A fifth of Rochdale residents have never switched energy supplier, survey shows

One fifth of Rochdale residents have never switched energy supplier, a new survey has revealed.

Energy comparison website, Simply Switch, commissioned a survey of nearly 1,500 British dual fuel customers to find out how satisfied they were with the service, and to compare energy rates across the six biggest suppliers in the UK: British Gas, SSE, E.ON, Scottish Power, EDF and npower.

The survey found that 50% of customers in Rochdale hadn’t switched their energy supplier in the last 24 months, whilst 19% had never switched suppliers before. 

However, the survey also found that despite the six biggest suppliers all ranking at the bottom of the league, they collectively have 67% of all customers in the North West.

Brits were asked to rank their energy supplier out of 10 in the following categories:

• Value for money
• Customer service & communications
• Complaints handling
• Bill accuracy 

Unhappy customers seem to be sticking to their suppliers despite their low rankings, meaning they're also losing money in the process. This is because most fixed rate energy deals will last for between 12 and 18 months.

After this period, customers are automatically switched onto a standard variable tariff (SVT). These are invariably the most expensive tariffs available, so switching before this happens will save cash.

Simply Switch also discovered that just 44% of North West respondents had a smart meter installed.

Suppliers to customers with the most smart meters were British Gas (54%) and Ovo (52%), whilst smaller suppliers like Octopus (24%) and Bulb (14%) had the fewest.

Interestingly, it was these independent suppliers, however, who fared best when ranked by their customers. 

Simply Switch also asked whether or not people would recommend their supplier to a friend or family member. 

Out of 10 suppliers, Octopus Energy emerged victorious at number one with a score of 8.59, based on an aggregated ranking across all four categories. Bulb came in second with a score of 8.37.

The big six all filled up the bottom half of the table, with npower scoring the lowest – a very poor 6.44.

Over 90% of both Bulb and Octopus’ UK customers said they would recommend them to a friend, whilst just 60% of npower, and 67% of EDF customers said they would endorse their supplier.