The Energy Switch Guarantee: What Suppliers Promise When You Switch

The Energy Switch Guarantee is a voluntary set of promises that energy suppliers sign up to, run by Energy UK, the trade association for the UK energy industry¹. It is not a licence condition and it is not a regulator's rule: it is a scheme that suppliers join by choice, and its members commit to a published list of standards covering how a switch is handled, how long it takes, and what happens when something goes wrong¹.

The headline promise is speed. Suppliers must switch your electricity or gas supply from your old supplier to your new supplier within 5 working days, and the scheme's own reporting shows signatories completing 99.63% of switches within five working days in the period January to March 2026³. The old 21 day timescale is history: previously, the switching process took 21 days². Alongside the timing, the Guarantee covers the final bill, the refund of any credit balance, and the protection of the supply itself, which is not shut off at any point during the switch².

What the Guarantee does for a household's energy independence is narrow but real. It does not change where the gas and electricity come from, and it does not remove the dependence on a supplier, a network and the wholesale market. What it does is make the choice of supplier genuinely reversible: a household can move, and move back, without losing supply, without being charged twice for the same units, and with a defined route to compensation when the transfer is mishandled². The dependence that remains is the one that matters most, which is that the household is still buying from a company rather than generating its own.

What the Energy Switch Guarantee is, and who runs it

The Guarantee is a voluntary set of promises that suppliers sign up to, launched by Energy UK, the trade association for the UK energy industry¹. It sits alongside, rather than inside, the regulatory framework. Ofgem is the independent energy regulator for England, Scotland and Wales (Great Britain), and its binding rules on switching are separate from the scheme⁵. A supplier can be fully compliant with its licence and still not be a signatory, and a signatory is bound by the Guarantee's own compliance process on top of whatever the licence already requires¹.

Membership is voluntary in form but not in effect once joined. All of our members sign up voluntarily, making a commitment to drive up their standards and comply with both the letter and the spirit of the Guarantee¹. That wording matters: the commitment is to the standards as written and to their purpose, which is why the scheme reports on performance rather than simply listing members.

The scheme's origins lie in a government and industry programme to deliver reliable, next-day switching for consumers, set out in a Scottish Government action plan in October 2016⁶. The five working day standard that emerged is slower than next-day, but it replaced a 21 day process and it is now the operative figure for both signatories and the licence rules².

For a household, the practical consequence is that the Guarantee is a quality mark rather than a legal right. The enforceable rights come from the licence conditions and the guaranteed standards; the Guarantee adds a layer of published commitment, quarterly reporting and a named escalation route¹.

The 10 commitments: what suppliers promise when you switch

The guarantee is essentially a list of 10 commitments that will protect households throughout their switch². They are not ten separate products or ten separate payments; they are the terms on which a signatory handles a transfer, and they apply whether the household is changing supplier or changing tariff with the same company.

The commitments that carry the most weight in practice are these:

• The supply stays on. Your gas or electricity supplies are not shut off at any point during your switch².
• No double charging. You will not be charged twice for the gas and electricity you use, so the overlap between the old and new account does not produce two bills for the same units².
• The new supplier runs the transfer. The whole transfer between tariffs or suppliers will be handled by the supplier of the tariff you are moving to, so the household is not left coordinating two companies¹.
• No home visit needed. No one needs to come into your home as part of the switching process, except possibly to fit a new meter².
• A final bill and a refund. The final bill arrives within six weeks and any credit is refunded within 14 days of the final bill date².

The remaining commitments cover the administrative handling of the account: the transfer of the meter point, the closing of the old account, and the treatment of the customer through the process. The scheme's own summary describes the ten as protecting households throughout the switch rather than only at the point of transfer².

Two of these commitments are worth separating from the rest because they are the ones a household would notice immediately if they failed. Supply continuity is absolute in the wording: the supplies are not shut off at any point². Double charging protection is the other, because a switch involves two suppliers billing for a period that overlaps at the edges, and the commitment removes the risk that the household pays for the same units twice².

Switching timescales: five working days, not the outdated 21 days

Suppliers must switch your electricity or gas supply from your old supplier to your new supplier within 5 working days³. That is the operative figure, and it applies to the supply transfer itself rather than to the whole administrative process. Previously, the switching process took 21 days, and the 21 day figure still circulates in older guidance and in the scheme's own history².

The performance data suggests the standard is being met. Overall signatory performance for January to March 2026 was 99.63% of switches completed within five working days¹. That is a scheme-wide figure across signatories, not a guarantee for any individual switch, and it is reported quarterly rather than continuously.

