Increased competition in the Dutch energy market has led to fewer customers are switching providers, according to Erasmus University researcher Sebastian Jilke.

In particular, people with lower levels of education are getting lost in the maze of gas, electricity and water suppliers, Jilke says in Tuesday’s Volkskrant.

Since competition was introduced, fewer people are changing providers, even to take advantage of cheaper offers. However, the price war and wide variety of providers has led instead to ‘stress caused by choice’, Jilke says in his PhD thesis.

Anniek van der Wolk of energy comparison website Gaslicht.com told the paper consumers have been struggling with the stress of making choices since competition was introduced.

‘The market is getting busier,’ she says. ‘Suppliers come with one offer after another and consumers are being given the feeling they have to make a choice.’

‘People freeze if they are presented with too many options,’ said Radboud University professor Sandra van Thiel. ‘They know what they have now in terms of gas and electricity provider and leave it at that.’