Ebico.

alared

I`m with Ebico and will be staying until I can find a big and convincing saving by switching.
I work out my annual usage for both gas and econ7 and use these figures to compare the different tariffs from other providers.
This is not as easy as it sounds because most tariffs are split,with a higher price for the first so many units,ect.
Some have standing charges, some do not.
People obviously use more gas in the winter than the summer quarters,so in the summer you may never get onto the lower tariff.
Some companies give you monthly discount,others cashback after a year.
The whole system is designed to cause maximum confusion and to prevent you comparing "like for like".
Yet people go to comparison sites and probably just put in their monthly payments and then proclaim "if I switch to so and so,I`ll save £200 a year".

Get real!

Cardew

djohn2002uk wrote: »

But don't you think they deserve the Whipping Boy status when they make a billion pounds in 6 months and still put gas up by 35%???

Well it was actually Centrica(who own BG) who made almost £1million.

British Gas are about 20% of Centrica's portfolio so not all of that profit came from BG.

Even if all profit came from BG's 16 million customers(and of course it doesn't) - that would be £60 a customer.

Centrica's profit comes because they produce energy and world energy prices have soared; they can hardly be expected to sell to BG at a lower price than they get on the open market.

It doesn't matter if you or I feel that £1billion is excessive of not. The point is that it is not the major factor in the huge increases in gas/electricity prices.

1carminestocky

full-stop wrote: »

Very informative thread about Ebico. I am still baffled as to why an earlier post stated that it was only cheaper for lower users?

I am a BG customer on their variable tariff and their prices have increased from:

first 676 Kwh 6.15p to 7.259p (ex vat)
thereafter 2.58p to 3.688p (ex vat)

Ebico currently charge a flat rate of 2.724p (ex vat)

Obviously, I am looking for a cheaper alternative but have I missed something vital about Ebico's pricing structure in the comments that were made earlier in this thread. I also pay by quarterly cheque.

Cheers

It's the truth! Don't forget Ebico have yet to up their prices but as they now broadly increase/decrease in line with *their* supplier SSE, expect a huge rise similar to BG. Medium/high users who pay by montly DD can get a far cheaper deal than Ebico's. Amazingly, that huge creaking monolithic greed-machine BG can easily beat Ebico's rates for many users. Makes you think...

1carminestocky

Cardew wrote: »

Well it was actually Centrica(who own BG) who made almost £1million.

British Gas are about 20% of Centrica's portfolio so not all of that profit came from BG.

Even if all profit came from BG's 16 million customers(and of course it doesn't) - that would be £60 a customer.

Centrica's profit comes because they produce energy and world energy prices have soared; they can hardly be expected to sell to BG at a lower price than they get on the open market.

It doesn't matter if you or I feel that £1billion is excessive of not. The point is that it is not the major factor in the huge increases in gas/electricity prices.

Times one thousand

greenbee

Cardew wrote: »

Ebico are indeed NON -profit making; and their tariff is uncomplicated.

However their prices are certainly no cheaper on average than the 'big 6'.

The are cheaper for low users/pre -pay, more expensive for others.

So Ebico not making a profit, yet being no cheaper than the big 6, illustrates that the large profits made by these companies is a relatively small factor in the price we pay for energy.

It is convenient to have the Utility companies as a 'whipping boy' to blame, but the fact is that our prices are largely determined by world energy prices.

If Ebico charge much the same as the other companies, and yet are non-profit, it suggests that their business is not run as efficiently. Profit-making (and shareholders) do at least encourage businesses to be efficient. Ebico gets very good ratings from Ethiscore, so I have no doubt that they have sound business practice - but something to remember about not-for-profit companies is that they still need to make money for investment and to pay their staff - so if they are in danger of having left over cash in the bank they've either got to spend it, give their customers a bonus, or pay themselves more...

The fact that we can now all switch means that the suppliers have to focus on the things that help them retain customers - good customer service and price. It's not like one company sells different/better gas or elect, so these are the main differentiators, and depending on the economy customers are generally more influenced by one or the other. At the moment its cost, so I don't think any company will have put prices up by more than it absolutely has to - they know they'll lose customers, and this costs in admin as well as lost income.

I'm most worried by the fact that privatisation has allowed foreign utility companies to buy up so much of our infrastructure. They're cash-rich as they are still monopolies at home. The idea of EDF running our nuclear powerstations doesn't appeal at all.

Cardew

greenbee wrote: »

If Ebico charge much the same as the other companies, and yet are non-profit, it suggests that their business is not run as efficiently. Profit-making (and shareholders) do at least encourage businesses to be efficient. Ebico gets very good ratings from Ethiscore, so I have no doubt that they have sound business practice - but something to remember about not-for-profit companies is that they still need to make money for investment and to pay their staff - so if they are in danger of having left over cash in the bank they've either got to spend it, give their customers a bonus, or pay themselves more...

The fact that we can now all switch means that the suppliers have to focus on the things that help them retain customers - good customer service and price. It's not like one company sells different/better gas or elect, so these are the main differentiators, and depending on the economy customers are generally more influenced by one or the other. At the moment its cost, so I don't think any company will have put prices up by more than it absolutely has to - they know they'll lose customers, and this costs in admin as well as lost income.

I'm most worried by the fact that privatisation has allowed foreign utility companies to buy up so much of our infrastructure. They're cash-rich as they are still monopolies at home. The idea of EDF running our nuclear powerstations doesn't appeal at all.

That may well be.

I hated the idea of Maggie selling of 'our' assets on privatisation(what Harold MacMillan called 'selling off the family silver') and letting it go to foreign utility companies is worse. Many countries including the USA wouldn't allow it to happen.

To be fair to Maggie(something I find difficult to do) the nationalised industries were most inefficient organisations, over-staffed and with blinkered Unions that resisted any form of change.

She destroyed the UK's coal industry simply to smash the power of the Unions(Scargill etc)

However the point I was making is that taking Ebico or the 'big 6', that profit is not the major factor in our high prices.

greenbee

Cardew wrote: »

However the point I was making is that taking Ebico or the 'big 6', that profit is not the major factor in our high prices.

You're right... the size of the numbers make it look big, but percentage wise it's pretty insignificant.

Cardew wrote: »

I hated the idea of Maggie selling of 'our' assets on privatisation(what Harold MacMillan called 'selling off the family silver') and letting it go to foreign utility companies is worse. Many countries including the USA wouldn't allow it to happen..

The EU markets aren't deregulating very fast (some are doing better than others, but nothing like what's happening here), however, the utilities in the US ARE private companies, and that's where quite a bit of Centrica's profit comes from - they've stated in their interim results that they're expanding in North America and have just bought a company called Strategic Energy in the US. I'm sure the French (EDF & GDF) and Germans (RWE & EON) are in there too!

robert_harper_2000

I read in the papers about how Gordon Brown is trying to Tax them more but the margin on energy is actually low at around 4%! I think perhaps [cardew] is right profit isn't the sole issue

bengee1977

Ebico (for gas) is definately worth switching to for use during the summer months. I'm with SP at the mo, but come next May i'll be switching to Ebico for their flat rate, then back to SP/another supplier when i start to use gas a bit more!

sammyjammy

I for one will be staying with Ebico, I'm a real money saver usually but this time clear billing, ethical business practices and same price for all win over for me, the low user comments are interesting, I would assume I am one but must check over my (easy to read and understand!) bills, I find Southern Electric very helpful to deal with as well, I've even sent them a thank you email when someone was particularly helpful! If prices keep going up I'll just get the woolly jumpers out and watch tv in the dark!

Sam