Have I done the right thing switching to EON ?

sky_rat

I've been getting emails from MSE saying to switch suppliers ASAP and go for a capped tarrif.

So tonight I bit the bullet and switched to the "EON Price Protection Oct 2009"

It says it will cost me an extra £142 a year, but the price will be capped until October 2009.

Becuase there is a 7 day cancellation period and you can swap supplier at anytime without a cancellation fee, plus the fact MSE says to switch supplier ASAP, I just went ahead and signed up.

Then I looked at reviews about EON and this tarriff and it only gets 4 out of 10 - it also seems to have alot of unhappy customers ?

Then I realised EON have just put their prices up as well.

On MSE home page, when it mentions EON it says "It's still best to do a comparison to see it's definitely cheapest for you."

But I thought most or all capped tarriffs are more expensive then the tarriff you pay now - I thought that was the idea ?

You pay a bit more than normal with the comfort of knowing the price wont rise for a fixed period ?

So this extra £142 its going to cost me, would that be classed as being 'the cheapest for me' ?

Or should I cancel whilst I have the oppourtunity and stick with Scottish Hydro Electric (I have never switched before).

Im worrying that I might have done the wrong thing :embarasse ?


Just for reference, I entered the following kWh details into energyhelpline.com (which I got by ringing Scottish Hydro Electric and asking them)...

Scottish Hydro Electric - Feb 07 to Feb 08:
619kWh (low units)
2968kWh (normal units)
3587kWh (total)
17% Economy 7

Scottish Hydro Gas - Feb 07 to Feb 08:
472 units => 14,722kWh

My monthly payments with Scottish Hydro Electric went up in spring to £34/month (for gas) and £38/month (for electric).

But for accuracy I entered the kWh figures into energyhelpline.com instead of monthly payments.

The results came back with the following capped tarriffs available:

EON Energy Saver v4
• High service ratings
• Extended hours customer contact centres
• Prices capped until 1st Oct 2009
• Free home energy monitor, cancellation fees apply
Expected Annual Spend £991
Expected Savings £-142 (-17%)

EON Price Protection Oct 2009
• High service ratings
• Extended hours customer contact centres
• Capped prices till Oct 2009
• No tie-ins or cancellation feesExpected Annual Spend £991
Expected Savings £-142 (-17%)

EDF Price Protection 2009
• Good service ratings / low levels of complaints
• Free nectar points
• Prices fixed until 31st Oct 2009
• Cancellation fees apply Monthly Direct Debit
Expected Annual Spend £1,089
Expected Savings £-240 (-28%)

BRITISH GAS Fixed Price 2011
• UK's largest supplier
• Extended hours 0845 customer contact centres
• Prices fixed until 30th Sep 2011
• Cancellation fees apply
Expected Annual Spend £1,163
Expected Savings £-314 (-37%)

Dave2112

Two suppliers have put up prices @ 25%. The others are likely to follow. So capping at 17% more than your current variable rate "should" mean when the current round of price increases are over your capped rate is less than the variable one which will have gone up 25%. Of course, prices may not go up 25%, they may drop back or they may increase another 25% over the winter. In this last scenario then capping will have been a very good move !!!

kjsmith7

Roughly, based on your consumption stats, and the new prices, you'd be paying about £670 for gas and £600 for electricity a year with BG on the Price Protection 2011. Expected annual spend is around £1270. Roughly. That doesn't take into account duel fuel discount, direct debit discounts etc, which would bring that total down, probably to around your estimated amount, as there's only a £107 difference.

sky_rat

My other concern is that its going to cost me £142 more to cap, but the cap only lasts for a year.

If I stayed with my current supplier, then its still probably only going to cost an extra £140 over 12 months IF the prices go up ?

Is it really worth paying all that extra just to cap for a year ????

Leodogger

I have concerns also about the capped rates. I rang E.On this morning and enquired about capped rates. They quoted me the rates per K Wh for both elec. and gas (dual fuel user) on Energyonline Extra Saver 5 Plan and stated that on the capped rate till 2009 the rates would go up (quite considerably for the first 670 units of gas from 3.235p kilowatt to 5.314 - approx. 65% increase) and elec. up from 16.65p per kilowatt for the first 225 kilowatt hours to 19.541p per kilowatt, also the discount would drop on a quarterly basis from 18.9% to 9%. I have worked the figures out based on my current usage and even alowing for a 35% increase in both gas and electricity over the coming months, I would still be better off staying on my current tariffs.

Can this be right and is it still wiser to switch to a capped rate in this case?

I am really worried now as I did tell them I wanted to switch to a capped rate, the only reason I haven't technically yet is because I asked her to work out the percentage increases in the capped rate and her system stopped working. She is ringing me back with the figures.

Leodogger

I have double checked with USwitch my usage and what would happen if I switched to the capped rate and it said that I would be £243 worse off by switching to a capped rate. It calculated my usage at £909 pa but when I added 35% on for possible future increases in gas and elec. and deducted the £243 I would have been worse off, I would save £13 - hardly worth the switch. I feel some of these capped rates are a bit of a con by energy companies to get the extra money "up-front" on the direct debits which means they can make huge profits on interest rates earned on our increased monthly payments sitting in their bank accounts! After all energy companies as we know buy their stocks in advance so their prices are fixed probably 12 months at a time whereas with capped rates they are fixing our prices well above the cost of fuel at today's prices plus any future increases.

Uswitch also suggested a change to another tariff from Energyonline Extra Saver Dual Fuel 5 to Dual Fuel 8 but when I asked E.On she said that I was already on the cheapest tariff. I did use kilowatt usage per annum on USwitch for accurate comparison so who is right?
:mad:

HOB_3

Hi
Im also VERY confused by all this!! IM currently paying £122 per month for combined gas and electric. £1,464 per year. When I phoned e.on to cap, they told me my costs would rise to £140 per month which would mean an extra £211 per year! Can anyone advise? Im with Scottish hydro at the moment and appreciate their price increase may take me above the £211 per year but Im not sure Im doing the right thing switching to e.on. I have two weeks 'cooling off' period so its not too late to cancel it.