Gas and Electricity Rental Property

bockett

Hi All,

Me and my partner are renting our property and starting to recieve our utility bills.

I just wanted to ask what is the cheapest and the best way to pay?

At the moment we're just paying online with them as they come in every quater.

Would we be better off paying monthly by Direct Debit.
The Gas is with EDF and the Electricity E.ON

I've been on switch with which and if i have got the tariff right then the savings our huge going with monthly direct debit and merging both fuel supplies.

Any info appreciated

Regards
Ben

Magentasue

You get a discount for paying by DD. The only problem for you is that to set the DD accurately suppliers need to know how many kwh you're likely to use in a year so that the DD can be roughly one twelfth.

If you don't know this, you can negotiate a monthly payment. Idea is you build up a credit balance over the summer and use this up over the winter. If you don't see that credit building over the summer, you should increase the DD or put money aside for winter bills. Too many people pay too little, use what they want and then complain when the DD doubles.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi,

Having both the gas and electricity with the same supplier does normally make you a saving.

I'd also check out the online tariffs as these often give a higher amount of discount off your bills.

Direct Debit usually gives more discount as well, you can also contact your current suppliers and ask them what would be the best prices if you had both gas and electricity with them.

KimYeovil

Particularly with the prices E-on charge for electricity you really need to immediately change to at least paying by direct debit. Just telephone them and tell them you want to change.

Once you've checked the prices with the comparison site you should also check cashback sites to see if any of better tariffs offer cashback. If so, use the cashback site to switch rather than the comparison site.

bockett

Using switch with which comes back with a dual fuel tariff with N-Power ( Sign Online 14 Dual Fuel - Standard Billing)

This was the one with the most saving and it's an online based tariff.

Fao Kimyeovil do i just search through something like Quidco for the cash back? The CB sites are new to me

bockett

PS searched on Quidco for N-power and says unable to earn cash back with this merchant

KimYeovil

Note that nPower only give you your £105 'discount' back after one complete year - you pay £8.75 more each month than the switch site suggests. As you found, they do not offer cashback either (I think topcashback suggest you can get £40 but for nPower it is not reliable).

I think only Scottish Power and E-on currently offer cashback that is worth considering - the others are too low and can be ignored. Of course, you must consider the tariff price - that is the primary criterion and cashback is always a secondary option that is never guaranteed.

Remember to look closely at the prices - click the 'show all results' on the bottom right and note that although nPower bubble to the top (with half a dozen differently named products) the month by month costs may be a lot closer than you think (particularly with the £8.75 per month not included.)

KimYeovil

... eg, where I am nPower appears to be £35 cheaper than a clutch of others. But that's only £3 per month on a £94 bill. Add on the £8.75 advance payment and you're paying £5 extra each month in advance to eventually save that £3!

bockett

Kim that was my thoughts sometimes after all the efforts with the cash back sites you can end up being tempted by the cash back but when you work it out it's sometimes cheaper and in your intrests to go with the cheapest overall tariff not what gives the most cash back.

in this case i'll go with the cheapest overall tariff regardless of the cash back thankfully i can justify loosing the £3 saving