Are price comparison sites trustworthy?

SonOfPearl

I have my doubts. I just reviewed my Gas and Electricity supply with Energyhelpline and decided to move from British Gas' Websaver 2 to their Websaver 3 tariff since it said I would be £11 a year better off.

I received an email confirming the change with a link to see the new tariff charges, which turn out to be higher than what I am paying now! Of course, there are other factors to consider such as discounts for payment by monthly direct debit, but these tariffs are so absurdly complicated that it's hard to work out.

Should I trust the price comparison site? I'm not sure. But I do think that utility companies should be made to simplify their tariffs to standard formats that are easy to compare between suppliers.

KimYeovil

It is complicated with those two tariffs - some have reported it is cheaper having the individual fuels with the two separate tariffs. Can't remember which way round it goes. Don't forget to look under the single fuel tabs when comparing.

Premier_2

SonOfPearl wrote: »

I have my doubts. I just reviewed my Gas and Electricity supply with Energyhelpline and decided to move from British Gas' Websaver 2 to their Websaver 3 tariff since it said I would be £11 a year better off.

I received an email confirming the change with a link to see the new tariff charges, which turn out to be higher than what I am paying now! Of course, there are other factors to consider such as discounts for payment by monthly direct debit, but these tariffs are so absurdly complicated that it's hard to work out.

Should I trust the price comparison site? I'm not sure. But I do think that utility companies should be made to simplify their tariffs to standard formats that are easy to compare between suppliers.

What data have you put into the 2 sites please? Please also give supply area you are in.

The question you pose is one that is often asked, but rarely do we see any actual evidence to substantiate the claims that comparison sites are not trustworthy/accurate.
There are many of us here who will gladly check the accuracy using our own spreadsheets if we have some data to go on.

It would be surprising to say the least to have two independant comparison sites coming up with the same result, both of which were wrong, don't you think?

Having said that, there is one error that some comparison sites do incur, the effect of which is small, but then so is a saving of £11 per year.

This error comes from the rather simplistic way some, not all, of the comparison sites treat some of the more complicated discounts. Since they make the same error by teating the discount in the same way, that is why they produce the same result.

The basis of this error is when, for example, a supplier offers say a discount of 1p off a unit of energy when the customer agrees to pay by DD, but that the discount is limited to a maximum of say £10 per quarter. Some sites may just allow a £10 discount per quarter even if the user doesn't consume enough energy in that quarter to amass the £10 saving.

Cardew

Agree with the post above, although in my experience the discrepancies are minor - provided you enter kWh and not ££££s.

It is important to understand that the reason comparison sites exist is to earn commission by getting customers to switch supplier; so if there is any way they can 'legally' persuade to to switch, they will do so.

SwanJon

There should also be a cooling off period to change your mind (?7 days) if you are still within this it might be worth seeing if you can go back (do your maths first!)

1carminestocky

The cooling off period when you sign for gas and electric is actually 14 days. Working days IIRC.

SwanJon

Cheers Carmine - not sure if that counts when switching tariff with the same company.
Feels like there should be one here though because of the exit fee.

alared

SonOfPearl wrote: »

I received an email confirming the change with a link to see the new tariff charges, which turn out to be higher than what I am paying now!

You must have been shown what the new tariff was before you switched and you obviously know what your current tariff is.
But basically I agree that you can`t just rely on what the comparison sites tell you,afterall they have a vested interest to get you to change.
A pen,paper and calculator is what`s needed as well as you yearly USAGE.

kippen_noedel

I looked t this for another poster a few days ago, not the same circumstances but simliar and found for them it was best option to only move their electricity to the websaver 3.

Personally I always look at a few comparison sites and if they all give the same result then I go to the suppliers site and enter the same details, if I get the same results, only then would I recommend that tariff

1carminestocky

SwanJon wrote: »

Cheers Carmine - not sure if that counts when switching tariff with the same company.
Feels like there should be one here though because of the exit fee.

Got to ask this, SJ. If a BG punter wishes to switch from Websaver 2 to Websaver 3....do they REALLY have to pay the £60 exit fee?

littletommytucker

The charge would automatically go onto the account. Its discretion as to whether it would be removed or not.