Gas/Elec Switching - help required

bitsnbytes

I've been trying to find the best supplier to switch too, but find it far too confusing. Can someone please guide me in the right direction? I'm currently with E.ON and as of February my prices are:

Electricity
Primary - 23.669p/KWh (Quarterly Threshold - 125KWh)
Secondary - 10.368p/KWh

Gas
Primary - 6.189p/KWh (Quarterly threshold - 670KWh)
Secondary - 2.571p/KWh

Discounts - Dual Fuel 9%

I'm now confused as to which supplier I should be switching to. Southern Electric came cheapest on MoneySupermarket. However, after reading a few posts I realised that they are not truly fixed :mad: The favourite seems to be Scottish Power. However when taking a quote online they say I won't be making any savings however, when I compare their prices with E.ON they seem cheaper

Gas Price
Unit price 0-4572 kWh - 4.524p/KWh
Unit price over 4572 kWh - 2.770p/KWh
Standing charge - £ 00.00
Discount - £5.25 from total billElectricity Price Unit price 0-900 kWh - 19.397p/KWh
Unit price over 900 kWh - 9.246p/KWh
Standing charge - £00.00
Discount - £10.50 from total billDuel Fuel Discount - £10.50 from total bill

Am I missing the point, if their prices are cheaper surely I should be saving money Sorry if this post is really stupid, but I really am dumb in these matters

Any help will be greatly appreciated

kjsmith7

Need to know which area you are in, eg Norweb, Manweb, Swalec, Scottish Hydro Electric, etc. so as to give you exact prices.

Average British Gas prices as of price increase:

ELECTRIC:
Tier 1 - 0kwh - 125kWh (per quarter) is an average of 24.973p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 22.913p and Northern is 26.909)
Tier 2 - 126kWh + (per quarter) is an average of 11.996p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 12.818p and Northern is 11.804p)

GAS
Tier 1 - 0kwh - 670 kWh is an average of 7.563p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 7.506p and Northern i 7.563p)
Tier 2 - 671 kWh+ is an average of 3.814p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 3.757p and Northern is 3.814p)

Really need to know which area you're in, but those prices are a guide.

bitsnbytes

Thanks for that I'm in Swindon (Wiltshire) area. I'm not sure who supplies there. Is there any way to find out?

kjsmith7 wrote: »

Need to know which area you are in, eg Norweb, Manweb, Swalec, Scottish Hydro Electric, etc. so as to give you exact prices.

Average British Gas prices as of price increase:

ELECTRIC:
Tier 1 - 0kwh - 125kWh (per quarter) is an average of 24.973p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 22.913p and Northern is 26.909)
Tier 2 - 126kWh + (per quarter) is an average of 11.996p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 12.818p and Northern is 11.804p)

GAS
Tier 1 - 0kwh - 670 kWh is an average of 7.563p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 7.506p and Northern i 7.563p)
Tier 2 - 671 kWh+ is an average of 3.814p per unit inc. VAT (however SWALEC is 3.757p and Northern is 3.814p)

Really need to know which area you're in, but those prices are a guide.

kjsmith7

If I was in work I could do this at the click of a mouse, let me have a search online for you.

kjsmith7

Ok, I THINK it's in the distribution area of the old "Southern Electric", which merged with Scottish Hydro to become an energy seller, as opposed to just an energy distributor. Hope that makes sense? Anyways, it's just for pricing purposes.

Gas:
Tier 1: 7.622p inc VAT per unit
Tier 2: 3.872p inc VAT per unit

Electric:
Tier 1: 25.317p inc VAT per unit
Tier 2: 12.015p inc VAT per unit

It may seem expensive, but feel sorry for those in the 'Northern' area for distribution - they pay a whopping 26.909p tier 1 Electric, due to additional transportation costs.

Please remember that if you do switch to British Gas, there's no standing charge, and Direct Debit, Standing Order and Dual Fuel discounts available.

Hope that helps!!

bitsnbytes

So do you recommend I go to British gas? I tried them online but they seemed to have a standing charge. Can you please point me to the deal I should be looking at Also, please do let me know if there are some other suppliers you recommend

Thanks for all your help thus far :T

kjsmith7 wrote: »

Ok, I THINK it's in the distribution area of the old "Southern Electric", which merged with Scottish Hydro to become an energy seller, as opposed to just an energy distributor. Hope that makes sense? Anyways, it's just for pricing purposes.

Gas:
Tier 1: 7.622p inc VAT per unit
Tier 2: 3.872p inc VAT per unit

Electric:
Tier 1: 25.317p inc VAT per unit
Tier 2: 12.015p inc VAT per unit

It may seem expensive, but feel sorry for those in the 'Northern' area for distribution - they pay a whopping 26.909p tier 1 Electric, due to additional transportation costs.

Please remember that if you do switch to British Gas, there's no standing charge, and Direct Debit, Standing Order and Dual Fuel discounts available.

Hope that helps!!

bitsnbytes

Also, scottish power rates seem to be cheaper than British Gas. Do you think that is a good deal? Lastly, wepromiseto gives £72 when we switch to Scottish Power whereas MoneySupermarket gives just £30 but is recommended by Martin. Is it ok if I go through wepromiseto?

kjsmith7

I don't think there is a restriction on who you can go through to get cashback, to be honest. Scottish Powers may seem cheaper but they haven't put their rates up yet, which they are likely to do. In which case, you could up paying more if you switch, but who knows, they might not put their prices up as much, or may put it up to the same price eventually but in smaller, incremental rises?

I'm with BG for both gas and electric, so can't really recommend other suppliers at this time. I used to be with SWALEC (who were ok) and nPower and had no end of problems with nPower.

BG generally doesn't have a standing charge (that's why there's the tier1, tier 2 thing) however I THINK there's some areas that do... not really sure about that without a post code and my headset on Most areas don't now, but do check it out!!

All I can think of doing, is perhaps giving BG a call, and any other suppliers you've thought about switching to, and asking them about tariffs, price caps/fixes, discounts (eg direct debit, dual fuel, etc.), if they have a standing charge and when the last time they raised their prices was (if it was a while ago, it's likely they'll raise it soon, but the operator won't be able to tell you when sadly). They'll be able to tell you more than I can with their fancy computer system all loaded up

Sorry I couldn't be of more help!!

bitsnbytes

Finally bit the bullet and switched to British Gas fixed price tariff till September 2011. I also went through quidco and received £60 for switching to dual fuel :T British gas also claims I will receive a £30 incentive for switching online, need to wait and see if I do get that. The tariff offered by British Gas is as below, I'm in the Southern electric distribution area. The prices are not that much higher than EON (see first post), so not too bad

Gas
7.622p for the first 670KW
3.872p thereafter

Electric
25.317p for the first 125KW
12.015p thereafter

They say it will take around 6-8 weeks for the switch to go through, anyone else keen on switching do hurry, they have pulled out their fixed price 2009 tariff and are saying will pull out the 2011 tariff soon as well