The 21 day figure has not disappeared entirely, but it now applies to a different situation. If a household is switched to the wrong supplier by mistake, the supplier that took the supply in error has 21 working days to switch you back³. So the same number appears in two places: as the old switching timescale, which no longer applies, and as the correction window for an erroneous transfer, which does².

For a household, the timescale is the part of the Guarantee that is easiest to verify. The switch either completes inside five working days or it does not, and if it does not, the compensation rules apply³.

What switching costs: free to switch, with exit fees the exception

There is no charge to compare and switch your energy². The act of moving supplier or tariff does not carry a fee from the scheme or from the supplier handling the transfer. The exception is a contractual exit fee on a fixed tariff that is being left early, and that is a term of the tariff rather than a cost of switching as such.

Exit fees change behaviour measurably. Ofgem's research on tariff choices found that the presence of an exit fee reduces the probability of choosing a deal from 90% without one present to 61% when a £300 fee is present, for a deal with £300 annual savings and a 5-star rated supplier⁷. Among consumers who thought they had an exit fee on their current contract, the probability of choosing a no exit fee deal was 93%, against 70% for a £300 exit fee deal⁷. The same research puts the probability at 65% for a £250 exit fee with other attributes at optimum, a lower figure than the 70% recorded for the £300 exit fee deal⁷.

The exit fee is not always payable. Where a supplier has entered an Energy Supply Administration Order, you can switch to another supplier if you want to without any exit fees⁸. That is a specific insolvency route rather than a general rule, and it matters because it removes the fee at exactly the point when a household most needs to move.

For a household weighing independence, the cost picture is straightforward: switching itself is free, and the only charge to consider is a fee written into a fixed term contract. The research suggests that fee is a significant deterrent even when the savings on offer are large⁷.

Compensation when a switch goes wrong: £40 payments and how they stack

The compensation regime for switching is set in regulation, not in the voluntary scheme. The Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) (Suppliers) Regulations 2015 require a payment of £40 for each failure to meet the additional standard, made to the customer concerned⁴. Ofgem introduced new guaranteed standards requiring suppliers to automatically provide consumers with compensation when switches go wrong, so the payment does not depend on the household asking for it⁹.

The £40 figure appears in several situations, and they can stack:

The erroneous transfer route is separate and older. All energy suppliers must follow the Erroneous Transfer Customer Charter, and you could get compensation if this happens to you¹⁰. The charter sits alongside the guaranteed standards rather than replacing them.

One account of the switching standards describes £40 as payable if the old supplier does not issue the final bill within six weeks of a switch; another describes £40 as payable if the old supplier does not refund a credit balance within 10 working days of the final bill deadline¹¹. Both are reported here because the conflict is unresolved, and a household in that position should treat the two as alternative descriptions of the same compensation rather than as two separate payments.

Final bills and credit refunds: six weeks and 14 days explained

The end of a switch produces two obligations with two different clocks. You will receive your final bill within six weeks, and you will be refunded any money within 14 days of your final bill date². The six week period runs from the switch; the 14 day period runs from the final bill, so the two are sequential rather than parallel.

The scheme also reports against a tighter internal target. The percentage of credit refunds issued within the 10 working days of a final statement being produced is tracked, with an expectation that members meet a threshold of at least 90%¹. That is a performance measure rather than a promise to any individual household, and it sits inside the six week and 14 day framework rather than replacing it.

The underlying obligation is stated plainly by Ofgem: when you switch to a new supplier, your old supplier will refund any credit in your final bill, and you could get compensation if they do not¹². The same rule is repeated in Ofgem's guidance on how bills are calculated¹³.

For a household, the credit balance is often the largest single sum involved in a switch, particularly for anyone who has been paying by direct debit at a level above actual usage. The sequence to expect is: switch completes, final bill arrives within six weeks, refund follows within 14 days of that bill, and compensation is available if the refund does not arrive².

How the Guarantee is enforced: quarterly reporting, expert panels and sanctions

Enforcement of a voluntary scheme depends on what members have to prove. Each quarter, Energy Switch Guarantee members are required to submit detailed proof of how they meet set criteria to show they are compliant with the standards of the Guarantee¹. That is a reporting obligation with evidence attached, not a self-certification.

The scheme publishes performance against its criteria, which is how the 99.63% figure for January to March 2026 exists at all¹. Publication is itself part of the enforcement: a member that falls short is visible in the quarterly data.

The escalation route for a household is through the new supplier first. If you are not satisfied with the way in which your query has been handled by your new energy provider, you can ask the Ombudsman Services: Energy to investigate¹. That is the scheme's own named route, and it runs alongside the general Ombudsman process.

