Scottish power fixed price energy online

psarinuk

Friends

Happy New Year!

I've been with Scottish Power for more than 3 years now. This Aug/Sep 08, I switched to their "fixed price energy online" package as Martin advised.

For the first time, my bill came to £100 for Dec 08 when I entered my meter reading online. For info, I am a relatively low user with 2007's annual Electricity consumption of 1650 KWh and Gas of 11000 KWh.

I did a comparison online with these figures (living in SS14 2PU) and I was surprised to find that NPOWER is cheapest saving around £130 a year (everytime before Scottish Power has come up cheapest for me)..

Have suppliers like NPOWER reduced their prices? Is it better to switch now or should I wait for Scottish Power to reduce their prices (if they have not done so already or are likely to do soon)..

Also are there any low wattage electric heaters of good quality that anyone could please advise? Thanks in advance..

Cheers..

stevehead

psarinuk wrote: »

Also are there any low wattage electric heaters of good quality that anyone could please advise? Thanks in advance..
Cheers..

Here's a 45w electric heater that will keep you very warm.

Magentasue

psarinuk wrote: »

Also are there any low wattage electric heaters of good quality that anyone could please advise? Thanks in advance..

Cheers..

Gas heating is likely to give you more heat for your money. Why electric?

Nicky321

psarinuk wrote: »

Friends

Happy New Year!

I've been with Scottish Power for more than 3 years now. This Aug/Sep 08, I switched to their "fixed price energy online" package as Martin advised.

I also switched and now am panicking a bit incase utility companies reduce their prices and I end up paying over the odds.

psarinuk

Magentasue, that't what I used to think as well. My gas bill is always more than 70% of total gas and electricity bill.
But we don't need to warm up every corner of the house all the time. We are together 90% of the times and therefore in 1 room only, so we don't need to heat up the whole house.
Also the idea of closing rads is a no no as they are all nicely balanced.
I would rather buy a few stand alone heaters for individual rooms so we only use them when we know we are going to be in 1 place for long.

How are tube heaters? Are they as good as electric glow (2 parallel rod shape) heaters?

Fire_Fox

Electric heaters eat electricity, anyone in an all electric flat will tell you that. Do you not have thermostatic valves on your radiators?

savers_united

Also are there any low wattage electric heaters of good quality that anyone could please advise? Thanks in advance..

I would double check, Electricity per kWh is gonna cost 4-5 times that of Gas.

E.g
5 hours running 2 x 2kWh heaters will cost approx 56p per hour = £2.80 (14p kWh)
These will heat 2 rooms and maybe the hallway

5 hours with Gas central heating running 12 radiators will cost approx 7 cubic units (77kWh)
77 x 3.5p = £2.65
This will heat all the house.

For damp and health reasons, freezing pipes its advisable this time of year to heat all the house and not just 1 or 2 rooms.

psarinuk

OK thanks, how about switching? Is it the right time to switch to NPOWER or should I wait?

Cheers..

bill888

btw, you haven't stated which Scot Power 'Fixed Price Energy Online' package you are on. There have been 3 different products offered during 2008, namely '2011', '2009' and 'Dec 2009'.

The FP 2009 and 'Dec 2009 products have contract cancellation charges of up to £50.

fwiw, you should also consider perhaps just waiting until all the energy suppliers are expected to announce their price reductions in the spring (Middle East & Russia/Ukraine issues permitting), then consider switching.

psarinuk

bill888, Sorry I don't know that myself. I only switched about 3-4 months ago and my instinct says its 2011.

However, I sent them an email yesterday asking the full tariff detail and any switching terms, so will let you know as soon as I hear back.

Many thanks..

bill888

I now vaguely recall FP 2011 tariff was available upto end of June 2008. It was withdrawn a few weeks before the price rises last summer.