Zest 4 price increase

dave_dph

I received a letter from Zest 4 yesterday advising of an electricity price increase from the 16th Jan 2006.

I live in Birmingham and I have economy 7 electric on their online tariff. Annually I use 2751kwh during the day and 7608kwh during the night, roughly 35% / 65% split.

Based on the above my annual bill is £438, currently my cheapest option. However, the price increase will take this figure up to £504, a substantial increase.

Now for the question.........

Uswitch & Energyhelpline are showing British Gas as my cheapest option. Based on my current usage and in comparison with Zest's prices from January I would save around £50 per year with their online tariff + 1 months free electric. Obviously I am wondering whether BG have an electricity price increase looming? I don't really want to move from Zest, their customer service is excellent, but I would rather get the best deal possible.

I know this is a crystal ball situation but I would appreciate the views of other money savers.

Dave.

JohalaReewi

Interesting. Zest4 website says the following...

Announcement (December 2005)
Since the beginning of October, wholesale electricity prices have risen by 150%. This extraordinary event has come about because over 33% of the UK's electricity is generated using gas - which has also seen a massive price increase of around 400%. The unusually cold and early winter has caught the UK by surprise resulting in a shortage of gas.

As a result, ZEST4 have no choice but to to dramatically reduce the number of new customers we acquire over the next few months. The only way we can do this is by increasing our electricity prices (for new customers only) to such a level that we are no longer competitive. You can view our current tariffs for new customers by clicking here.

This is a short term fix, and we will review and reduce our prices again once the wholesale price of energy has stabilised. If you are currently in the process of switching to ZEST4, or are already a customer, these new tariffs do not affect you. We will continue to work to ensure that we remain the cheapest supplier for our existing customers.

mhendo

At least the existing customers of Zest4 get the better tarrifs - if you signed up with Zest4 now, you'd have a worse tarrif than existing customers. Thought that was quite unusual, as most companies are focused on gaining new customers more than retaining existing ones.

I used uswicth to check prices, and several come up cheaper, but upon checking the companies' tarrifs on their websites they are more expensive than the new Zest4 Online tarrif I have. So I'm guessing the companies showing as cheaper on Uswitch are coming up cheaper to an introductory offer (eg £15 off British Gas if signing up online) - so in the long run, I'm guessing Zest4 is still the cheaper.

It doesn't seem sensible to move to, say British Gas, just to get the intitial £15 discount - as I would lose the Zest4 existing customer tarrif (so if I returned back to Zest4, I'd have a higher tarrif).

What do other's make of this? I think I'm best staying put.

moneysavingplumber

I got the letter from Zest4 also, but prices are changing so rapidly, I like Zest4 and their approach to business and I tend to think they will strive to be competitive, so I am also staying put for the time being. Compared to my previous tariff with Seeboard Energy they are still far cheaper.

funkymonkey

same here - but one thing i have noticed is that the british gas online price given by energyhelpline is way out - i mean by around 7p a kw day and 1p a kw night. this is nothing to do with the online discount for signing up - its on all their tarrifs on energyhelpline - even the ones without the month free. i think maybe energyhelpline is still listing the pre- price rise price for BG. im staying put