The wider regulatory context is one of active review. Ofgem commissioned research to help inform its review of energy supplier Guaranteed Standards of Performance, and that research found low awareness of Guaranteed Standards of Performance among participants, widespread agreement that compensation is an important element of responding to service failings, and views that varied widely on the appropriate level of compensation¹⁴. Service failings related to loss of supply were typically seen as the most severe¹⁴. The direction of travel is towards stronger, better known standards rather than weaker ones.

Who is covered: signatories, market coverage and eligibility in Great Britain

The Guarantee applies to any domestic household in Britain switching tariff or supplier that involves any of the companies that have signed up¹. Coverage therefore depends on the supplier, not on the household's location within Britain, and it covers tariff changes as well as supplier changes.

On membership, all of the UK's big six energy suppliers have signed up, along with several smaller suppliers, and So Energy is listed among the signatories as of May 2026². The scheme is open to others: all licensed electricity and gas energy providers who meet the compliance requirements of the Guarantee are eligible to apply to become signatories¹.

The eligibility rule for switching itself is broader than the Guarantee. If you pay a supplier directly for the electricity or gas you use at home, you can choose to switch to a different supplier or tariff at any time³. That right exists independently of the scheme.

Two limits are worth stating. The Guarantee is described as applying to domestic households in Britain, so it does not extend to Northern Ireland, which has a separate market and separate arrangements¹. And a household on a Green Deal loan can change electricity supplier as long as the new supplier is taking part in the Green Deal scheme, which is a condition on the switch rather than on the Guarantee¹⁵.

The Guarantee versus Ofgem's Guaranteed Standards of Performance

The two regimes are often confused because they use similar language and cover overlapping ground. The distinction is that one is voluntary and the other is binding.

Ofgem requires energy suppliers to meet Guaranteed Standards and sets the level of compensation payable if they breach a standard¹⁶. Those standards are enforceable, the compensation is prescribed, and the amounts are reviewed. The switching standards were introduced by Ofgem as part of its work to improve customer experience when switching supplier⁹. The Energy Switch Guarantee, by contrast, is a voluntary set of promises that suppliers sign up to, with its own quarterly reporting and its own escalation route¹.

The practical differences for a household are these:

• Source of the obligation. Guaranteed Standards come from the regulator and the regulations; the Guarantee comes from the supplier's own voluntary commitment¹⁶.
• Compensation. The £40 switching payment is set in the regulations; the Guarantee's commitments are about handling and timing rather than a separate payment scale⁴.
• Coverage. The Guaranteed Standards apply to suppliers as a condition of the licence; the Guarantee applies only to signatories¹⁶.
• Escalation. Both routes lead to the Energy Ombudsman, but the Guarantee names Ombudsman Services: Energy specifically¹.

The Guaranteed Standards regime extends well beyond switching. It covers power cuts, with £100 for homes or £195 for businesses in defined circumstances, an extra £45 for every additional 12-hour period without electricity, and a maximum of £400 if the power cut affects 5,000 or more properties¹⁷. Those rules cover England, Scotland and Wales¹⁷. The amounts are reviewed and updated each year based on inflation¹⁷. None of that is part of the Energy Switch Guarantee, and a household should not expect switching compensation to follow the power cut scale.

How to complain if a supplier breaks the Guarantee

The first step is the new supplier, because it handled the transfer. If you have your own contract with an energy supplier, you can follow their complaints procedure, and the details should be on your bill or on their website¹⁸. The issues that commonly arise are late, incorrect or missing bills, back billing, being overcharged, a faulty meter, poor customer service, and a refusal to refund credit from the account¹³.

If the supplier does not resolve it, the Energy Ombudsman is the next stage. You can complain to the Energy Ombudsman if a problem you have reported is not fixed within 8 weeks, you and the energy company cannot agree on a fix, you receive a deadlock letter, or you are not happy with the decision received¹⁹. The Ombudsman's own process is the same: a dispute can be registered after complaining to the energy company if a final decision or deadlock letter is received, or 8 weeks have passed without resolution¹⁰.

The scheme's own escalation wording points to Ombudsman Services: Energy, which is the same service¹. The Ombudsman route is free to the household, and the decision binds the supplier.

For a household, the complaint route is the part of the Guarantee that converts a promise into something enforceable in practice. The scheme's commitments are voluntary, but the Ombudsman's decisions are not, and the eight week clock gives a defined point at which escalation becomes available¹⁹.