Lekkie prices in Hydro Area

dunloadin

Just been sorting through a comparison site as it's time to change supplier (will be switching to EDF as they are the cheapest...beat BG by a whisker).

Whilst checking out the cost of the tariffs I compared the costs of six suppliers BG/Npower/EDF/SSE/Scot Power/Eon. In doing so I knocked up a wee reckoner on Excel and compared the cost of online and 'normal' accounts and was surprised at the difference. Out of curiosity, I also looked at each companies Prepayment tariffs as everyone I bump into when changing meters has an opinion on these...as do many posters here!

Results are as follows, suppliers listed alphabetically (prices shown are for 3500kwh pa):

BG - online £418.52, normal £454.50, prepay £453.05
EDF - online £415.83, normal £443.23, prepay £456.25
EOn - online £483.57, normal £483.57, prepay £482.65
Npow - online £403.67, normal £475.47, prepay £521.20
S Power - online £444.95, normal £456.95, prepay £479.99
SSE - online £483.05, normal £481.19, prepay £535.85

As can be seen most suppliers have prepayment prices that are VERY close to the standard rates, exploding the myth that key meters cost more (with the exeption of SSE/Npower) with BG being the cheapest. That said, folk who can access an online account can make some real savings, something a person with a prepay meter can't do.

NOTE - Prices are for HYDRO area only.....the prices in the 13 other areas will be different again.

Be interesting to see what people think.

Gerrard_8_lfc

I would be intrested to see EDF rates.

N power according to your results are better than anyones so why not go with them ?

I say this because I monitor prices by region due to my retention job at BG and im intrested in what other sales people say :P

So lets see them tier prices for EDF. BG and Npow

(ps BG standard is not at any point more expensive than Pre payment)

I think you check again

I am a BG employee none of my views are shared by BG.

dunloadin

N power according to your results are better than anyones so why not go with them ?

Didn’t go with Npower as I use a LOT more than 3500 units pa, and the difference in the Tier price swings it in favour of EDF, just.

I say this because I monitor prices by region due to my retention job at BG and im intrested in what other sales people say :P

I am not a sales person; never have been, never will be, so can’t give you any salesman banter I’m afraid. I have the tariff info on excel, but can’t transfer it onto the forum without it looking like gobbledygook. If you monitor prices for a living you will have better access than me to the tariffs, I got my info from the Moneysupermarket comparison site, stick an IV, AB or KW postcode in and go from there.

The reason I posted was to show the difference (and lack of) in prices between suppliers online/paper/pre pay prices and to see other peoples thoughts on the subject. I expect comments from the sales and call centre folk on the site, hopefully it can get an interesting debate going, as opposed to a p#$$ing contest.

What would be interesting would be to see on one page the entire tariff details and prices of the different suppliers for a given area, without the nectar/argos/ club points and tedious searching; just how much it costs for a given amount of electricity. Then us punters could really compare the difference.

It would also be interesting to see a similar list showing the difference in the amount a given supplier charges in different areas. For instance, Hydro (SSE) are one of the higher prices on the list, as they are the DNO for the area you would expect them to be a lot more competitive. Is it the same in other areas? For instance are EDF & Npower offering the same low tariffs in their DNOs as they are in the Hydro area, and if they are why can’t SSE?

Cardew

There has been considerable pressure on all the companies to reduce pre-pay tariffs to the same as standard tariffs; I am surprisedthat only 3 have complied.

You haven't mentioned the discounts available, these can make a big difference on some tariffs - especially dual fuel.

Obviously pre-pay do not get Direct Debit discount, and what about other discounts like Npower's 'loyalty' discount after 12 months?

stewie_griffin

Some interesting results there Dunloadin. As Cardew has already mentioned do the costs you listed include discounts or are they purely the unit prices multiplied by usage? You can get significant savings from some suppliers by paying by DD, having an online account etc. Also what did you select as your payment type (for the none prepayment tariffs) as DD is usually the cheapest. One of the reasons that I ask this is that I know for a fact that it is cheaper to be on e.on's online tariff than prepayment but your results suggest otherwise. I don't suppose you fancy doing the same for gas and dual fuel costs as well do you

dunloadin

As far as I'm aware the 12% discount has been factored into the Tier prices for Npower, but not all sites say this so I could be wrong.

Most suppliers offer a similar discount, so that hasn't been factored in on the prices I gave, which are based on an actual usage (3500kwh pa). At the end of the day I'm only interested in how much the total annual cost will be. If someone's offering a discount £20 more than the next guy, but it's costing you an extra £70 per year, your not getting much of a saving, so have not included them.

I must admit my interest in this is growing...just had a quick look and SSE/Sothern/SWALEC (basically the same company) use 900 units pa at Tier1 except in their own areas...where it goes up to 1456! EDF do not offer the same online tariff in their own areas (SWEB, SEEBORD, London), nor do Npower (Northern, Yorkshire). Both look like they cost more. Should think BG are sitting pretty in most areas as they are a nationwide company but aint a DNO.

It takes an age to get all the info required, so no plans to go any further as I'm away on holiday soon with limited access to tinternet, but this could be interesting.

stewie_griffin

I disagree that discounts don't make much difference to the overall costs. I've just put the same information in to a comparison website (Scottish Hydro, 3500kwh annual usage) and the costs of the online tariffs are different to yours which I guess is because discounts are included in these.

BG - online £378.53 - Websaver3
EDF - online £405.83 - Online s@ver 2
EOn - online £422.65 - Electricityonline extra saver 14
Npow - online £377.79 - Sign online v16
S Power - online £434.46 - Fix n flex online
SSE - online £442.13 - Domestic standard online (Atlantic)

So SP & EDF are only £10 less than your costs but BG are £40 less and e.on £60 less