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Elle1234 wrote: »

Hi All,
Wondering if anyone can clear something up for me. My tariff with First Utility...
First Fixed April 2017 v3 Direct Debit

...ends 30th Apr 2017. I have done the energy club price check and it tells me it's the cheapest deal for me right now. But we know that energy firms are hiking up prices now. So should I switch before my deals ends 30 April? Obviously I've got a cheap deal now but I'm worried prices will skyrocket before 30 April and I'll be paying too much if I wait to switch before then. Any advice would be much appreciated.:)

Up to you.
Are there any early exit fees to consider? If so, you might be best to wait until the switching window opens in a few days time.
If not, grab the deal now if you are happy with it.

I asked back in early feb if anyone had switched to Engie as they had a 2+ year fix at a reasonable price.
I had no feedback, so I went ahead and just thought I would give my own feedback.
The switch took about 2 weeks and was completely seamless, had to make one phone call as online registration was playing up but phone answered immediately by someone I could understand and obviously based in the UK, problem sorted in less than a minute. email update telling switch date and 10 day window for final readings, switch made, readings sent. So far 5*

Jenny_Brandon wrote: »

I just signed up to Avro and they have taken money before I have switched this doesnt seem right to me. Im paying their bill before they have started supplying surely that is illegal.

It will be in the terms & conditions when you signed up. Quite a few of the new companies now charge up front before the supply starts. It just puts you in credit, ready for the first bill to arrive once you have been with them for a month (or two).

Iresa do the same, but also pay a small amount of interest on the credit balance.

We found that most of the bigger companies set the DD higher than required so that you are in credit most of the time; so no real difference really.

Just a heads up about joining in the MSE Energy club deal with British Gas as this could end up costing you more than meets the eye.
I recently switched from OVO energy to the MSE Energy Club deal with British Gas as the club thought this would be a better deal. Now with OVO I had a smart meter installed which they gave me a 0.5 hour time slot for the engineer to fit. He turned up to the minute and it was all fitted in under 30 min's. :rotfl:
When I switched to BGas the smart meter stopped working as apparently there is currently no common standard across suppliers although I'm told one is being introduced in about a year.
Consequently I arranged for BGas to come and install their version. I was given a date and told anytime between 8am to 12 for engineer to arrive. When he arrived about 9:30am he fiddled about for about 40 minutes before announcing it couldn't be fitted as my old electric meter which was still in situ had an asbestos component and a special team would be needed to deal with it. Strange the OVO engineer didn't have an issue with it.:think:

Consequently a second BGas visit was arranged for two weeks time and once again scheduled for between 8am and 12 in the morning. On the appointed day I waited until 11:20 am before receiving a call from the engineer saying he was delayed and that he would definitely be with before 1pm if I could wait so I agreed.:(
Come 1:30 pm he had still not appeared and there had been no further contact from him. I then left as I had other pre-arranged commitments in the afternoon. A little after 2pm I received a call from a different engineer saying he was outside my house to fit the smart meter but no one was answering. I explained that I had left at 1:30pm after the other engineer had failed to keep his first to appointments but that I could be back in home in about 20 minutes. :mad: This guy the was very keen to arrange a new appointment saying he could not wait 20 minutes. As I could hear building site noises in the background of his end of the phone call I suspect this was because he was not really outside my home at all as there was no building work going on in my road which is fairly quiet. I later spoke with a neighbour who had been working on his garden across the road from my house at the time of the call who said he had seen no BGas vans or engineers. :huh:
Previously I have waited in all day for BGas engineers (to no avail) to do a survey of my central heating system for a maintenance contract which I subsequently cancelled as a result. On that occasion the engineer was supposed to do a morning visit but didn't arrive. BGas were still trying to tell me an engineer was on his way at 6:30pm(!) in the evening and of cause no one ever turned up.:mad:
At present I am still waiting to hear back from BGas about when my third engineer appointment will be for the smart meter installation after a week of no further contact.
So my point is you may get a cheap contract with the club deal but if its with BGas and you need something requiring an engineer it may well cost you more in days off work, lost income and inconvenience than anything the contract saves you. Maybe Martin could have a word as I shall certainly think twice about any club deals involving BGas.:money:

EDFs Blue+ Fixed price June 2018 not showing up on cheap energy club comparion tool - for me it worked out cheaper than the Big Switch 7 event and far and away cheapest of the big name suppliers with no exit fees - come on MSE we trust you to see us right but left feeling the comparison tool isn't as nuetral as might we hope it would be.