Poor advice from energy switching websites?

grumpy_git

I'm a little worried and confused about the information given by the energy switching websites. It seems from my research that whatever monthly price or consumption reading you give they always claim that another provider can undercut the price, always by about c£100. Also, it seems odd that if you tell them that you are with company X they will say that company Y is far cheaper. If you then pretend that you are with company Y they will then say company X is cheaper. This is clearly untrue and I worry that people are being advised to swich for no real benefit to them. There is clearly a lot of money to be made here by the switching companies being paid commission by the utilities.
I think that it makes great sense to be on an internet paperless tarif but once you are on this there is no way you'll save £100's by switching to another tarif.
I pay £80 per month for dual fuel to Npower. (This is for a 5 bed home which apparantly is quite frugal use. Thermostat at 18 degrees. 2 adults 2 children. Brand new boiler) They have given me very detailed usage stats for the year. There is a new online tarif which Npower say will be £30 per year cheaper. If I go to a comparison site they say they will save me £130 per year. This cannot be correct.
Why can't all utilities just give one KW/h price (like £/litre figure for petrol)then we could all easily compare ourselves.

JennyR68

Not come across any problem myself, I put in annual consumption figures and it is always accurate.

Premier_2

If you use annual consumption figures in kWh, there should only be one best deal based on your location.

If you start using any other data such as what you pay monthly by DD (which may have no relation to what you actually consume as many posts on this forum will demonstrate) then the comparison site will need to make some estimations ... which could result in differing results.
Remember that comparison sites exist not for your help, but to earn money which they only achieve if they can get you to switch via them

Most suppliers don't want to just give a simple price per unit as (a) they will not gain any custom unless they are the cheapest and (b) they cannot reward/attract the high users which is where they make the most profit.

One company that does offer starightforward unit pricing and nothing else is Ebico, but then they are a non-profit making company ... but not usually the cheapest supplier for most people either.


Edit: we often get new members signing up suggesting the output of the comparison sites is flawed/incorrect/misleading etc, but rarely does anyone actually post the data. As you appear to have the actual data, would you care to share it with us (i.e. actual annual consumption in kWh, location, comparison site used) that outputs the circular results you allege?

grumpy_git

Exactly, as you say, comparison sites are not there for me but earn money when they entice me to switch via them. As long as I switch they won't mind whether I'm on a good deal or not. They've made their money.

I'm with Npower on online 14 for Electricity - 4243 Kwh Per Annum
online 10 for gas 16419 Kwh PA
Worcester area WR2

Bark01

grumpy_git wrote: »

Exactly, as you say, comparison sites are not there for me but earn money when they entice me to switch via them. As long as I switch they won't mind whether I'm on a good deal or not. They've made their money.

I'm with Npower on online 14 for Electricity - 4243 Kwh Per Annum
online 10 for gas 16419 Kwh PA
Worcester area WR2

Not True...

Just entered a typical quote for my region and 30% of the top 10 deals are not even available for switching from a broker site.

Broker sites DO NOT lie, the prices they quote are exact for the consumption mentioned.

They also always show cancellation fees despite what some people might think. You may have to click on further details to see the cancellation details but if you don’t ask to see the full details, then more fool you. You only have to read through a couple of bullet points its not you have to read a whole set of T&C’s

If you are concerned about giving money to switching sites then switch via a cash back site.

Premier_2

grumpy_git wrote: »

Exactly, as you say, comparison sites are not there for me but earn money when they entice me to switch via them. As long as I switch they won't mind whether I'm on a good deal or not. They've made their money.

I'm with Npower on online 14 for Electricity - 4243 Kwh Per Annum
online 10 for gas 16419 Kwh PA
Worcester area WR2

Using those figures on energyhelpline.com gives the current cost (based on standard, not paperless billing and monthly DD) as £985

Cheapest option is as dual fuel with EDF/Sainsburys Online S@ver 6 costing £862 by paying monthly by DD
(Single fuel options were slightly more expensive from BG websaver 6)

Using the same figures but starting with EDF Online S@ver 6 as current supplier, paying monthly by DD confirms they are the cheapest supplier/tariff @ £862 - all others costing more (single fuels also cost more)

That's consistent isn't it?

grumpy_git

Thanks for your efforts. Have just ran the figures myself and edf comes out top as you say. If I try and input different providers then it still gives consistent results. I have tried before though with other sites and achieved wildly inconsistent results. It concerns me a little though that Npower is still showing £100 cheaper to switch via them but Npower say that tarif is only £30 PA cheaper.

Have you heard of atcostenergy.com? They hope to supply at cost with no profit.

Premier_2

grumpy_git wrote: »

...Have you heard of atcostenergy.com? They hope to supply at cost with no profit.

They don't supply at all at present;)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2304291

Ebico do supply on a not for profit basis ... but as I mentioned, that doesn't mean they are the cheapest.

Plushchris

grumpy_git wrote: »

Thanks for your efforts. Have just ran the figures myself and edf comes out top as you say. If I try and input different providers then it still gives consistent results. I have tried before though with other sites and achieved wildly inconsistent results. It concerns me a little though that Npower is still showing £100 cheaper to switch via them but Npower say that tarif is only £30 PA cheaper.

Have you heard of atcostenergy.com? They hope to supply at cost with no profit.

The £100 difference is almost certainly down to the discounts (which total £105 I believe)

The comparison site is including that in the savings figure, Npower arent for some reason (possibly because you are already recieving it?)


Yes I've heard of atcostenergy and at the moment I dont see it as anything other than a data harvesting site.

fionaaddison

Does this all mean that the only real way to tell if you'll save is to work out and compare Kwh?

I've mistrusted switching websites ever since I got stung a few years ago, where I switched to EDF on the basis of an advertised £120 annual saving on uSwitch, only to find that the actual saving when the DD amounts came through was a paltry £12. Then, my previous supplier asked me to clear the balance on the old account, which was in debt on account of it being winter, so I had to fork out £50 to sort that out, which would ordinarily have evened itself out over summer when the heating was off.

To me, it felt like lots of hassle for almost no annual saving, and having to cough up £50 up front to add insult to injury.

As a result, I've never switched since, as I just don't believe the savings as quoted - but then, I've always compared based on my monthly DD amount (currently £41 a month, electricity only, as my current flat doesn't have gas).

Any advice on how to be sure I'm actually going to end up saving money if I switch again would be very welcome!

KimYeovil

If it's too much hassle to take fifteen minutes the first time and three minutes subsequent times then, yes, you are free to continue to pay whatever your incumbent is charging.

Are you suggesting you did not save £120 with EDF? As far as I see, you are not, so it was cheaper. Of course you have to check how much you owe to or are owed by the incumbent. What has that to do with the price of [STRIKE]fish[/STRIKE] tariffs?

You say you were stung. You were not.

As you are electricity only it is important that you are less impatient and check regularly because significant savings are available to single fuel households.