surely i'm not on the cheapest tariff already?!

starshaped_2

Hi all

Long-time lurker, first-time poster!

After receiving the MSE email the other day about energy price hikes, I decided to pull my finger out and switch. I live alone in a 1-bed rented flat and have been here for 9 months. Scottish Power were the supplier when I moved in and I haven't bothered switching since then. There is only electric in the building, no gas. I was originally on a DD of something like £25 per month, then when the first bill came in I was shocked to find that they'd worked it out at nearly £70 per month. For one person living alone in a tiny flat, this seemed very steep! (especially considering in my last place I was paying £45pm for gas & electric combined).

Anyway, I thought it best to switch to see if I could get a reduction on the size of my bills, but having looked around the price comparison sites tonight I find that nobody seems to be offering any cheaper tariff! I'm on "Premier Plus PriceFall" according to my bill. According to Energyhelpline, the prices are:

Standing charge - 17.08p per day (£62.34 per year)
Unit charge (pence per kWh) - 9.993p
Night unit charge (pence per kWh) - 4.259p

No other tariff I've found on that site seems to be as cheap as this. Plus the prices are capped until November.

Do you think I should bother switching, or should I just stay put and try and figure out some ways of getting my bills down? I'm disabled and have to survive on benefits so £70/month leccy bills aren't really doing me any favours.

Thanks in advance for any advice, my head's swimming with all this!

bill888

Sounds like you are on PriceFall2008 tariff which runs out at end of October?

I would stay on that tariff for the moment but keep an eye on when ScottishPower pull their current FixedPrice2009 tariff from comparison websites, then contact them and switch over to it if you consider that tariff to be competitive. I've observed existing customers seem to be given an extra month to take up a tariff before they pull it altogether.

If you can access your account online, you will find it far easier to switch tariffs.


You were probably paying too little at £25pcm to begin with hence why SP had to increase your payments to £70pcm


If you have access to your Economy7 electric meter, I would find out what time the cheap rate kicks in on the meter. The timers on the old mechanical meters are often wrong. Then adjust your use of appliances like storage heaters and washing machines to take advantage of the cheap rate electric.