Switching Gas Suppliers

jackanory564

Hi,

If I switch it will be the first time. I've been on a few price comparison sites and according to them I can make savings of almost £800 on gas and almost £300 on electricity. Are these sorts of savings common or have I done something wrong.

I'm in credit with my current suppliers and if I change, will they send me a cheque for the amount they owe me or do I have to chase them for it.

In regards to meter readings what do I do, record them on the day I make the switch or some other time.

If the switch can be done on-line, does this mean that the suppliers will sort everything out between themselves and I can just sit back and count my savings?

karenbee_2

Hi
When you switch suppliers it takes a few weeks for your supplier and new one to exchange all the relevant info. Once you do the switch they should send you a letter with the date you will be switched over. They will need a read on this date which your new supplier use to open your account. They send it to a third party who then checks the read is okay based on your read history and sends it on to your old supplier to close down your account. A week or so after that you should get your final bill from your old supplier. If you still have a credit after your final bill it will be refunded to you.



Hope this helps

Premier_2

If you have never switched supplier and therefore you are on the regions legacy suppliers, you certainly stand to make significant savings by switching supplier.

The amount you save will depend largely on the amount you currently spend. (e.g. I would struggle to spend £800 p.a. on even the worst gas supplier for me, let alone save that amount, but them I'm a relatively low user)

When you did the comparison, did you use your annual consumption in kWh for both gas & electricity? If so, a simple check is to check that the site gives you the correct amount in £ that it would cost you with your existing supplier & tariff.

If you change supplier, you will receive a final bill from them and they should then send you back any money if your account ends in credit (but you might have to remind them for the money)

When you switch, you will be given a date by your new supplier for when the switch will actually happen. You should take readings that day if possible (or within 5 days at most). It's best to supply those readings to both new & old suppliers to ensure no confusion/dispute later.

When you do the switch on-line, the new supplier should do everything for you. You will receive details in the post which you should read as this is part of the cooling off process. Then sit back and await the switch and your savings.

Don't forget to consider switching using a switching site with cashback (there are several in the resource bar above) or via a cashback site (e.g. quidco, etc) for even greater savings. Cashback will come direct from the switching/cashback site, normally about 2-3 months after the switch.

Geoffo_M

jackanory564 wrote: »

Hi,

If I switch it will be the first time. I've been on a few price comparison sites and according to them I can make savings of almost £800 on gas and almost £300 on electricity. Are these sorts of savings common or have I done something wrong.

I'm in credit with my current suppliers and if I change, will they send me a cheque for the amount they owe me or do I have to chase them for it.

In regards to meter readings what do I do, record them on the day I make the switch or some other time.

If the switch can be done on-line, does this mean that the suppliers will sort everything out between themselves and I can just sit back and count my savings?

Sounds too high to me. Average first time savings can be in the region of £300 I think

Magentasue

jackanory564 wrote: »

Hi,

If I switch it will be the first time. I've been on a few price comparison sites and according to them I can make savings of almost £800 on gas and almost £300 on electricity. Are these sorts of savings common or have I done something wrong.

I consider us to be relatively high users spending about £1000 on gas and £600 on electricity. I've never seen any promised savings of more than about £150 a year.

Switching is usually painless and effort free - you would imagine that you would have forms to complete etc but once you've input data online, there are only meter reads to supply and then, yes, you do sit back and save!

jackanory564

Thanks for the replies.

At the moment we're paying £60 a week for gas and £80 a month for electricity. That makes it over £3000 on gas a year.

I don't know why it's so expensive but I think we'll probably need to invest in some cavity wall insulation as well.

Vestra

jackanory564 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

At the moment we're paying £60 a week for gas and £80 a month for electricity. That makes it over £3000 on gas a year.

I don't know why it's so expensive but I think we'll probably need to invest in some cavity wall insulation as well.

What is your annual gas consumption?

Magentasue

jackanory564 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

At the moment we're paying £60 a week for gas and £80 a month for electricity. That makes it over £3000 on gas a year.

I don't know why it's so expensive but I think we'll probably need to invest in some cavity wall insulation as well.

£60 a week on gas. How???????? Or do you just mean at present - you don't mean £60 every week, surely?

jackanory564

Magentasue wrote: »

£60 a week on gas. How???????? Or do you just mean at present - you don't mean £60 every week, surely?

Yeah at present we pay £60.50 a week for gas.

Why is that everyone's surprised at this surely it's not that high?

Magentasue

jackanory564 wrote: »

Yeah at present we pay £60.50 a week for gas.

Why is that everyone's surprised at this surely it's not that high?

Ah, but you don't pay that every week, do you? When you worked out that you could save £800 a year on gas, I assume you used your present cost. To calculate accurate savings, you need to calculate annual use in kwh.

We're paying about £35 a week for gas at present but our annual bill is about £1000 but averages £19 a week.

anniecave

Is it a big property? A big property I'm guessing could use lots .....

But yes I would check how much in total per year not just multiply up winter consumption only....