Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress she has made on reducing the time taken for homeowners to switch energy and gas supplier; and what forecast she has made of the effect on switching times of the completion of the smart metering implementation programme.

The Department has worked with Energy UK, Ofgem, suppliers and other key industry partners to develop and implement proposals which have enabled domestic customers to switch supplier within 17 days, half the time it previously took.

The roll-out of smart metering will make switching energy supplier easier and faster and is a key enabler to 24-hour switching. The Government announced in the Summer Budget 2015 that it will work with Ofgem with the ambition of introducing 24-hour switching by the end of 2018.