ROCKETING energy costs have caused comparison site, Compare the Market, to temporarily suspend its switching service.
The energy deals experts have frozen the switching tool customers use to look for the best deals on the market.
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It comes as millions of households face paying £139 more for energy bills in just a few weeks time, thanks to Ofgem’s most recent energy price cap announcement.
It’s the second time this year that prices will have gone up, following an increase of £96 in April.
The average household has been left with £235 extra added to their energy bills over the past year as a result.
Ofgem previously said it raised the price cap because of increasing wholesale costs that impact energy firms down the line.
So in line with the price cap hike, a number of those companies are raising their own prices significantly due to the wholesale crisis.
That’s caused only a handful of suppliers to be left on the market, and Compare the Market can’t offer customers good deals to switch between as a consequence.
In a statement on its site, Compare the Market said: “We’re sorry but we can’t get you a quote at the moment.”
It explained how the energy comparison tool had to be temporarily paused as energy suppliers are currently restricting the number of tariffs available.
A Compare the Market spokesperson said: “Due to unprecedented rises in wholesale energy costs, a number of energy companies have temporarily made their tariffs unavailable to people wishing to switch.
“At comparethemarket.com, our priority is to ensure that our customers can be confident that the product they purchase is going to meet their requirements.
“In order to protect our customers we have therefore decided to temporarily stop offering energy quotes via our website during this period of uncertainty.
“We will resume energy comparison as soon as we can be confident we can offer true comparison for customers.”
It’s the first time the site has had to shut down it’s services in such a way.
Currently other comparison sites like Uswitch, MoneySuperMarket and Go Compare still have their switching services up and running.
Uswitch has told The Sun it currently offers a mixture of challenger brands and household names such as EON and Shell and the site has only just added a new Good Energy tariff today.
Customers usually flock to the sites around this time of year to see where they can save a few pennies on their energy tariff.
Some find that they can save up to £154 a year by switching providers, so the service can be a lifeline to struggling households.
We don’t know exactly when the switching service will be available for customers to use again, but we’ll update this story once we know more from Compare the Market.
The rocketing prices have impacted the sector in a number of ways.
A number of energy suppliers have even gone bust because they have been caught out by the increases.
Only recently we covered how Utility Point and People’s Energy have collapsed, leaving around 570,000 customers without an energy supplier, and in need of a switch.
The Daily Mail also reports that the price cap could rise again by as much as £280 a year by next year, when the cap is next reviewed.
Utility Point and People’s Energy go into administration leaving 570,000 customers without a supplier
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