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Social utility services

I would like to apply for social utility services as I am on pension credit ,I am with N power at the moment as I have just moved to my new home and I am led to believe I must stay with them for at least 28 days before I switch .I not been in receipt of social power this will be my first application. What I would like to know is can I treat it the same as a normal switch through cashback and will I still qualify for the cash award for switching under the benefits of this system and also will a new supplier want to accept someone as a new customer onto a social scheme, or would I have to stick with my old supplier to qualify for the social scheme. I was thinking of switching to scottish gas one other thing on the social scheme can I do it by direct debit and paperless billing I would imagine the social scheme would work out cheaper than if I was to stick to the normal tariff and to do just the direct debit and paperless billing ?.

Comments

  • Premier_2
    Premier_2 Posts: 15,141 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You can apply to switch supplier straight away - well as soon as an account has been set up in your name which can usually be done whilst you are on the phone. But it will take typically 4-6 weeks for an application to switch to actually occur.

    You won't find any social tariffs on any of the comparison sites as they are not generally available to all; the supplier will need to go through their eligibilty requirements with you to see if you qualify. Different suppliers have different eleigibilty requirements.

    Bottom line is that you won't get any cashback for switching to a social tariff.

    I suppose what you could try is switching to a supplier on a generally available tariff to get any cashback being offered, then once the switch has taken place, asking if it would be possible to transfer to their social tariff.
    "Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 2010
  • kjsmith7
    kjsmith7 Posts: 519 Forumite
    I would telephone each supplier and ask for prices for their social tariffs, so you can compare them all :) If you have your kWh figures from the last 12 months (just add them up from your bills for gas and for electricity), you may be able to get them to work it all out for you too!
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