Locked in with British Gas

Nikkei

Hi All

A while back now we locked our Gas and Electricity price in British Gas after reading Martins article as at the time prices were on the up. Well now we're being told prices are lower and that staying locked in with British gas could be costing us a lot more. We know there's a fee for cancelling with British Gas but was wondering whether even with the fee we could be making savings if we switch

here's a few details:

We live in a three bed semi
We both work full time however my partner is usually home 6 out of eight days
We pay our bills by DD
We pay £40 to Gas and £40 to Electric each month
We're in credit with our electrity and a slight credit with Gas (it has taken roughly 8 months to pay off the gas used last winter)
Gas is only used for heating and shower everything else is electric.
We're locked in till 2011 (I think)

Anyway does anyone have any advice or ideas on whether we'd be better to stick with the price capped deal or swap. (I wnet onto the website but can't find the cancellation fee)

Many Thanks
Nikkei

Cardew

If you post exactly what tariff you are on, area you live and consumption in kWh, then some advice can be given.

If you are on Fixed price 2011 there is a £70 fee with gas for leaving the tariff before 30/09/11 and £30 for electricity.

If you are on 'track and save 2011' there is a £30 fee with gas for leaving the tariff before 31/01/11 and £30 for electricity. This tariff is much cheaper than the other 2011 tariff.

With both 2011 tariffs, there are far cheaper tariffs with other companies(and indeed with BG). It is really up to you to make a decision if prices will go up enough by 2011 to justify staying on the fixed tariff. Or pay the exit fees and move to another tariff.

Nikkei

Thanks Cardew, I'll give them a call and find out and then I'll post the details

DVardysShadow

Nikkei wrote: »

Hi All

here's a few details:

We live in a three bed semi
We both work full time however my partner is usually home 6 out of eight days
We pay our bills by DD
We pay £40 to Gas and £40 to Electric each month
We're in credit with our electrity and a slight credit with Gas (it has taken roughly 8 months to pay off the gas used last winter)
Gas is only used for heating and shower everything else is electric.
We're locked in till 2011 (I think)

It does not matter what you pay. It does matter what you use.

Why do people always know exactly how much they pay every month but not have the least idea how much they use, nor even think it is relevant?

Nikkei

Ok, I have details

Both of the details relate to the period 1st Oct 08 to 31st Aug 09

Gas - £404.74 for KWH 8955 or 798 UNITS
Electricity - £380.29 for KWH 2812

DVardysShadow - In answer to your question and please don't think me rude, you can ask me a question about accounting and I could probably tell you the answer as it's my job and the area I'm training in, however ask me a question about who shakespeare is then I could give you a rough idea but not all of the facts.

People are not trained to deal with life and life situations such as banking/using credit properly etc but if you were to ask my five year old about buying a toy he know's about cost, because he knows that if he doesn't have the amount of pennies in his wallet that is on the sticker then he can't buy it. He doesn't know to check whether the toy is durable and made of plastic, he just knows it's worth based on a sticker.

I think this is my long winded way of saying that unless your educated by someone or something you read then how are you to know? When AEON comes to my door to see if they can beat British Gas, they don't ask me what my consumption is, they ask me what I pay. I go away from this post now knowing, that knowing how much gas/electric I consume is just as important a detail as what I pay.

I may have jumped into this forum and missed a post that advises what details I would need to post in order for you lovely people to help me, but if it's not there already it may be worth noting in a thread what detials are important to know and why so people are educated and may therfore be able to help themselves?

Anyway, I really appreciate your replies and hope you can help.

Many Thanks
Nikkei