Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

Consumerist · 27 January 2016 at 1:22PM

bbobb wrote: »

My dual fuel tariff ends on 31/3/16.
If I understand the rules of switching correctly the earliest date I can switch without exit fees is 12/2/16 but can apply to switch before that date. Since the cooling down period is 14 days that should mean I can apply at the beginning of February without risking exit fees. Is my understanding correct ?

The earliest you can switch is 49 days before the end of your contract but your current supplier must advise you of the end of your contract 42 days before it ends. It is safest to stick with those limits.

As you say, it is current practice for the new supplier to wait 14 days before advising your old supplier of your request to switch so in effect that could stretch your window to around 8 weeks.

There are moves afoot currently to reduce switching times by changing the cooling-off period to after the switch but I don't know to what extent each supplier may have changed its practices in anticipation of that change

My advice would be to rely only on the maximum 49-day switching window.

bbobb · 27 January 2016 at 4:55PM

Thanks for that Consumerist. Much appreciated. I am sure your advice is sound.

bbobb

MiniMayhem · 30 January 2016 at 7:35PM

moved into our new flat in november 2014, immediately switched from npower to scottish power as the deal was better suited to us, claimed £50 cashback through top cashback. was initially paying £80ish a month (2 bed flat, 2 adults and 1 child) claimed the warm front scheme, after spotting it on one of your emails and saved a nice little sum. mid 2015 i switched us to an even better deal from scottish power and our bills reduced to £53 a month...it gets better

because our useage is that economical, scottish power has reduced our bills to £32 a month from jan 2016!!! it pays to update meter readings monthly! not only that, we qualified again for the warm front scheme and have a refund of about £200 headed back to us, because we have over paid. thanks mse for simplifying and making switching easy!

sosoftbuttons · 30 January 2016 at 8:30PM

Thanks to everyone at mse towers!!

Have just sat down with mum & dad, (retired, early 70's, not especially technology-minded) and got them signed up to the cheap energy club...

and...

it's saved them a whopping £638 !!!!!!!!!!!!! :j get innnnnn!!! :dance:

they've now switched from dual fuel to different gas/electric suppliers and are absolutely delighted with the savings, not to mention suitably flabbergasted & gob smacked into the bargain!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

cluelessoncanvey · 1 February 2016 at 3:48PM

Moved 30 November (first time buyer) and sorted out to be on the british gas collective on the last day the offer was available over the phone to british gas. They assured me I had it. I thought it was £55 combined for both, having trouble seeing the details now, however looking at my bill I am paying £68.11 per month for both. No sign off any cashback on the account the payments are coming out off.

So am I right in remembering the deal to be £55pm for gas/electricity combined please?

footyguy · 1 February 2016 at 4:53PM

cluelessoncanvey wrote: »

Moved 30 November (first time buyer) and sorted out to be on the british gas collective on the last day the offer was available over the phone to british gas. They assured me I had it. I thought it was £55 combined for both, having trouble seeing the details now, however looking at my bill I am paying £68.11 per month for both. No sign off any cashback on the account the payments are coming out off.

So am I right in remembering the deal to be £55pm for gas/electricity combined please?

You can only get collective switch tariffs via the third party that offers them (e.g. a specific comparison site, a specific council, etc)
Not sure who you were speaking to over the phone - if it was BG, I don't think you got the collective switch tariff.

Your bill/statement should clearly identify what tariff you are being charged on.

You mention cashback. As MSE Martin says, cashback is never guaranteed until it hits your bank account. If you switched via the MSE CEC, then it says cashback will take 3-5 months to hit your bank account.

Consumerist · 1 February 2016 at 5:47PM

sosoftbuttons wrote: »

. . . it's saved them a whopping £638 . . .

That sounds huge. I hope you didn't rely solely on the "savings" quoted on a comparison site.

victor2 · 1 February 2016 at 5:52PM

cluelessoncanvey wrote: »

So am I right in remembering the deal to be £55pm for gas/electricity combined please?

A significant number of people get it (understandably I suppose) into their mind that a fixed deal means a fixed payment per month.
It isn't a fixed amount. What is fixed is the rate you will pay for each kWH of gas or electricity that you use. The monthly direct debit amount is just based on the amount of energy you have indicated (or they forecast) you will use over a year. Use more and you have to pay more, use less, and you can pay less.

Daytona · 1 February 2016 at 9:22PM

I switched to Scottish Power on a cheap 1 year fix about 4 months ago and, since there are no penalties, I've just switched again to an even cheaper, penalty free, 2 year fix with SP in an attempt to lock in these cheap rates for as long as possible. And I've still got the ability to switch if the price falls further. So having got a great backstop in place, hopefully I can follow the prices all the way down and lock in a long term rate close to the bottom.

I found the wholesale electricity price graph useful -
http://www.icis.com/energy/power/icis-power-index/

Scr00ge · 1 February 2016 at 11:57PM

alipali9 wrote: »

I am on npower may 16 fixed duel fuel and would like to change to npower fixed dec 16. Would I be able to change through the cheap energy club and get the cash back rather than through npowers site? I have had no problems with npower up to now I do not want to start creating problems what do you think?

Hi alipali9 - I am in exactly the same situation as you, and was wondering the same thing. Did you switch to a different product but stay with npower through the cheap energy club, and did you get the cashback?

Thanks.

Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

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