Southern Electric

redlady_1

Hi All. I have recently bought a house, having left a rented property with a key meter. Now, contrary to popular belief I loved my key meter and never spent more than about £25 per month, running my tumble dryer at full blast!

I have now gone over to Southern Electric on their non standing charge tariff. Boy, how much fun are these guys to deal with!! The left hand doesnt even know the right hand exists! I have phoned up 3 times to ask what I am paying and been told 3 different amounts. So far it seems I was much better off with my key meter than I ever will be with Muppets Inc.

What would you suggest is my best plan of attack to get the best rates please? Sit it out until my first bill? Or see whether someone who actually knows what they are talking about exists.

I have today, been quoted 15.7p for the first 364 units and 12.1 thereafter.

KimYeovil

To get an idea, put your postcode and approximate usage in a comparison site such as uswitch and have a look at the different Southern Electric tariffs that come up. (Follow the "view all results" link at the bottom right of the results page to show all the tariffs on the one page.)

[STRIKE]Unfortunately Southern Electric are one of the suppliers that monstrously refuse to print their tariffs on their web site.[/STRIKE]

Try this link Southern Electric prices

markharding557

That tariff looks a bit high have you checked elsewhere?

smjxm09

That's what I was thinking. I am with BG and only pay less than 9p a unit on the second rate

redlady_1

Really? Is that with a standing charge or without?

KimYeovil

redlady_1 wrote: »

Really? Is that with a standing charge or without?

Irrelevant. Standing or no standing charge does not matter with electricity*. The 9p is the tier 2 rate (compared to your 12.2p). Your standing charge works out at (364 x (15.7p-12.1p)) = 364 x 3.6p over six months. So that's £2.18 per month or only 7p per day. (Hmm. That's seems rather inexpensive for a standing charge. I thought it would come out at about 15p per day. That's why your unit rates are so high. Not a good idea remaining on that tariff if you plan to use a modest or decent consumption. (Or I've made a mistake somewhere. Excuse while I scratch my head.))

* Edit: strange. Southern Electric seem to charge twice as much for a daily standing charge as on their two tier tariffs (despite the NSC tier 2 price being the same as the SC price?!?)

redlady_1

So I need to go onto a standing charge tariff then? The reason I ask is that blokey on the phone said "oh, there is no difference, just pennies" :laugh: I guess until I actually have an idea of how much I use Im a bit stuck.

Premier_2

The 364 units @ Tier 1 is the quantity per quarter year, not half year.

As long as you are using at least this amount per quarter, it'll cost exactly the same whether you are on a SC or NSC tariff. (If you use less, you'll be better off on a NSC tariff)

markharding557

kimyeovil

Irrelevant. Standing or no standing charge does not matter with electricity

How can this be?
is not the standing charge part of the overall cost?

KimYeovil

markharding557 wrote: »

kimyeovilHow can this be?
is not the standing charge part of the overall cost?

How many people do you know never use their full allowance of tier 1 units (for electricity)? Some may use mainly tier 1 units and just a smidgen of tier 2 but I can't imagine many use significantly less. And they certainly won't if they were spending £25 per month.

KimYeovil

Premier wrote: »

The 364 units @ Tier 1 is the quantity per quarter year, not half year.

As long as you are using at least this amount per quarter, it'll cost exactly the same whether you are on a SC or NSC tariff. (If you use less, you'll be better off on a NSC tariff)

The result I got from their website displayed a table which showed the quarterly cap as 182 units. Your number makes more sense so there may be a mistake with their tables.