Irish emerge as big utility switchers

Dublin: Ireland has been confirmed as Europe’s most active market for switching utility providers according to research by The VaasaETT Utility Customer Switching Research Project.

This is primarily due to Bord Gáis Energy’s Big Switch Campaign which has been acknowledged by The World Energy Retail Market Ranking report as the world’s most successful marketing campaign ever for an electricity retailer.

In 2009, nearly 21% of all electricity customers in the Republic of Ireland switched supplier, 2% more than in Great Britain.

This is the first time since the start of global electricity market liberalisation that a county other than Great Britain has topped the European rankings.

According to the research “the entry of Bord Gáis Energy and Airtricity into the domestic market in 2009 transformed the competitive landscape not only in the domestic market, but also in the business market where it has had a major knock-on effect on business awareness of supplier switching options.”

The report continues: “One should not underplay the significance of marketing on Irish switching levels however. Energy companies typically fail to achieve sufficiently simple, clear and appealing campaigns.”

Nicky Doran, head of marketing at Bord Gáis Energy said the web has played a huge part in the success of the campaign with as many as 30% of customers switching on their micro site thebigswitch.ie.