Switch your energy supplier in just three days, courtesy of Ofgem

Home owners looking to switch their energy supplier will be able to do so within just three days as part of a new set of rules and regulations laid out by energy market regulator Ofgem.

The changes to legislation will come into force at the end of 2014 and mean that once the customer signs up with a new supplier they will still have the 14-day cooling off period, with the switch completing three days after.

Currently switches take around five weeks, including a statutory upfront 14-day cooling off period followed by a three week period where the actual switch takes place.

Ofgem has also today published new proposals to make the switching process more reliable and put next day switching in place by the end of 2018 at the latest. This will be made possible by replacement of the IT systems used in the switching process.

The regulator’s new proposals would see next day switching brought in – where after choosing a supplier, the customer joins them at the start of the next day. The cooling off period would still remain. However, crucially, it would take place after the switch, allowing customers to enjoy their new service the very next day.

Dermot Nolan, Ofgem’s CEO, said: “Consumers can change their bank in seven days, their mobile phone in just a couple, but have to wait significantly longer to switch their energy supplier. We know that consumers want a reliable and efficient switching process, and that concerns about it going wrong can put them off shopping around for a better deal. So now that we have taken steps to make the market simpler, clearer, fairer, we are leading a programme which will deliver faster, more reliable switching.

“We hope this will give consumers more confidence to get out there and start shopping around. You can save upwards of £200 by changing supplier”.

Switching tariffs in order to get the best possible deal is certainly a step forward, but installing a solution designed to slash energy usage and bills by up to 30%+ is what every home owner should really look at, if they want to save money.

The HeatingSave Building Energy Management System helps customers save more than 30% on their bills by optimizing any heating system’s overall functionality. This is done by taking into account a variety of factors, such as internal and external temperatures, occupancy, time of the year, the particular characteristics of installed boilers, etc. All of the data is used in order to determine the best heating patterns for the various heating zones within any building, using our proprietary heat-loss algorithm.

The end result is that users still get a very good level of comfort, while in the same time saving energy and money in the process.

If you’d like to find out more details on all the features HeatingSave has in store, just contact our dedicated product team, they’ll be more than happy to provide you with all the necessary information.