British Gas Energy Smart

hansi

Just come back from holidays and saw the British Gas ad about Energy Smart and it looks good to me. I am on the Click Energy 6 tariff at present paying by monthly DD and it seems to me that on this new tariff, I would only pay for what I use each month which seems fairer and would keep my money in my bank rather than BG's. Has anyone gone on to this tariff, and if so, have I missed anything or are there any catches to be aware of? I guess they would refund any credit first and then just take DD's monthly for the exact amount of energy used?

penrhyn

I'm on Click 6 for electricity, can't find the tariff on the comparison sites so don't know if the units are dearer or cheaper.

hansi

I have sent BG a secure message about that, so when I get a reply, I'll post again.

Mynewt

Here are the key points on the tarriff

Say goodbye to estimated bills
Only pay for the energy you use
Save up to £150*
A free electricity monitor

Estimated bills are abolished through the custoemr providing meter readings online. Soemthing most if not all online custoemr should be doing and soemthing everyone can do just by picking up the phone - so nothing new here, just re-inventing the wheel.

Only pay for what you use - is a reference to the accurate billing not your monthly payments as best as i cna tell your still paying a fixe dmonthly direct debit so your payments are an average of your total yearly expenditure.

The saving is made up of a £40.00 rentention payment paid after 12 months the remaining £110.00 is made up from tarrif savings and savings made through a reduction in your cosnumption.

The small prnt says: *£150 savings include: £20 per fuel (inc VAT) signup credit payable at month thirteen; and a £110 saving through an assumed 12% reduction in consumption by using the Consumption Hub and Electricity Monitor from average annual consumption of 20,500 kWh for gas and 3,300 kWh for single rate electricity, paying by Monthly Direct Debit on our Standard tariff prices as at Nov 09, rounded average across all regions including VAT. Actual energy savings will vary depending on individual circumstances.

A free electricty monitor - other providers supply thes eon soemthier tarriffs too but its a great way of getting a real-time handle on your consumption. Rather than waiting till your statment arrvies to find out youv'e use a ton of energy.

So in essence they're giving you the opportunity to do what you already can do, and they then hope you cut your consumption, and at the end of the eyar they'll give you £40.00.

You can still save more with other providers (Ovo, first utility, Scottish Power, E.on etc), you cna ensure the accuracy of your bills by sending in meter readings and if you want a monitor you can pick them up for about £40.00.

Mynewt

Sorry one thing I forgot to mention is that its a bolt-on to your exsisting tarriff not a replacment. From what I have read you keep your exsisting trarriff, rates and discounts etc just commit to reducing your consumption, as welll as practically tieing yourself to them for 12 months to reiceve your £40.00

fayraz

I have just been looking at this and it sounds interesting, I am on Click Energy 5 and from what I can see from the website it looks like an add-on.

I went through the procedure of adding it and it said at the confirmation screen do you want to add energy smart to your current tariff.

hansi

Mynewt wrote: »

Here are the key points on the tarriff

Say goodbye to estimated bills
Only pay for the energy you use
Save up to £150*
A free electricity monitor

Estimated bills are abolished through the custoemr providing meter readings online. Soemthing most if not all online custoemr should be doing and soemthing everyone can do just by picking up the phone - so nothing new here, just re-inventing the wheel.

Only pay for what you use - is a reference to the accurate billing not your monthly payments as best as i cna tell your still paying a fixe dmonthly direct debit so your payments are an average of your total yearly expenditure.

The saving is made up of a £40.00 rentention payment paid after 12 months the remaining £110.00 is made up from tarrif savings and savings made through a reduction in your cosnumption.

The small prnt says: *£150 savings include: £20 per fuel (inc VAT) signup credit payable at month thirteen; and a £110 saving through an assumed 12% reduction in consumption by using the Consumption Hub and Electricity Monitor from average annual consumption of 20,500 kWh for gas and 3,300 kWh for single rate electricity, paying by Monthly Direct Debit on our Standard tariff prices as at Nov 09, rounded average across all regions including VAT. Actual energy savings will vary depending on individual circumstances.

A free electricty monitor - other providers supply thes eon soemthier tarriffs too but its a great way of getting a real-time handle on your consumption. Rather than waiting till your statment arrvies to find out youv'e use a ton of energy.

So in essence they're giving you the opportunity to do what you already can do, and they then hope you cut your consumption, and at the end of the eyar they'll give you £40.00.

You can still save more with other providers (Ovo, first utility, Scottish Power, E.on etc), you cna ensure the accuracy of your bills by sending in meter readings and if you want a monitor you can pick them up for about £40.00.

Sorry to sound a bit dense, but if you only pay for what you use, why do you still have to pay regular monthly direct debits. Why can't you just keep your DD in place and they deduct the actual amount used each month? Otherwise, it's just changing the payment to a monthly charge and not quarterly?

Mynewt

You're not being dense its just clever marketing. When you pay an estimated bill you are paying for what you may have used - whereas if you pay a bill based on actual meter readings you are paying for what you have used. This is what they mean by that phrase not what customer are likely to take it to mean which is: if my bill says i've used £35.96 then my next direct debit will be £35.96.

BGAS will still calculate your annual consumption and they'll divide this by 12 (or whatever there system happens to be) asking you to pay this sum so that over a full 12 months your annual usage is likely to have been paid. (if they've done the math correctly and any adjustments that may be required.

hansi

I might as well stay as I am then, because there won't be much change, will there? Because at present, I pay the same amount whether it is estimated or not. Clever marketing as you say, but I don't see the advantages of this to either BG or myself. When I was on the Norwich Union Pay as you Drive scheme, it was really that. They billed me every month for the exact amount, which was taken by DD. Now why can't BG do that too?

Mynewt

Its works out slightly better for BGAS in that they've effectively tied you to them for 12 months so you can recieve a £40.00 after a year. You may get a reduction in your bills if you use the energy monitor and actually reduce your consumption.

Energy supplier's more than likely won't operate a true pay-as-you go system as you describe because it works out more profitable for suppliers this way - when you pay by fixed direct debit there's a guarenteed cash flow whihc they can invest or simply earn interest on until it is required to off-set your consumption against. (bearing in mind you earn discounts for alllowing them to operate this way which are genrally higher than the interest you could earn in a savings account so it dfoes work for the consumer too).

hansi

Exactly! So there's not much saving, except for the "free" power meter. How does that work? I have one which I bought at Aldi ( I am a MSE after all:p) but that only gives me the consumption for whatever is plugged into that socket, and you can't really programme it because of the two tariffs. However, I guessthe BG one doesn't give you a money figure, just the units consumed. Is that right?