Who is the cheapest?

melbury

I sat down yesterday to work out exactly what my annual usage is in Kw in both gas and electricity (36,000 gas and 4,400 electricity) but still don't know if it is advantageous to switch.

Who is currently offering the best deal? When I do a comparison it says I could save over £300 per annum by switching, but it also states that the discounts do not kick in until the first 12 months are up. Surely by then the prices could have rocketed and it is back to square one.

I am one of those sad people who has never switched - still with British Gas and SWEB. It all sounds a bit scary, are there really any savings to be made?

Would appreciate some feedback.

Thanks

Doonhamer

You are guaranteed to save money, you would be hard pushed to get a more expensive way than what you're on now (I hope at least you're on monthly DD).

Go for it!

Not sure about the 12 month thing though, you should start saving right away. You can switch back after 28 days.

Curry_Queen

I'm currently on British Gas standard dual fuel and after doing the calculations and checking the comparison sites found I could save £381 a year by switching to nPower, although you'd need to check the cheapest supplier for your area as they vary nationally.

Yes, you're right that the discounts (£63 in my case) are payable at the end of 12mths but even if I decided to switch again before the 12mths ended and lost the discount, I'd still be saving over £300 on current tariff prices, so I'd say go for it

alared

No disrespect to Curry Queen but be very wary of how much these switching sites come up with.
It is very much in their interest to get you to change when they get £50 for every swap.
You know your yearly usage so do your own calculations.
Be warned it`s an absolute minefield with all the different tariffs and discounts.
But I certainly agree that you would be better to get away from BG and get both your fuels from the same provider.

Curry_Queen

alared wrote:

No disrespect to Curry Queen but be very wary of how much these switching sites come up with.
It is very much in their interest to get you to change when they get £50 for every swap.
You know your yearly usage so do your own calculations.
Be warned it`s an absolute minefield with all the different tariffs and discounts.
But I certainly agree that you would be better to get away from BG and get both your fuels from the same provider.

I did that before switching and my calculations came out exactly the same as all the comparison sites

Based on an annual consumption of:

Gas @ 16,000kWh
Electric @ 7000KWh

British Gas standard dual fuel tariff:

Gas
Tier 1 @ 4.63 = £211.61 (4572kWh)
Tier 2 @ 2.62 = £299.41
Total = £511.10

Electric
Tier 1 @ 16.97 = £152.73 (900kWh)
Tier 2 @ 8.82 = £538.02
Total = £690.75


nPower sign online tariff:

Gas
Tier 1 @ 3.32 = £151.79 (4572kWh)
Tier 2 @ 1.78 = £203.42
Total = £355.21

Electric
Tier 1 @ 13.18 = £95.95 (728kWh)
Tier 2 @ 6.69 = £419.60
Total = £515.55

Annual bill with British Gas = £1,201.85
Annual bill with nPower = £870.76

Saving £331.09 a year!!!

(and that doesn't even include the £63 discount for paying by monthly direct debit )

alared

Curry Queen
You are a lot braver than me switching to npower at the present time.
They came up as 2nd for me (Ebico was 1st ,but must be due a price hike)and I also did my calculations,whereas "energy helpline" had me saving £113 a year,my own counting had a £27 saving ,NOT COUNTING the £60 dicount after a year.
Why I`m holding back is because npower only brought out this SOL tariff in mid Feb so knowing my luck by the time I switch they should just about be due to whack the price up about 1st June.
Hope I`m wrong, but they know they`ve got you for a year or you get no discount.

Curry_Queen

alared wrote:

Curry Queen
Why I`m holding back is because npower only brought out this SOL tariff in mid Feb so knowing my luck by the time I switch they should just about be due to whack the price up about 1st June.
Hope I`m wrong, but they know they`ve got you for a year or you get no discount.

This is why I spent days dithering over whether or not to switch, and who to, and spent so many hours doing calculations that I became dizzy with it LOL!

The way I see it, looking at the figures I've quoted above, is that I'm going to start making immediate savings based on tariff prices alone and if nPower do have a sudden price hike a few months down the line, then I'll cut my losses (the discount) and switch again if appropriate.

At least I'll have made a substantial saving on what I'm currently paying rather than holding out for a possibly better deal and continuing to pay through the nose to BG. Had they actually paid me the winter rebate they'd promised, things might be very different, but I've lost out on £60 that I was expecting to get, so it's good riddance to BG :mad:

I did look at Ebico too as they featured high up the list (second or third, I think) with very substantial savings too, but I noticed a few people saying their prices had remained unchanged since Sept '05 so felt they might be more likely to shove their prices up in the very near future, although it really does stick in my throat at having chosen nPower as a supplier

It's a complete minefield out there with all the different pricing structures and various increases occuring, so I can quite understand why some people feel completely overwhelmed and unsure of what to do for the best. It seems whichever way we go, it's a huge gamble and a risk!

dondinero

I compare my usage and London Energy came top with saving of £111, but when I go to their own website and into the price calculator for savings, it says that sorry they can't save me anything! Anyone understand this?

Cardew

dondinero wrote:

I compare my usage and London Energy came top with saving of £111, but when I go to their own website and into the price calculator for savings, it says that sorry they can't save me anything! Anyone understand this?

London Energy on-line(the current cheapest) is only available thro' the comparison sites and nothing is shown on their website and it is not available from them direct.

millie

Cardew wrote:

London Energy on-line(the current cheapest) is only available thro' the comparison sites and nothing is shown on their website and it is not available from them direct.

I have just changed from Staywarm to London Energy online and using my actual meter readings it comes out £260 cheaper, but London Energy prices have not increased since 31st October 2005. Even if they increase them by 20% it will still be loads cheaper than Staywarm