Gas & Electricity plus Cashback/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Eric2

Father_To_Be wrote:

Scottish Power want to cap their prices until 2007, but they want to charge me £2.50 a month to do it.

Is this worth paying up for or just switching to another provider once the prices have increased.

I just don't know what to do, and I will hate paying the £2.50.

Cheers
Bob

I've had a quote from Powergen, offering to freeze my joint fuel price until March 2010 if I pay 30% more per month (extra £27 pm).
The latest price hike from March 31st for Powergen will increase my charge by 19% (£15 pm), I estimate.
Initially this looks a good proposition since the price freeze covers 4 winters. Does anyone feel this recent hike is a peak, with smaller annual increases to follow....or will increases be greater than 3% per year to come??

Eric

redrose001

pipertyro wrote:

To those above who didn't receive cash back from Simplyswitch, I have had the same experience.

Applied to switch using the link from Martin's article early November, all switched over by January, no cash back received. I've e-mailed but received no reply.

To those planning to switch I would use the other providers ahead of this company, they are making false promises. The comparison is also not as comprehensive as other sites so there's nothing to be lost.

I too got no reply when I emailed support@simplyswitch. However last friday, 3rd March, I emailed customerservice@simplyswitch, received an apology and today rec'd a cheque in the post. So no problem there.

Cornwall2000

fgtr13 wrote:

After doing all my 'homework', I applied in mid January to switch to EDF for dual fuel saving reportedly £176. Manweb arrived on doorstep on Friday informing me that EDF price rises of 13% / 27% were about to hit as of 1st March ..... and anyway we'd still be paying more with EDF in the end as they have to rent the meters from Manweb and also get the fuel from them too so it'd cost more in the long run.

He also said prices frozen with Manweb till Oct 2007 .... no idea why we hadn't been informed of this previously.

Am now more confused than ever ..... so back to Manweb for us !!!!

Why is everthing so complicated ?????????

I don't think the meters belong to Manweb anymore, and the electricity is generated by many different companies. Only 2 things matter (as far as I am concerned)

1) The price you pay
2) The customer service you receive.

In my area (Manchester) the London Energy / EDF online tariff is by far the cheapest. The 13th March price rises for non online customers are not being applied to the online tariff (for now at least). If they do apply a price increase, you have 28 days to find another supplier, during which time the price rise will not be applied if you switch.

Price freezes could be good, but as you could buy the elec / gas cheaper elsewhere you are gambling that prices will go up substantially (over the already sky high levels). There may always be a company that could supply cheaper than your fixed price. Check out the prices they're offering, do your sums and then decide.

For example my current tariff is 40% cheaper for gas than British gas's fixed tariff and 20% cheaper than EDF's price freeze.

Don't be so easily swayed by a doorstep salesman.

suttonsaver

pamfish wrote:

I too got no reply when I emailed support@simplyswitch. However last friday, 3rd March, I emailed customerservice@simplyswitch, received an apology and today rec'd a cheque in the post. So no problem there.

I used SimplySwitch to change suppliers last Sunday and was concerned that none of the confirmations I received from SS mentioned anything about cashback. So I emailed the customer services people (like pamfish) and got a reply back within a couple of days. It said the £15 would be paid to me 60 days after the switch had taken place - by credit to the account I had nominated for making my Direct Debit payments monthly.

Seemed fair enough.

EmmaLou_3

I have just had a British Gas sales man on my door step (yes I know you said to get rid of them!) and have ended up signing to change to them. To be honest I didn't want to sign anything as I wanted to find out what was the best deal, but the guy made me feel almost obliged to sign. I really felt like I only had the choice to rudely tell him to pee off, or sign the form. I had my 2 year old with me so ended up signing! These guys are very good at putting the pressure on without actually doing anything illegal! He told me stuff like if I didn't take the offer now I wouldn't be offered it again. He had my name on a list of people that had left BG in the last 2 years - are we being offered something that others aren't?
Basically BG are offering your 1st month's Gas free (they credit this back to you if you sign for duel fuel),
no standing charges
£65 off annual gas bill for paying monthly direct debit
£17 off your annual electricity bill for paying monthly direct debit
£15 duel fuel discount
£10 off annual energy bill if you register for paperless billing.

Have I done the right thing? I am currently duel fueling with Powergen.
Thankfully you get a cooling off period.

theloft

EmmaLou wrote:

Have I done the right thing? I am currently duel fueling with Powergen.
Thankfully you get a cooling off period.

You have only done the right thing if in the final analysis, BG's price is cheaper than the others. Use your cooling off period to check out other prices on the comparison sites.
Use MSE's link if you switch (Energy helpline for instance) and get the cashback. Powergen are offering a capped
deal at present, which may be better. But it all takes time , which you don't have much of with a 2 yr. old. I studied all the prices, chose NPower as I thought they wouldn't be putting their prices up again for a while and what happened! I'm afraid it's all a bit of a lottery at present. Good luck.

EmmaLou_3

I had a go at using the comparison sites, but couldn't get my head around working out how much I currently pay. I'm not even sure what scheme I am on. I don't get paper bills so assume I am on Energy Online, although on my bills it says Standard No Standing Charge as my electricity product. I also seem to have loads of bills recently that don't make a lot of sense (well to me anyway). I gather that their electricity prices have gone up, but not sure about gas. How do I work out how much gas and electric I use per year?

bcmoore

A_penny_saved wrote:

Thanks for your advice on this and other matters. Before I change my supplier, could you please advise whether the price freezes are worthwhile.
Many thanks
A Penny saved

What advice would you give about paying the extra premium to get a fixed price on dual fuel at this time

MSE_Martin

I have to say before the switch I believed fixed rates were good value, but since BG announced its prices, the capped/fixed tariff rates have increased greatly. The perceived wisdom at the moment is they're not good value and you're better off on a cheap tariff.

Yet as with all 'fixed v variable' rate equations this is all about surety - at least with a fixed rate you know what you'll be getting - so its a question of personal risk

martin

billieboy_2

I've just done a price comparison with Energyhelpline and it's coming out with London Energy being the cheapest for my area but I can't find any information about when they last put their prices up. Can anyone point me in the right direction for this info please. Thanks.