Misleading cost saving when switching

David00

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. I used energyhelpline to check if I should switch away from my current supplier & tariff, and was presented with a whole list of better products to switch too. But I noticed that were I to have switched, I would actually be worse off. Their calculation of how much I would save was just wrong.

I queried this with energyhelpline. They explained this discrepancy by pointing out that in the "Discounts" section of my current supplier, they had NOT taken into account a dual fuel discount. This is taken directly from their website, and describes my current tarriff:

"Dual fuel direct debit customers receive a discount of 8% off their total annual bill. energyOnline Extra Saver 9 customers receive an additional discount of 6.2% off their total annual bill for managing their account online (not included in your savings figure). The total discount is 14.2% off the total annual bill."

So energyhelpline's comparison calculator didn't take this 6.2% discount into account when presenting me with the list of tariffs that I would apparently be better switching to. Had I switched to most of the products they recommended as saving me money, I would in fact have been worse off.

So when you next look to switch, just check that you know what the annual cost would be with your current supplier, and compare that to what you would pay with those recommended. You may find that you are better off staying put.

A Google search shows many other comparison sites conveniently not taking all discounts into account when calculating your "saving".

You might think they would want to correct this; I did. However most if not all sites get paid a commission by the supplier you are switching to, so it's in their best interest to encourage you to switch, even if perhaps you are going to end up actually paying more rather than less.

Plushchris

When are those discounts valid until? is it for the full year?

Cardew

Whilst I would totally agree with you that these websites are commision driven and their aim is to get customers to switch whenever possible, they do take discounts into account.

I have just entered the UK average of 20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity for my area(Midlands) into energyhelpline giving my tariiff BG Standard for both fuels paying by Direct Debit. They give the fuel prices(including VAT) as:

Gas 2,680kWh @ 7.237p the rest at 3.524p

Elec 500kWh @ 23.577p the rest at 10.324p

Now if my arithmetic is correct that totals £1228.89

Energyhelpline state:

Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit will receive a discount off their quarterly Tier 2 consumption charges (and night rates where applicable) of 1.429 p/kWh up to a maximum of £10 (including VAT) per quarter. Gas customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit will receive a discount off their quarterly Tier 2 consumption charges of 0.196 p/kWh, up to a maximum of £8.75 per quarter. Dual fuel customers receive a discount on their electricity bill of 0.537 p/kWh off quarterly electricity Tier 2 rates (and night rates where applicable) up to a maximum of £3.75 (including VAT) per quarter appears on the electricity bill.

So again my arithmetic makes the total discounts on this tariff £40 + £35 + £15 = £90
So the figure should be £1228.89 - £90 = £1138.89.

Energyhelpline say;

Your current spend on gas & electricity is £1,140 per year

So that is pretty close.

Premier_2

Hi David00 and thank you for your second post on MSE. Please don't leave it another couple of years before posting again!

We get get many posters on here claiming that the comparison sites are wrong or inaccurate for one reason or another, yet few actually give us the hard data to demonstrate the alleged inaccuracy; the few that have given us the data have shown on investigation that the allegations are completely without foundation.

However, we are always keen to hear from those that feel there is an inherent error in any or all comparison sites and welcome the opportunity to investigate to clarify the confusion - you never know, perhaps we may even agree with the allegation.

Could you please give us the data you used to get the results you did.
i.e. your annual consumption in kwh for gas and electricity, your current supplier/tariff and your electricity supply area.

By giving us this information we will be able to investigate and say whether we agree with your findings - you never know, you may be the first to have actually discovered such an error.

Plushchris

I think you will find the discounts on that tariff only apply until january or februrary next year so if they were included it still wouldnt be an accurate comparison as you wouldnt be gettinig the discounts for the next 12 months, only the next 6

Probably a case of damned if they do, damned if they dont for the comparison sites.

David00

Apologies Premier for the delayed response - just saw your post after almost two years.

I'm not sure why providing any usage figures would be more helpful. In an email exchange Energyhelpline accepted that the quote they gave me was innacurate, and that it did not include a discount that they knew I had.

My advice to everyone is to read the small print, in my case the quote caveat that "Extra Saver 9 customers receive an additional discount of 6.2% off their total annual bill for managing their account online (not included in your savings figure)"

macman

Because the comp sites only provide accurate results if you use annual kWh consumption. Using monthly DD figs means that they have to make assumptions about your actual kWh consumption. That introduces variables, which will lead to different results from different sites.

davecampbell

I use my own spreadsheet to check against the comparison site.
Using Uswitch, the total agrees - to a couple of pennies.
However, they take all the discounts, gas and elec, off the gas value, for EDF anyway, just to make it a bit confusing.

Hammer_Time

David00 wrote: »

Apologies Premier for the delayed response - just saw your post after almost two years.

I'm not sure why providing any usage figures would be more helpful. In an email exchange Energyhelpline accepted that the quote they gave me was innacurate, and that it did not include a discount that they knew I had.

My advice to everyone is to read the small print, in my case the quote caveat that "Extra Saver 9 customers receive an additional discount of 6.2% off their total annual bill for managing their account online (not included in your savings figure)"

I am on Fixonline 6 with eon, when checking with Energyhelpline is stated that if i go to another plan it would be about £300+ cheaper. But when checking another comparison site it stated the same plan would be dearer. I believe any plan I go on would be dearer that the one on at the moment.

Premier_2

Hammer_Time wrote: »

I am on Fixonline 6 with eon, when checking with Energyhelpline is stated that if i go to another plan it would be about £300+ cheaper. But when checking another comparison site it stated the same plan would be dearer. I believe any plan I go on would be dearer that the one on at the moment.

Eon Fixoline 6 is due to expire within 2 months. (01 Apr 2011)

Energyhelpline guess which tariff you will move to if you do nothing and base the default comparison on that new tariff.

However, if you click the red text and then click standard results (rather than weighted results) you will see the savings based on your current tariff even though it is about to expire.

If this isn't the reason that the sites at first appaer to indicate differing results, perhaps you would be so kind to provide us with the full details?

Hammer_Time

Premier wrote: »

Eon Fixoline 6 is due to expire within 2 months. (01 Apr 2011)

Energyhelpline guess which tariff you will move to if you do nothing and base the default comparison on that new tariff.

However, if you click the red text and then click standard results (rather than weighted results) you will see the savings based on your current tariff even though it is about to expire.

If this isn't the reason that the sites at first appaer to indicate differing results, perhaps you would be so kind to provide us with the full details?

Thanks for all your help, done what you said and its all looks correct.