British Gas, Standard or Websaver?

Swipe

Sorry to hijack this threat. I changed from npower standard tariff to BG websaver the other day. Can anyone tell me how long it takes for them to switch it over?

sazzab

Hi, I've just got off the phone from BG. I currently have my gas and elec with them and said I was thinking of changing suppliers as I'd looked at some price comparison sites. I have to say the woman I spoke to was fantastic and explained a lot of things to me. Basically saying what others have said in this thread, that there are a lot of 'hidden' things.
The main reason I called though is because I'm always in credit with them - I currently pay £59 a month for gas and £52 a month for electricity. I didn't realise that my electricity has been estimated for over a year now. I gave her the correct reading and it is so much different to what they have estimated that the computer wouldn't allow her to put in the correct figure, the computer thinks there must be a mistake. So they are going to sort it out for me on Monday and obviously I'll be a lot in credit with them.
So I can now expect to get some of my credit put back in my bank (yay!) PLUS she suggested I go onto the web based billing option to get the 6% discount. It lasts until August 2010 but you are tied in until Dec 09. She also gave me a £40 credit as a goodwill gesture. I figured that regardless of the comparison sites, with the £40 credit I'm getting plus the decrease in my monthly bills, once the elec has been corrected I'm not going to change suppliers, I think (hope) I'll be better off staying where I am.
Does anyone have any other suggestions or can anyone tell me if I'm missing something here please?
Thanks
Sal

littletommytucker

So what exactly is the point of providing online readings then?

Because your meter isn’t necessarily read every quarter (regardless of whether or not you choose online billing). Providing online readings will mean that should no reading be taken, either your reading will be used to generate the bill, or your readings will be taken into consideration to make a very close estimate.