Benefits/elect & Gas Tariff

dmg24

john539 wrote: »

Not sure, but you need to be careful out there.

On British Gas Essentials Tariff you basically get the Direct Debit rate with a Tier 2 unit discount up to £12 per quarter however you pay as you don't need to be on Direct Debit.

Any price increase is postponed till April 2009, so you remain on old rates.

BG Essentials Gas rates I was quoted were:

Tier 1: 4.192p/kWh
Tier 2: 2.314p/kWh

You get Tier 2 unit discount of 0.27p/kWh up to £12 per quarter.

Click Energy 5 Gas rates are:

Tier 1: 5.684p/kWh
Tier 2: 3.385p/kWh

Direct Debit discount is 10% up to maximum £16.89 per quarter.

So it seems to me that Click 5 rates are more expensive although you get bigger quarterly discount, but you have to be on Direct Debit which you don't with BG Essentials Tariff to get the quarterly discount.

I'm also not sure whether you can be just on Gas with Click 5 or have to be dual fuel.

The tier levels are different, and therefore you are not comparing like for like. If you look at the amounts according to the amount you use, in many circumstances Click 5 works out cheaper.

Nigella_2

I was with EDF and received 15% annual rebate.

Now I am with Ebico as there are no price tiers with Gas and no standing charge with Electricity. Also Ebico have delayed their price rise for a while.

Ebico use SSE billing systems and SSE also do a rebated scheme with 20% discount.

0800 33 66 99 Home Heat Helpline can offer some advice.
Energy watch can be useful and price comparison websites.

john539

dmg24 wrote: »

The tier levels are different, and therefore you are not comparing like for like. If you look at the amounts according to the amount you use, in many circumstances Click 5 works out cheaper.

The tier levels are the same.

Tier 1 applies to the first 670kWh for both BG Standard & Click 5 Gas Tariffs.
Tier 2 is for all subsequent consumption.

BG Essentials is cheaper than Click 5 on both tiers.

pudseylass

I applied in August of this year 2008,after getting advice from my local CAB and as of last week had not heard anything, after contacting British Gas wich i have dual power on pre payment meters, was finally informed that there is no essentials tarrif, there is an essentials team that give information out for free insulation, as long as you own your own home, so now i am looking to switch power companies, please be aware that British Gas do not have a lower tarrif,and does not help people like myself who are on benefits

OrkneyStar

john539 wrote: »

I'm also not sure whether you can be just on Gas with Click 5 or have to be dual fuel.

Just to say we are on just electricity with B.Gas Click 5. So it seems you can be just gas or just elect., presumably dual fuel too ?
hth

SuziQ

i asked EDF about this as I'm on Income support. I was told 1. that I had mistakenly been on their 'social tarif' for 2 years for my elctric,not gas,but that I should have been on dual fuel which should have been cheaper. 2.-I was now no longer entitled to the social tarif as my son is on DLA 'therefore the government is already subsidising your fuel bills'. I am still waiting for something in writing about this,as I couldn't understand why EDF have a different policy to all the other suppliers with regards to customers with disabilities.

OrkneyStar

SuziQ wrote: »

i asked EDF about this as I'm on Income support. I was told 1. that I had mistakenly been on their 'social tarif' for 2 years for my elctric,not gas,but that I should have been on dual fuel which should have been cheaper. 2.-I was now no longer entitled to the social tarif as my son is on DLA 'therefore the government is already subsidising your fuel bills'. I am still waiting for something in writing about this,as I couldn't understand why EDF have a different policy to all the other suppliers with regards to customers with disabilities.

So you should have got it but no one told you, and now someone HAS told you, they have decided you shouldn't get it anyway now ? :rolleyes: :mad:
A classic case of logic not operating. Have you asked to speak to someone higher up the pile, so to speak ?

john539

pudseylass wrote: »

I applied in August of this year 2008,after getting advice from my local CAB and as of last week had not heard anything, after contacting British Gas wich i have dual power on pre payment meters, was finally informed that there is no essentials tarrif, there is an essentials team that give information out for free insulation, as long as you own your own home, so now i am looking to switch power companies, please be aware that British Gas do not have a lower tarrif,and does not help people like myself who are on benefits

If you registered in August like me, they should still be able to put you on Essentials Tariff & backdate your bill.

Have been told Essentials Tariff was scrapped in October.

Looks like it has been replaced with Essentials Advance package:

-Energy efficiency advice
-Free insulation - which could help you save up to £275* off your bills
-£50 discount off your next bill once your free insulation has been installed.

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/do-you-need-extra-support.html

Thanks a lot Gordon Brown.

1980babe

Whereas before you used to get a cash rebate - now its already incorporated into your energy prices.

tightperson

I'm with Atlantics cheapest online dual fuel tariff which is only a few quid dearer for me than BG's Click 5, a couple months ago we went onto benefits and moved onto their social tariff. They told us that this gave us a 20% discount on our bills, I said is this off your standard rate or off the cheap dual fuel tariff we are already on, they replied the latter.