Know someone/have you never switched energy supplier?

littld

I switched a few years ago to Powergen and the service was terrible. Switched back purely on that basis.

When you run into trouble you really appreciate decent telephone support and a company who call back when they say they will, answer the phone quickly etc.

I don't think I'd consider switching again. It's the one MoneySaving thing I won't change to save money.

Another tip - uSwitch and other comparison services are just not accurate. When I did switch I saved nothing like the money uSwitch quoted. If you want to do a comparison accurately, you need to get a calculator out and work out your last 4 quarterly bills based on the standing charges and price per kWh. The uSwitch style is a simplistic comparison and just doesn't add up.

Just like the TV adverts, the other providers increase their prices as well. I've managed to get another of the fixed price deals (to 2010) with British Gas and I am more than happy with it.

LesD

littld wrote:

I switched a few years ago to Powergen and the service was terrible. Switched back purely on that basis.

When you run into trouble you really appreciate decent telephone support and a company who call back when they say they will, answer the phone quickly etc.

I don't think I'd consider switching again. It's the one MoneySaving thing I won't change to save money.

Another tip - uSwitch and other comparison services are just not accurate. When I did switch I saved nothing like the money uSwitch quoted. If you want to do a comparison accurately, you need to get a calculator out and work out your last 4 quarterly bills based on the standing charges and price per kWh. The uSwitch style is a simplistic comparison and just doesn't add up.

Just like the TV adverts, the other providers increase their prices as well. I've managed to get another of the fixed price deals (to 2010) with British Gas and I am more than happy with it.

Hmmm....that's two of us in the same boat then. Are we saying these 'switch' sites are a con to get the commission from all the changers then? Perhaps the Beeb ought to do a programme on them!!!!!

Incidentally, what is this thread doing on the Grabbit board? Can it be SWITCHED to Utilities please?

dc

My swap projection with Ebico is that I will save around 50% being a lowish user.

So even if they put it up 22% I will still win.

BTW, BG doesnt seem to care, they have just announced a 22% rise for shareholder dividends, and before the announced 22% rise in price for customers takes place. :shocked: :rolleyes:

OHH Dear, Public Relations fiasco, laughable if it wasnt so serious.

dc
:bdaycake: MSE

youandwhosearmy

I've just switched to London Energy this month. Followed the instructions on the main MSE site. Worked out I would save £300 a year. We'll see when my frist bill comes I guess. Be annoyed if it isn't cheaper.

rsbystry

Following the announcement of Scottish Powers price increases I went to the uswitch website to get a better price and the top four were..........

All Scottish Power!

How does that work?

rsb

renegade_si

dc wrote:

My swap projection with Ebico is that I will save around 50% being a lowish user.

So even if they put it up 22% I will still win.

BTW, BG doesnt seem to care, they have just announced a 22% rise for shareholder dividends, and before the announced 22% rise in price for customers takes place. :shocked: :rolleyes:

OHH Dear, Public Relations fiasco, laughable if it wasnt so serious.

dc
:bdaycake: MSE

I think you're missing the point. Centrica, the holding company did make more money and yes it has raised its dividend. However, this profit came from the upstream assets and the USA, looking at the results posted today. British Gas lost £75m in the 2nd half of the year. If they are losing money on supplying customer, so are all the other suppliers. Indeed, I think Energywatch said that there are only 6 suppliers left now wheras there was 22 before. Why is this? Because the smaller ones (I presume like Ebico as I haven't heard of them) undercut the larger ones and then went bust due to the higher energy prices as it was costing them more to supply the energy than the amount they were getting back from their customers. The larger suppliers have other "arms" of the business to spread this risk around.

I know where I will be staying British Gas, and yes, with a capped price product for as far as I can too. Calm in a volatile market is good, and I wish I had done the fixed price to 2010 product now before the 22% price rise, thinking that the energy prices will come down. With the gas being used up quicker than we thought in the UK (thanks to all of us greedy lot), we're going to be at the whim of the Europeans and Russians who haven't even got a market....sounds ominus!

biblejohn

LesD wrote:

Hmmm....that's two of us in the same boat then. Are we saying these 'switch' sites are a con to get the commission from all the changers then? Perhaps the Beeb ought to do a programme on them!!!!!

Incidentally, what is this thread doing on the Grabbit board? Can it be SWITCHED to Utilities please?

Id agree with that. I switched a year ago and it was more hassle than it was worth. Took around 8 months before the new company finally got my billing correct and the old company managed to "let go" of me.

Now, when i look on the comparison websites, each site gives me a different answer as to which supplier would be the best for me! Who am I supposed to believe? The best savings ive been quoted is about 50quid a year, so to save the hassle im not going to bother. Im actually paying about 80quid a year MORE now that ive switched than before I switched.

dc

Renegade, as British Gas is making a loss, then there is something seriously wrong, as they charge the most for gas.

How come the other companies havent gone bust then?.

The main reason for now being dependant on imported gas, is that in the early 90's HM Gov decided to use North Sea gas to boil water in power stations to generate electricity instead of coal. This for some misguided political pique against miners and for get rich quick reasons.

How short sighted as we have just about used it ( our reserves) up, 20 years earlier than we would have done if "the dash for gas" had never happened.

dc

renegade_si

Atlantic, Zest 4, Utilita, all of the little ones have all gone bust. The other big ones like npower, powergen, scottish power and scottish and southern haven't gone bust as they have a similar "spread the risk" policy. I was not saying the other big ones had gone bust, but the little ones, like the one you are with have all gone bust. All of the customers were bought by the bigger companies....!

As for why we are where we are, I agree, but I don't think that people complained about the lowest bills in europe before due to all this gas and the competition through opening up our market. Now the gas is being used up quicker and now we are coming in line with europe all im saying is that I therefore want to fix my price before we go all the way to european prices. Have you seen how much people pay in Denmark!! Its still double what we pay now!! And whats funny is that its cos they have a load of windmills which don't blow all the time. I agree, bring back coal!! (but clean!) or else its more nukes!

mike_halls

There are still a few small companies that are not bust. EquiPower for one. I used to work for British Gas but as of next week am switching companies myself and going to work for EDF. I do agree that all suppliers will put their prices up but what everyone that i used to work with can't understand is why have British Gas put their electric up 22%? Companies such as EDF have only put that up 5%. Although BG did make a loss in the second half of the year they still made a £90M profit for the whole year.
The main problem with BG is they have to charge more as their overheads are bigger.
I would definatly recomend switching, it's less painfull these days than it was.