MSE News: Collective switching comes of age as 60,000 save £10 million

The prices on offer from the competition seem to have come down a tad since the CEC collective opened so that's a bit of good news for all of us.

I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on this over the coming year. If it is seen to deliver what people were expecting then I might even consider it myself next time around.

£166 per switcher. Only possible if nearly every switcher is on a standard tariff. Why on earth would 60,000 householders who have never switched before all of a sudden start listening now?

Nada666 wrote: »

£166 per switcher. Only possible if nearly every switcher is on a standard tariff. Why on earth would 60,000 householders who have never switched before all of a sudden start listening now?

..CEC "estimated" my savings at £241 pa ..and I certainly wasn't on a standard tariff!:rotfl:Somewhere on the Energy forums I've seen a quote of £350+ pa for one potential switcher from a fixed tariff!
I estimate my true net savings to be nearer £70 pa-so with the £30 switching bonus added, its worth doing for me -and with the penalty of departing from EON at only £5 per fuel I can always switch again if needed.:)

I PRESUME that the £10 million saving comes from the CEC headline figures.

During the 10 days of this offer, the underlying E.on tariff was superseded as the cheapest deal available.

Despite this, the weekly MSE email repeated the claim that its switch offer was "cheaper than the cheapest" and "by far the cheapest".

This was amplified by another email the next day, which I was surprised to receive as I had previously unsubscribed.

The link in the email to the " winning tariffs" went to the editorial material about the previous comparison rather than a live update, though of course people could do a new comparison if they wished.

The comparison sites seem to be entitled to use an assumption that someone on a fixed deal expiring within 12 months will default to their supplier's standard tariff.

That is bound to exaggerate apparent monthly average savings, or when compared to taking a new fix with the current supplier, as some posts above already suggest.
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I am unimpressed with the pressure sales and rather debatable ethics shown here, especially the extra only one and a bit days left email, and that is why I already deleted the CEC membership prior to receiving that no longer wanted email. I might be a bit resistant in future.

In addition to all of this, I was looking on behalf of someone who has qualified for the Warm Home Discount with the current supplier, but would not with E.on as the terms in the so-called broader group vary between suppliers.

MSE didn't highlight any advice to check this, or how the discount is affected for switchers. What is more, yesterday I corrected the wrong advice of the E.on rep on this forum that people in the broader group would still receive the discount from the old supplier. She apologised.

The CEC could of course be negotiating new deals even now with the suppliers that are now cheaper than its Collector's Edition tariff with E.on. It's already possible to save money by switching away ...

Hi Gari

Can you PM me or email energyclub at moneysavingexpert dot com with details - that doesn't sound right. Is it that Eon has set your direct debit lower?

Let me know and we'll look into it for you.

gari189 wrote: »

Not impressed.

I'm supposed to save £120 by switching. The tariif Eon have sent me gives a saving of £50. I will never take energy club estimates at face value again....