Lancashire energy technology firm hails new system helping customers to switch suppliers

Designed to enable energy users to switch suppliers seamlessly and to reduce switching times from three weeks to just one working day, the CSS is Ofgem’s compulsory service that all energy suppliers must offer, driving carbon reduction, fairness and transparency in the sector.

It aims to help consumers to benefit from potential cost savings and green initiatives quickly and easily, enhancing the quality of data for users and suppliers, and increasing reliability across the UK energy market.

Energy sector technology firm ESG said within days of the launch in July, thousands of consumers and businesses have been able to switch providers within just 24 hours.

Euxton Lane-based ESG has liaised closely with the regulator since the CSS was first announced and began developing the Halo adapter in 2019.

Halo eases integration between energy suppliers to enable faster and smoother switching for their customers, while avoiding any disruption to their back office systems.

This has enabled the 29 energy suppliers now using Halo to operate as normal and remain compliant at every stage of the transition to the CSS, meeting every deadline set by Ofgem.

ESG’s programme director, Elaine Eyles, said: “For energy suppliers, the faster switching programme has been a long-term, compulsory and complex process. By developing Halo, ESG has been able to remove layers of complexity for our customers, allowing them to focus on their business.

“Our job has been to deliver for our customers, enabling them to comply with new rules, and to adapt to new tech formats and file integration.

"Halo has achieved all of that, and we are really proud to have provided a solution that has enabled a third of energy companies to transition to CSS requirements so easily from day one.

"The proof of that success is in the 6,000 rapid switches that were achieved in the first three days after the CSS launch.”

The Chorley company’s in-house energy sector tech specialists handled all the requirements of the switching programme for the 29 energy companies now using Halo, including multiple levels of mandatory testing across several applications. Working with both energy suppliers and third parties, ESG embedded testing in the development process to ensure seamless integration ready for the CSS launch.

So Energy is one of the 29 suppliers that has successfully begun switching customers using the CSS thanks to ESG’s Halo adapter. Charlie Davies from So Energy said: "We're really happy with the support we received from ESG throughout the Faster Switching program. This has helped us deliver the project on time and continue to provide our customers with great service."

ESG has 400 staff supporting more than 300 energy suppliers and 35 million energy users on its energy platform in the UK, US and Japan.