Confused

Kimmy2309

I have been looking on the comparison websites because we want to change our electricity supplier. It says that Npower is the cheapest and I have worked it out to be £37 per month but when I was speaking to E.on (current supplier) earlier in the week they said out monthly DD would be £30 per month. Am I missing something?

I read the meter today and we have used 452 units since the 08/04. So that makes it around 5475 per year and this is what I have been basing my searches on.

Premier_2

What would you prefer to pay? £30 or £37? Remember the Eon salesperson was there to sell to you, and by enticing you into a lower monthly payment, may have secured a sale/retention.

But you will end up paying for what you consume no matter what your monthly DD is, so go with the cheapest overall cost, not the supplier offering you the lowest monthly DD.
I pay £0 per month by DD ... but I still have to pay for what I've used

moonrakerz

Kimmy2309 wrote: »

I read the meter today and we have used 452 units since the 08/04. So that makes it around 5475 per year and this is what I have been basing my searches on.

Based on that number of units your annual bill should be £500 - £600, so your monthly payment needs to be around £55.
Sure, they will take you on at £30 a month; then after a year you will be in arrears by around £300; your DD will then be increased to around £71 a month (plus any general price increases), to pay off the arrears and the full monthly consumption.
If you afford to pay that - no problem; if you can't you are trapped with that supplier !

Regrettably this thread has umpteen cases of people querying why their DDs have been increased massively - that is why.

PS: I would also query your figure of £37 pm for a usage of 5475 pa - that works out at 8p per kWh - if you are getting that price please let us know how !!!

horsechestnut

Work out the cost of your annual consumption and divide it by twelve. That is how much you need to pay per month. You can tell them that this is what you want to pay; not their lower amount.
However it depends on when you start your supply! If you start in the winter they will ask for a higher monthly amount by DD, because you use more in the winter and you would go heavily into arrears.
The best thing to do is start now and pay the monthly amount that you have worked out; that way you build up a good cushion for the winter.
Yes, I know that they have your money, but it does mean that you don't end up with a massive bill after the winter.
Also consider going through Quidco. But make sure that it is the cheapest for you anyway, without the cash-back. I have just got £120 from Scottish power for switching via Quidco.

Kimmy2309

I got my figures through Simply Switch. I have pasted the results below. The total for the year was £450.58 so I divided it by 12 to get £37 per month - is that the right thing to do?



Sign Online v18
Electricity
Total discounts
£ -42.00
Standing charge per annum
£ 73.50
1st tier - 7.6545 p/kWh (5475)
£ 419.08
2nd tier - 0.0000 p/kWh (0
) £ 0.00
3rd tier - 0.0000 p/kWh (0)
£ 0.00
Total: £ 450.58
New total with discount £ 450.58 Saving of £ 183.68

KimYeovil

Remember with nPower you only receive that £42 at the end of the year - so add an extra £4 on to your monthly debit for the first twelve months (but in the long run your price is correct.)

Moonrakerz - remember the tariffs are tightly tied to dual fuel users with almost half the OP's consumption so, yes, high electricity users can pay only 8 or 9p per kWh.

OP Kimmy, have you checked E-on's prices on a comparison site in your region? I don't think there would be an £84 difference in price - probably closer to £20 or £30 (and not necessarily in E-on's favour.) (Unless your region is peculiar (which, with regional pricing for electricity, they easily can be.))

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Kimmy2309,

With regard to the Direct Debit figure quoted by the E.ON rep, this will have been based on the information in front of them, so if the latest bills on the account was estimated the Direct Debit review will have been incorrect

Really the agent you spoke to should have requested up to date readings if this was the case so the account could be billed accurately and the Direct Debit review based on correct information. Were you given any indication the account hasn’t been billed accurately?

If the account isn’t billed accurately, please take an up to date reading and we can review the Direct Debit for you. I’d be happy to do this if you’d like to email me via the email address in my profile.

Brian