Find The Cheapest Gas & Electricity Plus Cashback Article Discussion

MoneySaver_27

Just turned away a British Gas employee asking me to switch. He was impressed by my knowledge of the industry (just read the article attached to this forum) and eventually agreed with me that nothing is certain price-wise until all the companies have fallen in.

I think it will pay to wait a while but British Gas is certainly looking the cheapest TODAY, they are offering 40 quid cashback if you switch with a minimum three month contract, ie. if they are not still cheap after the first quarterly bill, change again and bank the 40 quid.

The guy also told me about price-comparison sites, apparantly they "guarantee" a certain yeild of customers for the right price. Trust no man, thats what I say!

Happy switching.

adam3630

Hello can anybody help me I don't have gas provider even though I have a gas supply. I keep phoning all the help lines and gas suppliers but no company has me down as their customer. I am very worried that I am going to get a whopping big bill one day. I am open to anyone's suggestions.

Veronica

John_Pierpoint

adam3630 wrote: »

Hello can anybody help me I don't have gas provider even though I have a gas supply. I keep phoning all the help lines and gas suppliers but no company has me down as their customer. I am very worried that I am going to get a whopping big bill one day. I am open to anyone's suggestions.

Veronica

Don't worry about it. I've had exactly the same problem over an electricity supply. Get a friend to give you a copy of their gas bill so you know what it charges for the units supplied. Then carefully read you meter every month and write yourself a bill. Pay yourself the bill and put the money into something that pays a good rate of interest, like a mini ISA.

I, like you, phoned to say "please send me an electricity bill" without any response.

Eventually a meter reader will turn up; but don't hold your breath, legally they only have to read your meter once every 24 months.

Then it is probable that some company somewhere will realise they should have been sending you a bill. With a bit of luck you will get it at the new cheaper prices !

You can then pay it and keep all the lovely interest you have made on the savings account.

It took two and a half years before my electricity bill arrived.

Of course if the prices change in their favour you can complain like mad and insist that they apportion the charges fairly over the intervening months at the "old" prices.

It is not your job to manage the gas companies, that is what they are paid to do.

Good luck

John.

PS I had a similar situation with what used to be North Thames Gas, when they kept sending bills that were simply wrong when checked against my meter. I would post them back again with a letter saying I could not pay the bill as I no longer had it BUT as soon as they corrected it I would pay promptly. It took 18 months until they got their act together.
A similar fiasco is taking place at the moment with my electricity bill, see my posting above.
Should I set up a meter reading training course ?
BTW. Telephone the companies if you want information from them BUT always insist in answering their questions by post. You can write "without prejudice" across the top of your letter if you want to say something that you might not want read out in court at some future time. Always keep a copy.

Trying_to_save_for_flat.

I have just moved into a new flat with two friends. We have decided to move the electricity to British Gas as we have our Gas through them and they seemed to offer a good deal. Unfortunately I had already rung the current electricity provider (London Energy) to inform them that I was the new tenant. Therefore I rang them back to explain but they have said that legally we can't move our supplier until 28 days after moving in. Is this true?

Another problem is that the previous tenants had not notified the company that they were moving out and we had a very caotic move in thus forgetting to check the meter - are we liable for their unpaid bills?

Thank you for your help!

wills34

when you move you inherit the supplier of the address you move to so it is in your best interest to call to register your details and provide opening meter reads. All energy contracts are 28day rolling contracts by law so you can switch. Simply enter into a new agreement with the supplier of your choice who will arrange to supply in 28days (approx). Companies have homemovers (sales) departments that deal with this although they should have explained this procedure to you. Get your meter reads to your supplier asap they will estimate back to the moving date which should be accurate enough as you have just moved. Be aware British Gas and EDF are as a rule the most expensive in your area. When everything is settled have a look around, you may be a low/medium user in a flat Ebico would be ideal if this is the case. I would advise you cancel BG if possible, open up both accounts and then reassess all options either with Ebico or using a cashback broker

dc

Did a search on this thread but could not find a ref to Quidco. Nor in Martins article.

They are offering £ 20 per switch with BG, so £40 for a dual fuel switch to BG. As I am with BG ( standard tariff ) thinking of switching Electricity to Click 2 via Quidco, whilst I wait for Ebico to reduce their prices.

Has anyone done this and got the £'s?


http://www.quidco.com/british-gas/

jenz

Have given myself a real headache this morning trying to find a cheaper supplier. I did as Martin recommends used the energy helpline and uswitch to compare prices - both came up with npower - but gave different figures for exactly the same 'Sign Online Dual Fuel ', so I went on n powers site and it has given me a totally different figure!

Thats before I try to make head or tails out of the annual or online discounts, free gifts, green energy, capped prices etc.........With all this hassle I'm beginning to wonder if its all worth the effort.

Life was once so simple!

wills34

if you use your kWh all three would give the same price

anthonymobee

dc wrote: »

Did a search on this thread but could not find a ref to Quidco. Nor in Martins article.

They are offering £ 20 per switch with BG, so £40 for a dual fuel switch to BG. As I am with BG ( standard tariff ) thinking of switching Electricity to Click 2 via Quidco, whilst I wait for Ebico to reduce their prices.

Has anyone done this and got the £'s?


http://www.quidco.com/british-gas/

whats the difference between the british gas tarrifs. standard or click 2, or green energy. Want to change, but confused. any help please?

dc

BG tariffs depend on how you pay,

For gas, standard tariffs vary from 3.775p to 5.145p for first 1144 kw then from 2.142 to 2.515 for rest.
That is why I like EBICO who have one rate only for all units (curently 2.55p for gas, but expected to drop) and all ways to pay, I'm old fashioned maybe.


http://www.house.co.uk/cgi-bin/house//house/general/pdfViewer.jsp?BV_SessionID=HHHH0864759185.1174426148HHHH&BV_EngineID=ccdladdkhdhlgfdcefecfngdfhidfmm.0&txtBrochureID=new_gas_price_table&txtWidth=600&txtHigh=700&_linkKey=costcalc_gas_pricing&_strType=INLINE
Electricity also depends where you live too.
http://www.house.co.uk/cgi-bin/house//house/general/pdfViewer.jsp?BV_SessionID=HHHH0864759185.1174426148HHHH&BV_EngineID=ccdladdkhdhlgfdcefecfngdfhidfmm.0&txtBrochureID=new_elec_price_table&txtWidth=600&txtHigh=700&_linkKey=costcalc_electricity_pricing&_strType=INLINE


Click 2 tariffs seem to be simpler, charging one rate, ( eg gas is 4.36p/Kw then 2.21p) which is cheaper than standard tariff DD rate, for all payers then giving capped discounts to DD payers 10.3% ( max £15 a quarter) for gas, and 4.8% ( £4.75max/qtr).

EDIT, added:-
Remember that the tier 1 units is equivelant to a standing charge of £24.42 if all units were calculated using the cheaper tier 2 cost.