Switching? Beware!

Tuesday

I have just trawled through the energy switch websites and they all assure me they can save me around £400 a year. But on looking closer at the cost per unit, all are higher than we currently pay. The top pick - Eon - charges more than DOUBLE what we are paying yet the switch sites assure me we will save. I rang USwitch in case I had misunderstood the deal but the guy couldn't explain it either! He just said the computer had worked it out and it must be right. I've done the maths and I won't be switching.
Anyone got their fingers burnt switching?

Geoffo_M

Tuesday wrote: »

The top pick - Eon - charges more than DOUBLE what we are paying yet the switch sites assure me we will save.

I've done the maths and I won't be switching.
Anyone got their fingers burnt switching?

I would say this is very doubtful. Might be an idea to check your maths once again.

KimYeovil

Please tell us your supplier, your current tariff and your annual useage. And your region.

E-on have discounts of up to 25% and high standing charges. Have you taken that in to consideration?

Plushchris

As above, the discounts on E-on can be anything from 20 to 27%

So if the expected saving indicate a 10% saving by going to E-on then that would mean the unit rates would be 10 to 17% more.

The other reason why they probably look a lot higher is that E-on may have a different unit break on the primary units (670kwh as opposed to 1143 with other suppliers)


Comparing tariffs on unit rates alone is meaningless I'm afraid (if only it was that easy!)

molerat

Also the only meaningful useage to input is annual kWh.

TREVORCOLMAN

Sometimes when you compare it will say:

You save -£300 per year - which actually means you would pay more. The minus sign is a clue which some may not realise.

Pincher

http://www.eonenergy.com/

Click on Products & Services
Click on Prices & Discounts
Type in your post code
Click Show Prices

This should provide the raw numbers for you to work from.

Premier_2

I wonder if the OP will come back, hopefully before another 3 months, and provide the information asked for by Kim?

It would be nice to see the suggested that uSwitch claims on their website is cheaper, yet the OP asserts is actually more expensive.
I'm sure even if the uSwitch customer service rep, can't explain the issue, there are a number of people here who could help, if not only by explaining the situation, but possibly by offering a cheaper solution to that the OP is currently paying for.

Plushchris

Premier wrote: »

I wonder if the OP will come back, hopefully before another 3 months, and provide the information asked for by Kim?

It would be nice to see the suggested that uSwitch claims on their website is cheaper, yet the OP asserts is actually more expensive.
I'm sure even if the uSwitch customer service rep, can't explain the issue, there are a number of people here who could help, if not only by explaining the situation, but possibly by offering a cheaper solution to that the OP is currently paying for.

True, its a bit lame of Uswitch not to be able to explain their own savings but I'm fairly sure the savings are because of the discounts. And the "double the cost" is because of the different unit split (certainly on the gas)

I've never phoned Uswitch before, the only one of the comparison sites I've actually phoned was Energyhelpline and the girl I spoke to there seemed to know what she was talking about - Could be why its Martins "top-pick"

Be nice if the OP could come back and confirm these, we can live in hope.....

Geoffo_M

Plushchris wrote: »

As above, the discounts on E-on can be anything from 20 to 27%

So if the expected saving indicate a 10% saving by going to E-on then that would mean the unit rates would be 10 to 17% more.

The other reason why they probably look a lot higher is that E-on may have a different unit break on the primary units (670kwh as opposed to 1143 with other suppliers)


Comparing tariffs on unit rates alone is meaningless I'm afraid (if only it was that easy!)

I think you will find that the comparison websites do include the Eon discounts in the total expected costs. I live in Sussex and my total discounts are 25.9%, and I know this is included in the quoted cost & resultant saving

KimYeovil

Geoffo_M wrote: »

I think you will find that the comparison websites do include the Eon discounts in the total expected costs. I live in Sussex and my total discounts are 25.9%, and I know this is included in the quoted cost & resultant saving

I think there's a touch of confusion - the OP was wondering how the E-on quote could be £400 cheaper when the raw unit prices looked more expensive.

- or did you not mean to quote Plushchris's post?