UK supplier Good Energy signs up 44 pct more customers in 2015

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - Independent British electricity and gas supplier Good Energy (LSE: GOOD.L - news) reported a 44 percent rise in customer numbers last year, its annual accounts showed on Friday, highlighting the growing trend of energy users signing up with smaller suppliers.

Britain's largest six energy suppliers are losing more and more customers to independent competitors as they often offer cheaper tariffs.

Data from consultancy Cornwall Energy in September showed smaller suppliers had increased their market share to around 13 percent, up from just 2.6 percent in 2013.

Good Energy said customer numbers reached 219,400 at the end of last year, up from 152,500 in 2014. These figures also include customers who have signed up with a scheme whereby Good Energy helps households generate their own electricity.

Good Energy is one of the only small suppliers that is publicly listed, providing a better insight into its accounts.

In comparison, Britain's largest supplier British Gas increased the number of customer accounts by 2 percent last year, while SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) saw accounts fall 5 percent in the six months to Sept. 30, 2015.

Good Energy, which supplies electricity sourced from renewable energy generation, said it wants to reach around 900,000 customers by the end of 2020.

Its 2015 core earnings rose 28 percent to 7.3 million pounds, while it swung to a loss per share of 1.4 pence. It announced a flat full-year dividend of 3.3 pence per share.

Britain's competition watchdog said in preliminary findings of a near two-year investigation into the energy retail market that a database should be created to allow rival suppliers to contact customers who have been on more expensive tariffs for three years or more with better deals. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps, editing by David Evans)