Switching? Where To ?

joe2cool

Hi not yet switched my electricity, was going to switch to EDF ?
But glad I haven't, guess all their prices will be rising.

Completing USWITCH now shows 'Npower & Southern E' As cheapest........

I am with British Gas at moment, so even though it looks like all will be rising prices is it still best to switch.........appreciate any advice before I commit.

Thx

lisyloo

Martins advice is to wait for a bit.
Ebico are a good company but their prices are going up in September, so I am waiting for the latest round of rises and then comparing.
There is no point switching early. You could end up on a tarriff that gets put up and is thenmore expensive than what you were on before.

If you have gas central heating then this timeof year it's very cheap anyway so better to wait.

Cagey

Don`t agree with this

Cagey

Can`t agree with this Martin is GOD stuff. If you want to switch ,switch.
All the papers are showing Scottish & Southern as cheepest with Powergen close behind. I would rather listen to them than all these comparison sites that usually show Scottish Power as the cheapest. Wonder who is giving them them the biggest kick back then ?.

MSE_Martin

Cagey

You're entitled to disagree - as i state its a best guess anyway. However as for who the papers say is cheapest - that comes directly from the comparison services - they're the people who get called and do the briefings. You'll find one of them in every article saying switch and if you look at the bottom of the tables you'll see they source the comparison services.

The only paper not using them this time was the telegraph who quoted my press release advising people to hold off and not listen to the vested interests of the comparison services in churning people and switching automatically.

martin

lisyloo

Can`t agree with this Martin is GOD stuff.

Why? Martin is a GOD :-))

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions and to make their own decision but if you switch to a company that hasn't put up prices for a while then the chances are they will soon and then you MAY be on a more expensive tarriff.
Of course you can always switch again but it isn't a fast process and you lose annual bonuses doing it this way (and there can sometimes be penalties and it's extra effort).

If course Martin is not a god (and he has clearly stated that it's his best guess), but he does has access to the industry that most of us don't, so his best guess is worth a lot in my opinion.

I don't take his word as gospel but companies like Ebico (as an example) have not put up prices since Sept 2005.
They will appear cheap in comparison tables, but a reasonably large price increase is on the cards (probably quicker than you can swicth to them) in September 2006.

The tarriffs that are likely to come out cheapest at the moment are not ones that are genuinley cheapest but just ones that haven't put up prices yet.
To make a proper comparison you need everyone to have done the same 2round" of price rises. That is very difficult but you can make a best guess unless you want to spend your life switching which most of us don't.

Make up your own mind.

schiff

joe2cool wrote:

Hi not yet switched my electricity, was going to switch to EDF ?
But glad I haven't, guess all their prices will be rising.

Completing USWITCH now shows 'Npower & Southern E' As cheapest........

I am with British Gas at moment, so even though it looks like all will be rising prices is it still best to switch.........appreciate any advice before I commit.

Thx

The general consensus is to wait. I'm with EDF on their Online tariff, which has been terrific since I switched last November. My prices are going up 20% but I'm not having a kneejerk and switching out of EDF. When things have settled down a bit and the new EDF prices are available on energyhelpline etc, I'll do my comparisons. It wouldn't surprise me to see EDF Online up there with the best, even with the latest increase*. If not, I'll check the savings elsewhere but they would have to be sizeable to go through the performance of a switch again.

*At least that's what I'm hoping :T

schiff

nenya

Cagey wrote:

Can`t agree with this Martin is GOD stuff. If you want to switch ,switch.
All the papers are showing Scottish & Southern as cheepest with Powergen close behind. I would rather listen to them than all these comparison sites that usually show Scottish Power as the cheapest. Wonder who is giving them them the biggest kick back then ?.

You do realise that the reason Scottish Power probably came back as cheapest because they are the cheapest for your area.

I work for EDF, and i got into a row with my trainer because she smilingly told us that the papers had reported EDF to be the cheapest energy company in the UK (pre recent price increase) I quickly annouced very loudly Scottish Power were cheaper then EDF (post SP recent price increase).

Different area's of the UK have different suppliers that are cheaper. SP is one of the cheapest in my area. However, when i used my mum's post code it worked out that EDF were cheaper, and a friend used her Midlands post code and Powergen were cheapest.

The compasions sites do tend to get it right.

schiff

nenya

Hi! You seem a good person to ask - if you don't mind?

Is EDF's Online tariff now a thing of the past following today's increases?
I ask because nothing seems to be updated anywhere - especially on energyline, which I use for my comparisons.

I can't imagine that EDF would do away with it - for reasons I gave a few days ago - but it would be reassuring if the fact were there for all to see.
I have a feeling that when the dust settles, an EDF Online tariff would still be up near the top, as it was well clear of all the others (apart from EBICO) prior to 31/7. At least for the Norweb area anyway and I know the figures vary with the region.

Thanks schiff

By the way, I wrote to EDF on July 2nd and when I phoned to chase it up on July 21st, they couldn't even tell me whether it had been received or not! Such was the backlog apparently. Today they couldn't take my call, and it appears they have had to shut up shop for a while - so we can't expect too much at the moment from them. I have found EDF excellent on the phone but it looks as if the correspondence side is not up to the same standard. (I had to write as the content was far too complicated to discuss over the phone).

nenya

Schiff Hello!!

The EDF online tariff have been effected by the price increase by they are still and by far the cheapest tariff EDF have to offer (Although I don't know how that fairs up with other suppliers because I am not looking to change my supplier from SP at the moment). But been warned - they don't apply if you have a E7 meter (which is a !!!!!! - so i am staying with SP). I can't think of the top of my head what the new internet tariffs are, but I remember looking at them a few days ago because someone called with the exact same question.

As for the correspondence, I don't know if there is a backlog or not, but 3 weeks seems a long time to wait. Dunno what to suggest there I'm afraid.