Deregulation of Electricity Supply in the UK

Between September 1998 and September 1999 the UK electricity market was deregulated, allowing competition between suppliers.
Prior to this the customer was obliged to buy from their local or regional supplier.  Since then many of the local suppliers have ceased to exist or have been absorbed by larger organisations.
There is a certain irony in this as the idea of deregulation was to promote competition and benefit the end user through price efficiency.

The customer will have seen little difference, no changes would have been needed in the home and there is no difference between the electricity supplied by any of the companies.  Therefore the only ways that a supplier can attract customers is by keen pricing, appealing to their green credentials or by offering exemplary customer service, although the main reason for change would be price.

A recent report for the BBC states that over 50% of people have switched suppliers since 1999.  The tone of the report is that everyone who has changed will have saved money and encouraged anyone who hasn’t reviewed their energy supplier in the last three years to do so, it was suggested that in nearly every case you would save money.
The potential savings available to larger customers are greater than those available to smaller domestic customers. It is therefore of great interest to a business that uses a lot of power to make regular reviews of their energy needs, pick the most cost effective supplier and to examine usage practices.