Time To Switch

myrnahaz

Powergen have written to me to offer the 'sign up for the price protection until 2010' deal. Is there any benefit in doing this - I mean, is there a chance that there won't be any more increases (I think there have been about 4 so far this year) or should I sign up immediately? They say that there is no lock-in and that I'd be free to change at any time, but it seems a bit too good to be true. They also say something vague about a premium - does that mean I have to pay even more per month.

I've just contacted Powergen - I will have to pay an additional £10 per month for Gas and another £8 per mth for electricity - which is £216 extra per year.

Wig

Paul_J wrote:

Also, ukpower.co.uk along with energyhelpline.com give EbiCo a very low customer service rating..

And you have to ask your self "on what basis" (is it coincidence that all the other suppliers who pay them for referrals have 4/5 stars whilst the only supplier (in my results) which didn't pay them is the only one with no stars) I'm very happy with Ebico dual fuel, it's hard to see what they could do wrong in serving me, they certainly haven't done it yet.

Is the reason they have no stars simply because ukpower has no information on them, in which case it is a very poor show to suggest their service is so bad as to achieve NO stars! What they should do is remove the stars all together and insert the words "no information".

And UKpower say the rating is based on the customer satisfaction as reported to them (ukpower) by the customers (me) and yet when I look for a way to rate them 5 stars I can't find it!

If you look at this Energy Watch page you see the data for complaints but in all the files there is no data for the smaller suppliers only the big players get mentioned, giving ammunition to the comparison services to suggest (by having no stars) that Ebico and other smaller cheaper players who don't pay fees to the comparison providers - are very poorly rated in customer service! A very poor show indeed!

So, I went directly to EBIco's website and used their figures to calculate my costs. I really liked their simple and open pricing. EBIco worked out to £1170. But on energyhelpline.com, their quoted figure was £945. Hmmm.

Ebico have finally announced their price increases today effective September 1st (ukpower has the new figures installed, maybe energyhelpline has not updated the figures yet. The Ebico website has the new figures.

Wig

myrnahaz wrote:

Powergen have written to me to offer the 'sign up for the price protection until 2010' deal. Is there any benefit in doing this - I mean, is there a chance that there won't be any more increases .

There is every chance they will eventually come down in price in the years to come. I think it's a very bad idea to pay 200 pounds over the odds now when prices may fall in the coming years.

Tils

Martin your advising to change now. However..

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=234243

Here your advising not to as British Gas are changing their prices on 4th Sept.

So Im a little confused..... problem is British Gas is coming up as one of the top people when entered through the Gas / Electricity check sites... which is concerning if what you say in the other post is true about them about to raise the prices.

Advice needed please

fguk

From my understanding, when they announce price rises for the future, the comparison sites take immediate note of them, and include them in all calculations.

So the BG rises which were announced in July, and come into effect on 4/9 are already taken care of.

Not to put words in anyones mouth, but I think the "time to switch" advice still stands.

melpomene

espresso wrote:

Which one is that then?

:wave:

As per Martin's email of last Fri 18th...Ebico (Equipower etc), who did in fact come top when i checked a couple of comparison sites.

However i see from this afternoon's posts that their price rises may have been announced today, just maybe have't filtered through to all sites yet.

Does it matter which site i use to switch, & will there be paperwork nightmares & delays?

Cheers for your input.

Mel

Wig

fguk wrote:

From my understanding, when they announce price rises for the future, the comparison sites take immediate note of them, and include them in all calculations.

So the BG rises which were announced in July, and come into effect on 4/9 are already taken care of.

Not to put words in anyones mouth, but I think the "time to switch" advice still stands.

Except the advice to ignore Ebicos prices is now invalid as Ebico has now announced their price rises. So the price you see will be the price you pay.

Wig

melpomene wrote:

As per Martin's email of last Fri 18th...Ebico (Equipower etc), who did in fact come top when i checked a couple of comparison sites.

However i see from this afternoon's posts that their price rises may have been announced today, just maybe have't filtered through to all sites yet.

Does it matter which site i use to switch, & will there be paperwork nightmares & delays?

Cheers for your input.

Mel

Ebico's prices are updated now on ukpower, if you want to choose a supplier other than Ebico now, and you want cashback then you will have to use the special website of each comparison site which offers this facility I think something like

https://www.ukpowercashback.co.uk or something like that.

Mercenary

What I would like to know is....do we have to contact our bank to cancel the direct debit paid to the previous supplier ourselves....or do we trust them not to claim any erroneous payments after the switch away from them? :think:

JudyLugg

Well, exactly how do they work these savings out? I have given number of Kwh used (and price paid, in two different transactions) to THREE different Comparison Sites and, unfortunately, have been given a variety of different
answers. For example - one tells me that Grittish Bass will save me £123 with duel fuel and another, given exactly the same information tells me that Grittish Bass will save me £93.

Another thought, if you tell the Comparison Site how much you have PAID (as opposed to amount of fuel used) in the last year, how can they possibly make a comparison, unless they take into account all the discounts and percentage on top of percentage increases? (This is a bit garbled, but I think you get the gist). Personally, I can't see it myself.