The energy price cap is falling but the best providers may not always be the cheapest

The government has announced that the energy price cap will fall by 12.3% on 1 April, which will save the average household around £20 per month.

Those who prepay for their energy will see prices fall by 14% and anyone still paying on receipt of a bill will see prices fall by 13%.

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This is the lowest level the price cap has been at for two years and it is expected it will fall lower yet in July 2024, when the price cap is adjusted once again.

As well as saving money for consumers, the announcement could also herald the arrival of new deals from 1 April, aimed at tempting customers to switch providers. This is thanks to a change to the competition rules, which previously made it unpalatable for companies to offer new customers lower rates.

With that in mind, if you are looking to switch after 1 April – and you probably should at least take stock – it’s also worth bearing in mind that the best providers aren’t always the cheapest.

Below, we’ve highlighted the top three energy suppliers according to our 2024 energy survey, which among other things revealed which energy companies have the most satisfied customers, which are the quickest at answering calls, and which have the easiest-to-understand bills:

1. Octopus Energy

Octopus Energy has been Expert Reviews’ readers’ favourite energy supplier overall for two years in a row, now and for good reason. Along with its commitment to only supplying energy from renewable sources, a whopping 79% of consumers we surveyed said they would recommend it to someone else.

That’s an impressive 36% better than the nearest challenger, Scottish Power, and data that backed up by Ofgem’s customer complaints data.

For customer satisfaction, it seems that Octopus Energy just can’t be beaten but that’s not the only reason you should consider Octopus above the rest of the competition.

It also performed top in the Customer Service segment of the survey, for Value for Money and in the Bills segment, where we ask about the accuracy of a company’s bills and how easy they are to understand.

Perhaps more importantly, Octopus bested the competition when it came to call-centre performance, with the largest proportion of its customers saying calls were answered within five minutes (30%), while 12% said their calls were answered in less than one minute.

2. Scottish Power

Scottish Power scored a Highly Commended award in our survey as the company whose customers were second-most likely to recommend it to others (43%). Admittedly it was quite a long way behind the overall winner, Octopus, but it was still quite a bit better than Shell Energy, which was the lowest with 30%.

Again, that wasn’t the only department in which Scottish Power did well. The company also came second overall for customer service and performed well for value with some 12% saying they were “very satisfied” with the value they were receiving from the company.

3. E.ON Next

Joining Scottish Power in the runners-up position for most recommended energy firm is E.ON Next, with 42% of its customers saying they would recommend it.

E.ON Next may also be one to bear in mind if good customer service is important to you, with a total of 40% of those surveyed saying they were either fairly satisfied or very satisfied with the service they had received.

E.ON Next didn’t perform quite so well on value or call-response times, but its customers did tell us they liked the way it presented its bills. Some 76% of them said their bills were either fairly easy or very easy to understand, and 41% said the bills were always accurate too.

Conclusions

If your energy provider isn’t on this list and you’re looking to change when the new price cap comes into effect at the beginning of April, then it may well be worth considering a switch.

Even if they don’t provide the very cheapest deals, our picks – particularly Octopus Energy – you may well be happier dealing with one of our favourites.

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