Find The Cheapest Gas & Electricity Plus Cashback Article Discussion

Does anyone know if there is a limit to how often you can switch? I switched to Scottish Hydro about 6 months ago and would like to switch again if possible?

So, in theory, is there anything to stop me from changing suppliers once a month and receiving £30 cashback redemption everytime????

Hi all - I'm having problems with Npower. I moved on 8th Dec and didn't take the meter reading in my new house. I switched to Powergen as I didn't really know what I was doing and thought I had to take my normal supplier with me! Anyway, got my gas bill from Npower which was £81 which was a shock as it was only from 8th to 8th and my gas bill was way lower than that in my old house. Paid it with a shrug thinking that was it and got a electric bill from them the other day - wait for it - £124!!!! For 6 weeks!!!! Our central heating is gas boiler so this is only for washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge etc etc. OH called Npower and they said because we gave the readings (people gave reading on 8th when they left and we gave a reading for 22nd Jan) they were an accurate representation of what we had used! How can a family of 5 people in a 4 bed house with gas heating use that much electric? There was no reasoning tho and they said we have to pay. Any advice? :mad:

PS our electric now looks like we've used approx 500kw since 22nd - do you think it might be a faulty meter? If so who do I call?

Thanks :T

hi all. Has anyone had problems getting cashback from energyhelpine? I used these guys to switch to Southern. My switch is now complete and to date I have not seen any sign of how to claim for the cashback?

MORPH3US wrote:

Hi guys,

I have a query about Martin's "Don't Switch / Switch Now" guide....

At the moment he's saying don't swap because only 4 out of the big 6 have made reductions...

I don't really understand if its free and easy to swap, why not just swap now and then when the other two reduce their prices swap again (if needed...) surely waiting for reductions is like waiting for reductions in new technology, it will always be cheaper in a months time, but then in another month it will be cheaper again and the next month and the next month......

M

Hi fellow switchers,

We are not stupid, are we just unlucky?
Three members of my family, including me, have switched. We have all had physical or financial problems involved in the transaction. Even though I only have electricity, which means I could not make the big savings that used to be available for ditching (North Thames !) British Gas, but should have only half the risk of a "!!!!-up", my story is a classic:

30 months ago, as energy prices started shooting up, I decided to ditch Company A and get my bill for Economy7 from Company B. I got a phone call saying "did I really want to do this" from Company A, but everything seemed OK and a welcome pack arrived from B. So I went to my bank and cancelled A's direct debit. I'd also read the meter at the time of authorising the switch.

Then blow me, I get home in the evening, and Mrs Pierpoint tells me the man has been to read the meter. Well no; he'd taken it away ! In place of a big chunky thing with two mechanical digital readouts (one for 7 hours one for 17 hours) there was a little white thing similar to a window envelope. In the window three numbers appeared for about 20 seconds at a time, I worked out I was getting the 7 hour reading, the 17 hour reading and then the two added together. It was labeled EDF, which I now know is Electricity de France, a cross Channel monopoly producer of mainly nuclear power.

The new estimated bill arrived and direct debitted itself; of course it was wrong and I wasn't making much of a saving because company B had now joined the rush to push up prices. Bill 2 came in, still estimated getting more wrong, but I discovered I could 'phone a number and key in the correct reading, get a new bill and correct the imminent direct debit. So we staggered on like that for OVER A YEAR and then I got a stroppy letter saying my DD had bounced. It was from company A and related to what I assumed was the final reading on the old meter, so I sent them a cheque.
Then another "meaty" bill arrived from company A claiming to cover more meter readings on the old meter AND a smidgin of the new meter. I told them what they could do with their bill and I've heard nothing since. (Perhaps I will get a surprise court summons next?).
Meanwhile company B sent me their regular invoice, it was now way out of line and the telephone system would not let me correct it, because it claimed to have been read not estimated. So I set about trying to reconcile figures for old and new meters and companies A & B. I then spent AGES on the 'phone with company B, mainjly trying to get hold of someone with any authority to do anything but read the rubbish on their computer screen.

If you are still with me (?) congratulations on you perserverance; now its your turn to guess the main cause of the "!!!!-up" ? Have you got there yet ?


Eventually I managed to get a dialogue going with intelligent life at company B and got a bill based on my readings. Shortly after that a real human meter reader arrived AT THE WEEKEND and confessed he had been sent specially because I was disputing the bill. He wrote down the two readings and disappeared. The next quarterly bill was virtually nothing and like the previous bills from both companies, covered in calculations caused by the ever changing prices. For the last few bills,l have given up trying to manage the electricity industry from the bottom up.

Have you worked out what is going on ? After the visit from the meter reader, I was able to work it out; here is the explanation:

The man who changed my meter, got in a muddle. I've been charged for someone else's new meter. Company A probably tried to charge me for the other person's old meter too. (I've now met and inspected the meters of all my neighbours, who are not all on new meters, but I've not managed to find my alter ego, if you think its you send me a private message ! ).

But it is not that simple, the meter reader, who came to check my readings, got confused about the new meter and has switched round the readings for the 7 hours and the 17 hours and of course the stupid computer believes him not me. I think I'll wait until the prices come down a bit more before trying to get it sorted out - put the saving towards my wasted time and phone calls!

SHOULD I TRY SWITCHING NOW ?!?

Is there any way of finding out the percentage of switchers, who have a completely trouble free experience ? Martin, do you want to do a poll?

John.

PS I see the net nanny has been at work:
As with old muskets etc. the term "!!!!-up" is a technical term, in this case it dates back to the days when Robert Burns worked for Customs & Excise. To stop people fiddling their excise duty, payable on manufacturing alcohol etc., perfect accounts had to be kept and presented to the revenue man when the tax was due. Rubbing out, crossing out etc. was not allowed but people make mistakes or get things out of order, so corrections still had to be made. One of those little upside-down "Y"s, with the correction written above the line being corrected is a "!!!!-up".