Ireland switching rate one of highest in Europe

This trend continued throughout 2010 according to the Irish Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) annual survey of the Irish electricity market.

The results show a high awareness of competition in the Irish residential market with almost one in three customers switching supplier in 2010.

The survey concentrates on the domestic market and will be used to inform its policy-making around competition and consumer protection.

Consumers who switched said they did so to take advantage of price discounts and the ease of changing suppliers.

Customers also showed a good awareness of how their electricity bill is calculated and found bills easy to understand.

Complaint levels were low with only 5% of respondents saying they had made a complaint in the last year.

Satisfaction rates with the handling of complaints was mixed with half of respondents saying they were satisfied with the way their complaint was dealt with and how long it took to resolve the complaint.

The market was de-regulated in April this year and CER has decided to implement additional customer protection measures in response to the changes.

This includes customer education campaigns, the provision of detailed consumption information and tariff comparison facilities.

Alison Brown