Ask Jenni: How Easy Is It To Switch Energy Suppliers?

Hi Jenni

I’m looking for ways to save money in 2019 and I saw your Instagram post about switching energy suppliers. How easy is this to do? I work long hours and don’t really want to book time off work to let the new energy company in to switch the pipes or wires or whatever. My energy bills seem expensive compared to other flats in my building but I’m wondering if it’s worth the hassle? Will I have to tell my landlord? The bills are in my name but is she likely to be annoyed if a lot of work needs doing? Should I just find a different way to save money?

Sam, 30, Leeds

Good news, Sam! Switching energy providers is a lot easier than you think and you won’t have to have any pipes or wires changed. All suppliers use exactly the same facilities to supply the energy to you home and there’s no need for any work to be carried out on your home.

You also won’t notice any change in your electricity or gas supply during the switch-over and at no point will your energy supply stop.

In fact, for most people who switch, the process is absolutely effortless. Once you’ve decided who to have as your new energy provider, you simply need to get in touch with them to create your account and they’ll start the switching process for you.

Since you pay the bills yourself and they’re in your name, you have every right to switch supplier. I’d recommend telling your landlord before you switch, but I doubt she’ll have a problem with it.

My experience of switching energy providers…

I recently switched from British Gas to Bulb, after my bills suddenly rose from £36 a month to a whopping £158 a month. I’ve written about this in greater details here. Thankfully I had some savings that could be used to pay off the money, but I was fuming that British Gas increased my bills so suddenly. I called to ask why they couldn’t have introduced a more gradual increase, but the member of staff I spoke to was really unhelpful. That’s when I decided to switch!

I can’t emphasise just how effortless the switching process was. I used a friend’s Bulb referral code to create my account, the account was open within a matter of minutes, and I received £50 referral credit which made my first month of energy completely free.

If you’d like to switch to Bulb too, copy the following link and paste it into your search bar and you and I will each earn £50 energy credit. http://bulb.co.uk/refer/jenniferh9028