Yahoo Finance Energy bills: Almost 600,000 households switch supplier
Almost 600,000 households switched their energy supplier last month amid warnings of rising prices ahead of winter.
Energy UK, which represents the interests of the industry, said 577,810 customers moved to cut their bills in October.
It said the numbers involved represented a three-year high - with 9% of them taking their business to a small supplier.
The switching took place against a backdrop of continued pressure on the so-called big six firms - British Gas, EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) , SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) , nPower, E.ON, and ScottishPower - over pricing after they escaped being broken up on competition grounds.
A probe by the Competition and Markets Authority found that a lack of competition in the energy market was still seeing customers over-paying for their energy by around £1.4bn annually.
Its findings - and subsequent proposals by the energy regulator to help remedy the situation and get people away from higher standard tariffs - have been criticised by consumer groups and smaller firms for placing too much emphasis on consumers to shop around.
In releasing the latest figures, Energy UK chief executive Lawrence Slade said customers were "clearly feeling more confident to switch".
"It only takes a few minutes to find the right deal. More than 40 suppliers are offering many deals under £1,000, so take advantage," he said.
The industry figures were released amid warnings from consumer groups that the best deals were disappearing amid rising wholesale costs from the effects of rising global oil prices and weak sterling.
Increased petrol pump costs have already contributed to higher UK inflation.
Claire Osborne, energy expert at price comparison service uSwitch.com, said: "Rising wholesale costs have already led some small and medium suppliers to increase their prices.
"Today alone we have seen Flow raise its standard prices from £872 to £949 a year - a massive 9% hike - while Extra Energy has removed its market-leading £851 fixed tariff."
Energy Solutions, which publishes a market volatility index, told Sky News last week that wholesale gas prices were 34% up since the EU vote, with electricity seeing an increase of 24%.
The company blamed higher product costs, higher demand and the effects of the weak pound for making dollar-priced products more expensive.
It added that homes using heating oil also faced price increases of more than 20% if they were passed on.
The switching figures were released as SSE announced its half-year results showing a 167% rise in group pre-tax profits to £616m - partly a result of the amount it paid for its raw energy on the markets.
It said operating profits for its retail arm, which covers household energy provision, fell 40% to £60.5m "as a result of lower customer numbers and non-energy costs for electricity customers."
