Eon or Npower - is it worth it?

Cookiepops

Im with Scottish power and my bills are ridiculous. So, I did a search on a few different sites and top ones for me are all with Eon or npower.

What are these companies like and should I switch? I'll be saving at most £170 per year.

Thanks!!

Magentasue

I've switched with all of these and all have been fine. Numerous threads and posts on here complaining about them all. Check out the way discounts and tiering are applied to make sure the savings will apply to you - think it's just npower that have a different way of doing these, but not sure.

alleycat`

I was originally with Eon (well powergen) and they were a nightmare to deal with.

The reason they were a problem was the house was a new build and their idiotic indian call center could not get their head around the fact a plot number and the first half of a postcode is not a "real address" (inherited from the builder).

In the end i could never get a bill from them for gas and to top it off they sent me someone else's "we are sorry you are leaving letters" twice.

I suspect under normal circumstances they are probably fine but they drove me utterly up the wall at a time when i didn't need the stress.

NPower were fine (mostly) but be aware of their staggered (sculpted) way of billing tier 1 and tier 2 units.

There is also a big thread about how they have "done" quite a lot of people out of money over the timing of switching back and forth between sculpting and not sculpting.

As with all things in life i suspect it'll be hit and miss if they are good for you or not.

I'm now with BG and apart from a switch "hiccup" they haven't put a foot wrong (which runs contrary to what a lot of people seem to say).

Swings and roundabouts

Plushchris

Personally wouldnt touch Npower with a very large bargepole, E-on are ok, have an 0800 customer service number and were alright when I was with them a few years ago.

Be aware that the E-on tariff thats coming up at the top of a lot of comparisons at the mo is a fixed price tariff with cancelation fees, its cheap but might not be so attractive *if* prices go down again at all this year (although I'm not gonna hold my breath)

You will only really ever read bad reviews about all of the suppliers, not many people seem to post about when suppliers do things right.

1carminestocky

If you check out the 'top' of the switching sites these days you will (hopefully) notice that the vast majority of the so-called 'cheapest' deals have strings attached - be it exit fees or half hidden annual discounts. Effectively, to get the deal 'promised' on the switching site you are committing yourself to not only that particular company but also that particular company for, on average, 12 months. Move away in that period and you get nowhere near the figure quoted. Just something to bear in mind when looking to switch. Check out the small print...

Edit: Just put my usage figures into energyhelpline and of the top 20 cheapest deals, only 4 have no strings attached.