His business Power to Switch enjoyed a bumper month during January, with around £300,000 saved for customers who used the service to switch energy supplier.
But like many of us counting the cost of Storm Éowyn, Aodhan O’Donnell and his family were without power at their home in rural Co Tyrone for days.
He says he and his family were relieved to be reconnected to the grid, but cautions that we shouldn’t expect lower prices as a result of a lack of usage following power cuts.
The O’Donnell family’s predicament shows it doesn’t matter how much you know about the energy market when a red weather warning hits.
But his knowledge has certainly helped the performance of the business, which he says helped more than 1,000 customers to switch energy supplier during January.
During 2024, using Power to Switch saved the typical customer £421, Aodhan says.
And overall, the market for switching supplier was healthy in Northern Ireland through 2024, he says.
The Utility Regulator’s annual retail energy market monitoring data shows that there were 26,000 supplier switches in the first quarter of 2024, 23,000 switches in quarter two and 24,000 in quarter three.
And Aodhan says he expects similar activity during 2025. “The savings are still there in the deals that are available. Power NI had a slight price increase of 4% in November but the majority of people are still with it, as the dominant electricity supplier.”
But he pinpoints that domestic gas switchers accounted for only a tiny percentage of switchers — 261 — in the third quarter of 2024.
It presents a contrast with Power to Switch’s work in the Republic, where it helps many customers switch between dual fuel tariffs.
Dual fuel means that the same supplier provides you with a single bill for both forms of power, and the proliferation of suppliers in the Republic lends itself to switching.
There are no dual fuel suppliers in Northern Ireland, and even our gas market is limited to two suppliers — firmus energy and SSE Airtricity Gas. Aodhan said that’s something the market could do better on.
Firmus energy supplies the so-called Ten Towns area — locations including Antrim, Armagh, Banbridge and Ballymena — and those in greater Belfast. People in greater Belfast can also opt to have their natural gas supplied by SSE Airtricity,
Aodhan O’Donnell, founder of Power to Switch
But often, people can feel justified in staying with their existing gas supplier, Aodhan says.
“Often, the price difference is only £10 or £20, which isn’t enough to encourage someone to switch, yet your average saving in electricity is £421.
“That sum is enough to make people say, ‘it’s worth my while switching’. But if you’re on gas, and there’s only £20 difference between the two of them, you’re not going to do it.”
The system in the Republic is very different, he says. “We also operate in the RoI market, and there, duel fuel switches are the biggest switchers that we have.
“And they are competitive, so sometimes, people do get a better deal — but in Northern Ireland, we don’t have a better option, so consumers are missing out.
“In Northern Ireland, you have electricity suppliers who do have a gas licence, even if they’re not active in the gas market, but there’s no dual fuel option.
“It’s not always the case that a dual fuel deal is cheaper, but people in the Republic do go with them as they’ve convenient, you’ve one bill and one company to deal with.
“Out of 11 active suppliers in the Irish energy market, you have seven which are doing dual fuel deals.”
The energy network and supply markets in the Republic and Northern Ireland are distinct and separate — even though network entities like System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) and NIE Networks are owned by southern Irish companies.
But one recent development could herald a change, he says. “Last year, Yuno Energy, which is a dual fuel supplier in the south, bought firmus energy supply to supply customers in the gas market in Northern Ireland.
“Maybe they have ambitions for the dual fuel market in NI as well, but it’s hard to tell.
“But there is a little bit of an element of consumers missing out on the convenience of dual fuel in Northern Ireland. If you’re in the south and you’ve never gone for a dual fuel deal, that’s fine. But at least you’ve got the option.”
However, when it comes to pricing, he says the market is calm, though suppliers are tightening on their discounts for new customers. One major supplier reduced their new customer discount from 31% to 25%.
“Companies can be a little bit more just careful about their pricing and making sure they’re not exposed too much so that they can cover their wholesale and supply costs.
“But typically, coming into spring and summer, you can see prices change a bit.”
While Yuno Energy is a new entrant to the gas supply market following its acquisition of firmus energy, the electricity market has seen its share of changes.
Electricity Ireland is leaving the domestic market though is still serving a number of customers – Aodhan says its customer levels have dropped from 53,000 when it announced its decision in May 2024, to 38,000 at present.
And start-up Share Energy began supplying the electricity market in September last year, and intends to offer a profit-sharing arrangement with customers when it becomes profitable.
Aodhan says the company is developing market share among customers who can benefit from a lower tariff overnight for purposes such as charging an electric vehicle.
Switching electricity supplier can save you about £400 a year, says Power to Switch
But the company, which was founded by Damian Wilson, is also taking a clever approach to market. “Share Energy have put a lot of emphasis on social media engagements and the influencer market.
“That means they have built up a bit of profile and presence that’s maybe a bit different from the more traditional media channels that some might use.
“So that might engage people who wouldn’t normally engage with the energy market.”
Looking ahead, he says the return of President Donald Trump to the White House could have ramifications for the energy markets that suppliers are already having to price in.
“It’s one of the risk factors and it’s a bit uncertain what impact that’s going to have on European and wholesale markets. That’s not great, as markets and prices need certainty. That’s going to be one to watch.”
But if conditions are favourable, he feels suppliers will do the right thing by passing on price cuts to customers.
“If the wholesale prices allow for more competitive pricing at suppliers’ level, you will see those starting to filter through to customers, and you will see that in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland market.”
One of the most unpredictable events in the supply market in decades occurred last month, when the ravages of Storm Éowyn meant about 280,000 homes lost power. And work was expected to continue today to reconnect the remaining homes.
It was a privation that was close to home for Aodhan and his family, who live about 15 minutes from Dungannon. “We were disconnected from Friday until Tuesday, but we’d had an estimate for reconnection of February 3, so it wasn’t too bad. But when you’re off for three or four days, the novelty soon wears off. It moves from acceptance to ‘what is happening here?’.
“But you couldn’t fault the engineers, as they were inundated with stuff to do, and were obviously going after volts where they were more people to be reconnected at once.”
While the debate over whether and how affected households should be compensated rages on, he cautions we shouldn’t expect our next bills to be lower.
“Being disconnected for about a week doesn’t mean your overall usage drops that much.
“A house uses about 10 to 12 units a day, and over Christmas and January, people are in the house anyway and you see a lot more usage. And we had those cold snaps in January with a lot more people working at home.”