Competition is one of the main drivers for people switching energy suppliers.

That’s the view of Lawrence Slade, Chief Executive at Energy UK, which has revealed the number of customers switching so far this year has surpassed the total number of switches in 2014.

Nearly half a million customers moved to a different energy firm in August, a 30% rise from 2016.

That takes the total number of customers to nearly 3.5 million in 2017.

Mr Slade told ELN: “We’ve now got nearly 60 players in the market and the message is getting out there that there are really big savings to be had if you’ve not moved suppliers for a few years. It’s a really good, positive sign that the market is getting more competitive.”

When asked about whether the reason for the switch from Big Six companies was bad customer service, he added there has been improvement, with two million fewer complaints about energy firms last year.