Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much his Department has spent on collective switching initiatives since 2010; and how many customers have switched specifically as part of those initiatives.

Since 2010, the Department has awarded £5,010,706 of support to collective switching schemes through the Cheaper Energy Together scheme. Over the short period that this fund was available between December 2012 and March 2013, the number of customers who switched was 21,641.

Since then local councils and consumers switching sites have continued to run schemes to help consumers switch together, saving them more than £10 million.

The Department has published an assessment of schemes supported by the Cheaper Energy Together scheme, which is available at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/253862/Helping_Customers_Switch_Collective_Switching_and_Beyond_final__2_.pdf.