Northerners revealed as the savviest energy switchers

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New Uswitch research has revealed the savviest towns and cities in the UK, based on energy switches over the last 20 years since Uswitch first launched. Over the past two decades, Uswitch has helped households save £2.5 billion.

The researched revealed a huge north/south divide, with northerners more likely to switch to a better energy deal to save money on their bills.

Top 10 switching towns and cities

Harrogate in Yorkshire came out on top as the town with the most energy switches, with 196 switches per 1,000 people. Savvy Stockport was not far behind, with 191 switches per 1,000.

In fact, seven of the top 10 towns and cities for switching are up north. Take a look at the rankings below:

Rank	Location	Population	Switches per 1,000 population
1	Harrogate	138,343	196
2	Stockport	603,795	191
3	Huddersfield	262,814	188
4	Leeds	774,180	182
5	Halifax	160,378	180
6	Reading	778,677	179
7	Preston	520,556	178
8	York	562,439	178
9	Gloucester	605,821	177
10	Crewe	309,489	177

Bottom 10 switching towns and cities

Based on the number of energy switches per 1,000 population, London came bottom of the pile. It's thought that this is due to the number of Londoners who rent their homes - although there's nothing to stop renters from switching to get a better deal. You can read more about switching energy as a tenant in our guide.

Five of 10 the areas with the lowest switching rates are in Wales, including capital Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Llandudno and Llandrindod Wells.

Check out which towns and cities had the fewest energy switches below:

Rank	Location	Population	Switches per 1,000 population
1	London	8,633,376	116
2	Swansea	730,232	121
3	Canterbury	482,504	123
4	Liverpool	857,079	124
5	Newport	488,504	126
6	Llandrindod Wells	49,792	128
7	Llandudno	537,467	128
8	Cardiff	1,005,334	129
9	Luton	335,950	134
10	Dartford	430,560	135

Will Owen, energy expert at Uswitch, said: “Northerners are showing southerners how it’s done when it comes to switching, with Harrogate residents switching at twice the rate of those in Central London.”

“Yorkshire residents are earning their reputation for being frugal, with five locations in the top ten being from God’s Own Country.”

“Wherever you live, it’s always worth doing a comparison online and seeing what energy deals you could be getting.”

“It’s incredible to think that we’ve saved consumers £2.5 billion by helping them switch energy providers over the last 20 years, and we look forward to helping save the next £2.5 billion.”