EDF reports loss in UK customer accounts
The company has lost 266,000 UK accounts in the past year.
Energy firm EDF has lost more than a quarter of a million UK customer accounts in the past year, it has emerged.
Due to increasing numbers of customers choosing to switch their gas and electricity suppliers, the company lost 266,000 UK customer accounts during the last 12 months.
According to French-owned EDF, most of the losses came at the start of the year and the drop in numbers has started to slow.
Despite the slide, EDF still has 5.4 million UK customers.
Firgures from Ofgem show that 1.1 million gas customers switched between January and May, while 1.4 million electricity customers changed suppliers during the same period. Among those, 44 per cent moved to independent suppliers.
As of March, independent firms held 10 per cent of the UK energy market. That was up from two per cent in January 2013.
Industry cuts
On Thursday (July 30th), British Gas owner Centrica announced that it would be cutting 6,000 jobs. Currently, it is the UK's biggest energy provider with 27.9 million customer accounts. British Gas has also made a five per cent reduction in its prices.
However, it is not clear whether EDF plans to follow suit.
A spokesman for the company said: "Our prices are under constant review and we work to ensure that our tariffs attract new customers and offer good value to existing ones."
He pointed out that EDF's standard dual fuel prices have been the cheapest among major suppliers for the majority of the last three years.
UK profits for the firm, before interest, tax and other charges were flat at €1.3 billion (£911million). This was held back by lower electricity market prices but supported by greater cost control, reports the BBC.
Meanwhile, group profits on the same measure were €9.1 billion – up 3.6 per cent. Net profit was flat at €2.5 billion and sales were up 6.3 per cent to €38.4 billion.
At the close of the stock market in Paris, shares in EDF were down .71 per cent to 21.69.