Moneysupermarket Misleading Gas & Elec Quotes

Cardew

I had an issue on the same theme of 'potentially' misleading comparisons.

I am on a very cheap fixed price BG tariff that finishes 30 April 2010. When I(or anyone else on a fixed tariff) look at the comparison websites it shows I will make substantial savings by switching to xxx tariff with yyy Company - this despite the fact that I am on the cheapest tariff in UK.

It achieves this sleight of hand by making the assumption that BG will automatically switch me to their Standard tariff, when my fixed period ends, and showing savings against that Standard tariff. (to be fair it does explain that in the 'small print' if you seek further explanation.)

My contention was that someone less of an 'anorak' than myself might look at the headline savings figure and switch from a very cheap tariff to a more expensive tariff - and also have exit penalties to rub salt into the wound.

However my view that this was misleading was not accepted by some repected posters; the counter argument(which I used above!!!) being all that matters is the cheapest tariff.

We all sometimes look at an issue from different ends of the telescope.

icefall

I really appreciate this discussion because comparison sites puzzle me I could never work out how they get their results. I don't trust them full stop.

I may understand more about them after reading this I live in hope lol

Plushchris

Cardew wrote: »

I had an issue on the same theme of 'potentially' misleading comparisons.

I am on a very cheap fixed price BG tariff that finishes 30 April 2010. When I(or anyone else on a fixed tariff) look at the comparison websites it shows I will make substantial savings by switching to xxx tariff with yyy Company - this despite the fact that I am on the cheapest tariff in UK.

It achieves this sleight of hand by making the assumption that BG will automatically switch me to their Standard tariff, when my fixed period ends, and showing savings against that Standard tariff. (to be fair it does explain that in the 'small print' if you seek further explanation.)

My contention was that someone less of an 'anorak' than myself might look at the headline savings figure and switch from a very cheap tariff to a more expensive tariff - and also have exit penalties to rub salt into the wound.

However my view that this was misleading was not accepted by some repected posters; the counter argument(which I used above!!!) being all that matters is the cheapest tariff.

We all sometimes look at an issue from different ends of the telescope.

Again though, a case of damned if they do and damned if they dont.

If the comparison sites did a comparison based on a years usage at your current rates it would be misleading as you wont be on them for a year, only until April.

Do you know what supplier and tariff you will be going onto in April? If not how are the comparison sites supposed to know?

What does make me laugh though is they base it on the standard tariff when most companies will put you onto another fixed that more expensive than the standard when your fixed price comes to an end if you dont do anything. (BG, Scottish Power and E-on have all done this in recent months)

Cardew

Plushchris wrote: »

Again though, a case of damned if they do and damned if they dont.

Agreed!

However without more detailed investigation, the way 'savings' were presented it would be very easy to join the huge percentage who actually move to a more expensive tariff.

Plushchris

Cardew wrote: »

Agreed!

However without more detailed investigation, the way 'savings' were presented it would be very easy to join the huge percentage who actually move to a more expensive tariff.

But then, in your case, you are already on the cheapest so everything is going to be more expensive!

At least on energyhelpline they give you the choice of viewing the comparison based purely on your current rates as well.

Little_Maya

icefall wrote: »

I really appreciate this discussion because comparison sites puzzle me I could never work out how they get their results. I don't trust them full stop.

I may understand more about them after reading this I live in hope lol

Same here What I'd like to know is how can the comparison sites accurately allocate the primary/secondary units for gas use? For example, Scottish Power works with "the first 1143 kwh used each quarter" for primary units. When you enter your annual consuption, the comparison sites don't ask how much of this is primary so do they just multiply that 1143 kwh by 4 to get your annual primary units and allocate the rest as secondary units? In my case, this would be totally wrong because the system would assume I use 4572 kwh a year as primary units while in reality I use about 3500...

Premier_2

Little_Maya wrote: »

... What I'd like to know is how can the comparison sites accurately allocate the primary/secondary units for gas use? For example, Scottish Power works with "the first 1143 kwh used each quarter" for primary units. When you enter your annual consuption, the comparison sites don't ask how much of this is primary so do they just multiply that 1143 kwh by 4 to get your annual primary units and allocate the rest as secondary units? ...

Yes that is exactly how they treat tier/tier 2 units.

The comparison sites can only give a best guess indication of your annual cost based on the information it asks.
For this reason, results from nPower should be considered particularly carefully as the comparison sites make no allowance for the nPower sculpting process.

If you want truly accurate costs, you need to create your own spreadsheet set up for each way each individual supplier charges.

Little_Maya

Premier wrote: »

If you want truly accurate costs, you need to create your own spreadsheet set up for each way each individual supplier charges.

Which is the way I've always done it (well, pen, paper, calculator lol, should really take the time to set up a proper spreadsheet ). Just wanted to make sure I was correctly assuming their assumption so thanks for confirming.