switching to NPower for cashback

shomk

We are currently with Scottish Power - for the last year - and pay £51 a month for Gas and Electricity. That seems OK. On discounted energy online which never comes up in the options when comparing tariffs!

I keep seeing that it is time to switch but never quite get it......so I've done a comparison and NPower sign on-line 17 would save us money. Says about £130 per year but I can only see that it would be about £2 a month - I find this most confusing, but also has £100 discount.

But 'Top cash back' offering £120 to switch, so even if it turned out that our monthly payments were no less I would be better off as when I switched we got £120 cashback??? Am I right???

Also, does anyone know if the Npower sign on-line 17 tariff has a contract a I cant find the info anywhere. Our tariff with scottish power does not. Thanks:o

KimYeovil

NPower SOL17 has no contract. There is the annual £105 discount though, which is only paid once every twelve years.

Note that the prices for nPower's tariff do not include the annual discount but the annual quote will contain that discount - so if you are manually working with the tariff prices to check the estimate this will indeed be £105 more expensive. (The extra £25 could be a cashback from the comparison site - wrong of them to include it.)

And, of course, your up-front price each month will be £8.75 more than expected.

Mrs_Thrify

£51 per month for gas and electricity, congratulations :T you are doing well.

shomk

Thanks everyone, and thank Julie_d I didnt realise £51 a month was good - Im now very pleased with myself!

So just to be clear, if I dont go with NPower, can I get cash back for switching tariffs within Scottish power? - so go from scottish power 'discounted energy on-line NSC' (which never shows up on comparison site tariffs - any suggestions please) to, for example, Scottish Power 'online 9' which comes up as a cheaper tariff on comparison sites???

shomk

Actually I see that on-line energy saver 9 from Scottish Power is only available to new customers. And Cash back is not available to existing customers! So that rules that out!!

Only significant saving to be made then is through Npower but if discount is not applied until after 12 months, doesnt really mean a saving afterall!

Could switch to Eon - Energy online say a £69 saving with switch on-line NSC V6 (fixed until April 2011) and cash back £70, so by the time I pay the £50 exit fee I get £20 cash back, but also our account is about £40 in credit!

There is also a £91 saving to be made by switching to Southern Electric 'go direct 3', and just realised that Energyhelpline & moneysupermarket offer up to £30 cash back!

Aha, starting to get better at this now!

What do you think???? Wow moneysaving can be confusing!!!

KimYeovil

If you are cynical and shameless you could switch six times a year and receive £372 to £546 in cashback. Say a 20% premium in cost (because you will want to choose penalty free tariffs and are a modest user). Current bill plus 20% - 372 means an annual bill of only £348 instead of £600. Or an annual bill of only £174 instead of £600.

Caveat: you need to take more care with the actual sums than that given above. And, of course, your monthly payments will be higher and you will be receiving lump sums that (for most of us) have the tendency to be frittered away. So all though the net sum may be much smaller the month to month effect may make it seem more expensive.

Finsecker

Hi,

I am also thinking of signing up to this tariff, through Quidco (£130 CB). Have looked at the T&Cs though and there is in fact an early exit fee as shown below:

Early Exit Fee
If before 31st March 2011 you change your supplier or tariff for electricity or gas, or both, to which your Sign Online 17 or WEB 17 Agreement applies, you agree to pay a termination fee of £20 in respect of each such fuel. If you have been paying your energy bills by Direct Debit, you agree that we may also take this fee by Direct Debit.

Personally, I think I'll go for it anyway.