Nearly half of all households in Northern Ireland have never switched their electricity supplier, new figures show, even as switching activity surged last year and complaints to suppliers jumped by 45%.

Data published by the Utility Regulator reveals that by the end of 2025, 404,004 domestic electricity customers, or 47% of the market, had never moved away from their incumbent supplier. This marks a decline from 49% the previous year and signals increased consumer engagement, according to the regulator.

A total of 118,202 electricity switches were recorded across Northern Ireland during 2025, up 19.9% from 98,609 in 2024. Domestic customers accounted for 112,244 of those switches, giving an annual domestic switching rate of 13.1%. The remaining 5,958 switches involved industrial and commercial users.

The pace of switching quickened as the year went on, with 44,580 domestic switches in the final quarter alone. That figure represents almost 40% of the entire year's domestic switches.

Despite the rise in switching, Power NI, the incumbent price-controlled supplier, increased its overall share of electricity connections from 59.9% in 2024 to 60.3% in 2025. For domestic customers, Power NI held 524,782 connections, equating to 61.5% of the domestic market. SSE Airtricity had 133,744 domestic connections, while Budget Energy had 120,345.

Prepayment meters remain widespread, accounting for 390,752 domestic connections, or 46% of all households in the figures. Among Budget Energy customers, 80% were prepayment connections, compared with 65% for Click Energy.

Northern Ireland's average domestic electricity price during July to December 2025 was 30.6p per kilowatt hour, slightly above the UK average of 29.8p but below Ireland's 35.2p. The EU median price was 23.4p.

Complaints made by electricity customers to their suppliers rose by roughly 45% during 2025, from around 30,700 in 2024 to approximately 44,400. The most common category concerned bills, payments and accounts.

In the gas market, switching reached a record high with 9,253 supplier switches, up more than 300% from 2,304 in 2024. Domestic gas switching is available only in the Greater Belfast distribution area, where household switches increased from 1,561 in 2024 to 8,741 last year. The proportion of Greater Belfast domestic gas customers who have never switched fell from 57% to 54%.

Total gas connections in Northern Ireland grew from 334,523 in 2024 to 344,054 by the end of 2025, with more than 9,300 new domestic gas connections added during the year. SSE Airtricity remained the largest gas supplier by connections at 62.1%, followed by firmus at 36.5%. However, firmus accounted for the largest share of gas consumed at 41.8%, with SSE Airtricity at 38.2%.

Northern Ireland's average household gas price during July to December was 8.6p/kWh, above the UK figure of 7.0p but below Ireland's 11.3p.

Complaints to gas suppliers fell from approximately 63,900 in 2024 to about 52,900 in 2025.

The regulator said suppliers are expected to handle complaints effectively and provide high standards of customer service in line with their regulatory obligations.