy provider is not to even notice they’re there, and if we do have a problem with our supply, for the experience of getting a complaint resolved to be as quick and painless as possible. For this reason, the best energy provider in the UK is often simply the one that cares the most about its customers.
The Big Six has developed a bad reputation in terms of its service in this regard, getting a little too comfortable with the monopoly they once enjoyed and neglecting their customers as a result. .
Many major providers, such as British Gas and Scottish Power, have responded to the ground being gained by smaller suppliers by upping their game. Their scores on sites such as Trustpilot have jumped from poor to respectable, which has allowed them to keep their noses out in front of the independent providers that have emerged by pushing customer service to the forefront of their offer.
One such provider, which can no longer be called small since its purchase of SSE, is Ovo Energy. Established little over a decade ago, it has overtaken all but British Gas in terms of market share by offering fairly priced green tariffs and keeping its customers happy:
I have been with Ovo for several years although I compare every year. I like the clarity of information and the easy to use website where you can do what you need to instantly.
Ovo has managed to maintain a good relationship with the vast majority of its customers even as it has grown to be the UK’s second-largest supplier, which is no mean feat as it is difficult to keep a large pool of customers happy. It has seen an understandable, slight dip in its score on Trustpilot, however, from almost immaculate in its early years to 4.2 out of 5 at the time of writing.
Other providers are looking to emulate Ovo’s giant-killing success, with Bulb and Octopus, the two providers maintaining excellent online reviews - the two score 4.6 and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot respectively.
We suggest you look carefully at how past and present customers feel about a provider before signing up with them, and online reviews are a great way to do this. You don’t have to settle for a service that makes your home energy supply a pain - always compare energy providers before signing up, as there are plenty putting in the effort to make customers’ lives easier.
The services and products mentioned on this website may only represent a small selection of the options available to you. The Switch by Selectra encourages you to carry out your own research and seek advice if necessary before making any decisions.
