Only 12% of UK energy customers paid bills based on actual meter readings over the last 10 years, a new report said.
The Energy Profile Report 2018, published by smart meter data firm The Labrador via their device ‘The Labrador Retriever’, claims that less than 15% of UK customers pay for energy based on meter readings, with almost 18 million people believing they are on the “best deal” possible.
Last year, Ofgem said around 13 million UK customers were on “poor value standard variable rates”, likely to increase their energy bills by £300 a year.
The report also revealed that 5.5 million people think all energy providers deliver the same offer, 2.2 million people don’t know if they pay their energy bills based on an estimate or actual usage and 2.1 million Brits don’t know how much they are paying for their monthly gas and electric bills.
Jane Lucy, founder and CEO of The Labrador, said: “Energy is one of the biggest household bills, but less than 20% of us switched provider last year. The Energy industry has profited for years as a result, and done nothing but cause confusion and generate misinformation which is making the situation worse. People need a transparent service they can trust, that is committed to work for them.”
The report also discovered that over 12 million UK customers have been with the same provider for the last five years and that almost four million inherited their current supplier from a previous tenant or landlord.
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