Please advise if switching suppliers is necessary. Thank you.

Truly.Yours

Hi everyone. We have just received our fuel bills and once again feel that we may be paying too much. However, not too confident in changing suppliers. Read all about the comparison sites, and now being the right time to switch but still unsure.

Could anyone please look through our bills and give some advice? I know some people might be thinking we're just lazy.... and should do it ourselves... but that’s not the case. Have read around a lot, and would generally feel a lot better and more confident if the people here, who have more knowledge than us could advise.

Please help if you can. Below are details of the last 3 fuel bills. We are with E.ON



Bill date: 12th October 2008
Meter reading: 10th October 2008

Charges up to 22 August 2008

Electricity
PRIMARY: 94 kWh @ 16.48p each
SECONDARY: 497 kWh @ 10.11p each

Gas
PRIMARY: 279 kWh @ 4.352p each
SECONDARY: 1658 kWh @ 2.774p each

Charges after 22 August 2008

Electricity
PRIMARY: 126 kWh @ 23.58p each
SECONDARY: 635 kWh @ 10.31p each

Gas
PRIMARY: 374 kWh @ 6.219p each
SECONDARY: 2103 kWh @ 3.388p each

TOTAL ELECTRICITY: £161.26
TOTAL GAS: £152.64
TOTAL: £311.43


Bill date: 31st January 2009
Meter reading: 30th January 2009

Electricity
PRIMARY: 274 kWh @ 23.58p each
SECONDARY: 1216 kWh @ 10.31p each

Gas
PRIMARY: 815 kWh @ 6.219p each
SECONDARY: 12554 kWh @ 3.388p each

TOTAL ELECTRICITY: £189.98
TOTAL GAS: £476.01
TOTAL: £678.31


Bill date: 2nd May 2009
Meter reading: 30th April 2009

Charges up to 31st March 2009

Electricity
PRIMARY: 145 kWh @ 23.58p each
SECONDARY: 592 kWh @ 10.31p each

Charges from 31st March 2009

Electricity
PRIMARY: 79 kWh @ 20.28p each
SECONDARY: 289 kWh @ 9.63p each

Gas
PRIMARY: 668 kWh @ 6.219p each
SECONDARY: 7525 kWh @ 3.388p each

TOTAL ELECTRICITY: £139.08
TOTAL GAS: £269.49
TOTAL: £435.66

jd87

Hmm. It's hard to say actually. The tariff you are on isn't enormously overpriced. The only way to tell for sure if you should switch or not is to call up e.on and ask them for your total usage in kWh for each fuel for the past 12 months. They should be able to tell you that quite easily. Then put those two figures into a couple of comparison sites and see what they come up with. By putting your exact annual usage in you should get accurate comparisons.

Most people can save if they haven't switched for a while, especially when you consider the cashback you could get for switching too.

Cardew

It isn't as simple as just looking at the unit prices as the discounts for dual fuel and payment by Direct Debit can affect the overall price.

Even then some discounts are conditional e.g. Npower which is only given after 12 months.

You also have to consider any penalties for leaving a tariff before a set date e.g. BG Websaver2.

The only way to determine the cheapest tariff is to know your annual consumption in kWh for both gas and electricity and enter that in the comparison networks.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Truly.Yours

I think it’s great that you’re proactively looking to reduce your bills. :T

Using comparison sites is a good way to see if your current tariff is competitive against tariffs available with other suppliers and E.ON.

As the other posters have said, make sure you enter your annual usage in kWh when using the comparison sites not the amount you pay, as this figure is not as accurate and may affect the results.

Call E.ON and get the annual kWh figures for both gas and electricity, also confirm the discounts you receive and make sure you don’t have a tariff with an exit fee before switching, you don’t want any unwanted surprises.

If the tariff your on is competitive and you choose to stick with it you can still reduce your bills. Reducing the amount of electricity and gas you consume will have this affect. There is lots of advice available on this forum and from E.ON, if you’d like to talk about ways to cut down and make a saving I recommend calling E.ON or visiting the website, the interactive house is quite fun and has loads of energy efficiency tips.

Hope this helps

Brian

Quentin

Watch out when leaving Eon.

They imposed new ts + cs, which include this nasty:

No discounts are now given on your final bill.

So if you are going to switch, time the switch to come just after you get a bill, so that you will only lose a little discount on the final bill which will come shortly after the regular bill.

BruceyBonus

Quentin wrote: »

Watch out when leaving Eon.

They imposed new ts + cs, which include this nasty:

No discounts are now given on your final bill.

So if you are going to switch, time the switch to come just after you get a bill, so that you will only lose a little discount on the final bill which will come shortly after the regular bill.

We waited for a bill when switching from Eon to Npower. It still took 7 weeks for the transfer to take place - we lost a very large discount on this 7 week period.