Migrate Automatic Energy Switching Reviews

Migrate is one of the bigger automatic energy switching services and were established in 2017 as Migrate Ventures Limited and starting offering an auto switch service at the start of 2018.

What is auto switching?

Rather than having to use an energy comparison website to search for a better energy tariff an automatic switching service does this for you. Auto switchers will tell you when a better deal becomes available and notify you of a better deal and you confirm you want to switch.

The big selling point of such a service is that it takes the hassle out of you having to remember to do a comparison. Most people tend to get nudged into looking for a new energy company when price rises or the service they get from their current provider lets them down.

It's not for you if:

1. You are already doing regular energy comparisons
2. You don't like the idea of a company managing your energy switching
3. You always want the lowest possible price

It is for you if:

1. You don't compare energy tariffs
2. You stay with the same energy company for years
3. You don't want the hassle of comparing and switching
4. You want lower prices but are not worried about the absolute cheapest

How it works

You start off by signing up to Migrate and providing some details including your current supplier and tariff and how much gas and electricity you use annually.

A comparison is then done and you are shown some suppliers you can initially make the first switch too. In the future Migrate will manage any future switches on your behalf.

What's the catch?

Migrate can only switch you to a tariff if they have a financial relationship with that energy company. At the time of writing (February 2019) they have a relationship with about 35 energy providers.

Whilst this is a good selection of providers it does not cover all providers and all tariffs and so comparisons are limited. It means that you will not get the lowest possible price however these services are designed to remove the hassle rather than find the absolute lowest price.

How Migrate compares to competitor Switchd

You can't really compare a comparison only service with an auto switching service as one is designed for the lowest price whilst the other for convenience.

I did however do a comparison between Migrate and Switchd using the same data. This comparison was done on 19th February 2019 and based the comparison on using People's Energy and the tariff 'The Peoples Tariff' with the average usage figures of 12,000 kWh for gas and 3,100 kWh for electricity.

As you can see from the screenshots below both services come out with a saving. Migrate offered Toto Energy's 'February Online Fixed' tariff at £80.56 a month whereas Switchd came up with Utility Point's 'UP Variable Direct Feb19' at £75.04 a month.

Above is the Migrate screenshot quoting a £80.56 a month which is slightly higher than the comparative Switchd quote.

Above is the screenshot of the of the Swithd quote of £75.04 a month based on the same criteria.

Warning if you are already on a cheaper tariff

I did notice that if you go through the initial process with Migrate to find your first switch and they are unable to find a cheaper tariff than your current one then they still offer to switch you to one of the more expensive tariffs.

Compare this to Switchd who handle the better by telling you that you are already on the cheapest tariff but you can sign up today and they will switch you when your current tariff is no longer the cheapest.

I spoke to James at Migrate who explained that at the present time (February 2019) if you do a comparison and they cannot find a cheaper deal than you are already on then the process stops there.

You will see as I did a saving preceded by a minus sign which means it is more expensive by that amount rather than cheaper. James did explain they are working on an upgrade to the site that once completed (no ETA on this) will allow you to sign up to Migrate to alert you of cheaper tariffs as they come up.

Which Auto Switching service is best?

As yet I have not put the auto switching sites through a representative array of quotes to see who produces the lowest quotes.

Migrate is a free service and so it makes its money when a customer uses their service to switch to one of the energy providers they have a working relationship with. The free service compared to the fee service will in general mean that you would not be getting the cheapest quote.

Like many other auto switching companies they only compare against their own list of tariffs and not the entire market.

This does not however mean that Migrate or any of the other free automatic switch services are bad. With a large enough base of tariffs to compare your quote will be close to that of a whole of the market comparison.

Taken in context with the fact that most people do no check whether they are on the lowest priced tariff then most consumers are going to be better off long term having a company managing there switching for them if they are unlikely to do it themselves.

If you are willing to spend the 5 minutes or so using a whole of market comparison service a few times a year then this would ensure the cheapest possible gas and electricity tariff.

Migrate reviews

Overall the service is straightforward and easy to use. The quotes are not the cheapest available but they are competitive and are likely save you money if you do not regularly compare energy tariffs or do not do so at all.

On the two occasions I used the web chat facility I was speaking to someone within less than than a minute in both instances.

Based on the service of the website and the competitiveness of the quotes, taking into account the generally positive third party reviews I'd rank Migrate as one of the better automatic energy switching sites. Not quite as good as Switchd which I rank as the best auto switching service but a close second nonetheless.

Third Party Reviews

On Trustpilot they are rated quite highly and are one of the better ranked companies in the energy and comparison site categories. Overall people seem to be pleased with the service although at the time of writing there are fewer than 50 reviews going back as far as September 2018.

Had to use the online chat due to a postcode issue. Hugely helpful and quickly resolved. Polite and friendly customer service. Can’t recommend highly enough.

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Straight forward online application one small glitch where I couldn’t proceed but very quickly sorted by having online chat with very helpful person. Basically hassle free. I would recommend Migrate.

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It's so easy to change over, I highly recommend that if you're thinking of changing your supplier,Use Migrate.

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