Misleading cost saving when switching

spiro

I have just done a comparison on energyhelp as my Eon Fixoline 7 is ending soon. At the top of the results it says "We've noticed you're on a capped tariff that's due to expire in the next 2 months.
We've taken account of this on your result table.".

They appear to have done this in terms of the saving and current spend as my 'current spend' is shown as £975 when it was actually £741. So a saving of £169 becomes an increase of £64 over the last 12 months costs.

For the less astute this could be confusing as they may take a £169 saving as meaning a £14pm decrease in their DD.

Cardew

spiro wrote: »

I have just done a comparison on energyhelp as my Eon Fixoline 7 is ending soon. At the top of the results it says "We've noticed you're on a capped tariff that's due to expire in the next 2 months.
We've taken account of this on your result table.".

They appear to have done this in terms of the saving and current spend as my 'current spend' is shown as £975 when it was actually £741. So a saving of £169 becomes an increase of £64 over the last 12 months costs.

For the less astute this could be confusing as they may take a £169 saving as meaning a £14pm decrease in their DD.

Yes, I posted about this before and even wrote to energyhelpline about this practice.

They assume that when you are at the end of the fixed/capped tariff you will remain on the standard tariff. e.g. If you have 1 week left on the fixed tariff, their calculations for the year are based on that 1 week and 51 weeks on the company's expensive Standard tariff.

You can find out what you are currently paying - but it is not immediately apparant.

The name of the game is to get you to switch!!!!

t0rt0ise

No it isn't to get you to switch, it's to give you the honest facts. What is the point of them telling you that you are on the cheapest option when it's about to finish? So they tell you which option will be the best when your current tarrif finishes next week. It makes total sense to me.

spiro

t0rt0ise wrote: »

No it isn't to get you to switch, it's to give you the honest facts. What is the point of them telling you that you are on the cheapest option when it's about to finish? So they tell you which option will be the best when your current tarrif finishes next week. It makes total sense to me.

I agree they should give you the 'facts' but they said my current useage was £975 by guessing what tariff I would go onto.

If I stayed with EON, when my current tariff ends I would automatically be on their SaveOnline 6 deal which would cost me £823. So the saving by switching to BG Websaver 11 would be £17 not £169. As previously said I think this could mislead the less savvy user of the service.

Cardew

t0rt0ise wrote: »

No it isn't to get you to switch, it's to give you the honest facts. What is the point of them telling you that you are on the cheapest option when it's about to finish? So they tell you which option will be the best when your current tarrif finishes next week. It makes total sense to me.

However, they make the assumption you will remain on the Standard tariff for a year to inflate the price and make comparisons more attracive.

Also they exclude other tariffs from the same company.

e.g If I am with Scottish Power on a fixed tariff that is ending in a week, they calculate the savings for all the other companies EXCEPT Scottish Power, who may well have the cheapest internet tariff for my consumption.(in fact SP OLE13 is the cheapest for me at certain consumption estimates*)

So why would they do that? other than wanting me to switch?

The answer is there is no commission for them if I remain with Scottish Power.

These companies are driven by commission, and they will present calculations anyway they can to make switching seem more attractive.

P.S.
* the only way to find that SP OLE13 is the cheapest, is to pretend you are with, say, BG

Plushchris

Not sure which comparison sites you are using Cardew, all the ones I've used include tariffs from the current supplier (even if they cant switch you to them)

Which sites dont list the existing supplier in the comparison?

Cardew

Plushchris wrote: »

Not sure which comparison sites you are using Cardew, all the ones I've used include tariffs from the current supplier (even if they cant switch you to them)

Which sites dont list the existing supplier in the comparison?

Moneysupermarket and energyhelpline.

I enter Scottish power Standard tariff and 20,500/3300kWh

They list no Scottish power tariffs at all.

When I change details to BG Standard it lists Scottish power tariffs

energhelpline site appears down at the moment.

Moneysupermarket does list a cheaper BG tariff - but no SP tariffs when presnt supplier is SP

Plushchris

Thats odd, they show up for me (third place) cant switch to them but they show up (same comparison as you)

Cardew

I still can't get energyhelpline to work - it keeps putting up

• • Please enter your gas usage, or tick 'I don't know my gas usage'
  • Please enter your electricity usage, or tick 'I don't know my electricity usage'

I normally use them as you don't need to feed in personal details. I normally don't bother to put my utility company as all I am interested in is who is cheapest.

However as said Money Supermarket were the same for Scottish Power - no tariffs listed.

I will try again tomorrow.

KimYeovil

Cardew wrote: »

These companies are driven by commission, and they will present calculations anyway they can to make switching seem more attractive.

P.S.
* the only way to find that SP OLE13 is the cheapest, is to pretend you are with, say, BG

Is that not more to do with Scottish Power stating OLE13 is only available to new customers? I have never noticed your conspiratorial claim.

(Tried EnergyHelpline Friday morning - other Scottish Power tariffs available if Scottish Power customer, OLE13 only available when not a Scottish Power customer. As expected. The point about watching out for being bumped on to an uncompetitve tariff messing up projected savings is true, though. (And I was pleased to see as a pretend Co-op Energy customer they were offering a competitive price for a normal usage.))