Find The Cheapest Gas & Electricity Plus Cashback Article Discussion

jemma123_2

Does anyone know whether uswitch has updated Ebico prices yet... they are coming in at £120 cheaper than the next best provider for me

medicinewoman

I am a disabled pensioner living alone in a two bedroomed house
for the past two years I have been with staywarm
the first year I paid £40.00 per month annually
the second year I paid £43.20 per month annually

NOW I have just been informed that my monthly payments
starting September will now be:

£63.70 per month annually
I am also told that I am using more energy than expected
just how could I be doing that..?

Is this new monthly payment justifiable ...?
a TOTAL price of: £764.40 in one year

could someone please offer me some help and advise
before I accept these new terms ...

I receive the £200 per year ... but NO WAY can it cover more than 3 months supply
on the stated terms of staywarm

thank you all so kindly

bassman

jemma123 wrote:

Does anyone know whether uswitch has updated Ebico prices yet... they are coming in at £120 cheaper than the next best provider for me

I thought they had, but on looking again, maybe not, if you go to the Uswitch page where you put your post code in, there is a "price rises" link in the box on the r/h side of the page......This tells you which price Uswitch is using, and at the moment it says it is using the Ebico price off 2005..... I think Energyhelpline is using the new price but they're down as Equigas and Equipower....not Ebico.

bassman

medicinewoman wrote:

I am a disabled pensioner living alone in a two bedroomed house
for the past two years I have been with staywarm
the first year I paid £40.00 per month annually
the second year I paid £43.20 per month annually

NOW I have just been informed that my monthly payments
starting September will now be:

£63.70 per month annually
I am also told that I am using more energy than expected
just how could I be doing that..?

Is this new monthly payment justifiable ...?
a TOTAL price of: £764.40 in one year

I'm not really qualified to answer this, as i dont know enough about Staywarm, but Powergen have just increased my secondary electricity unit price by 46%...a similar figure to your increase....as for being justifiable....no it possibly isn't justifiable, its a disgrace....but they've got to keep their shareholders happy.

As to whether you are still getting a good deal, you really need to know your yearly kwh usage for both, then workout what you would pay on a non staywarm tarrif. Over the past year, prices have increased very substantially.

Choc

bendtoy wrote:

Telecom Plus :eek:

Yes and whats wrong with that?? Called the utility warehouse nowdays.

Vindaloo321

Energyhelpline.Com advertised as £15 casback on their website when I switched in July but when I queried why I hadn't receive anything they told me that £15 was for those who switched after 18/08 and that I would get £12.50 (haven't received this yet). I know it's piddly but I wish I'd gone for USwitch champagne intead!

bassman

medicinewoman wrote:

I am a disabled pensioner living alone in a two bedroomed house
for the past two years I have been with staywarm
the first year I paid £40.00 per month annually
the second year I paid £43.20 per month annually

NOW I have just been informed that my monthly payments
starting September will now be:

£63.70 per month annually
I am also told that I am using more energy than expected
just how could I be doing that..?

Is this new monthly payment justifiable ...?
a TOTAL price of: £764.40 in one year

could someone please offer me some help and advise
before I accept these new terms ...

I receive the £200 per year ... but NO WAY can it cover more than 3 months supply
on the stated terms of staywarm

thank you all so kindly

You might get more relevant information on this thread......
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=72534

Froglet

Not sure if it is a new comparison site,but having done a comparison on

https://www.confused.com (the gas and electricy sub section) I found it very easy to use with lots of clear info.There doesn't appear to be incentives/cashback when you transfer but that isn't always a bad thing as you know you are getting honest info ,not based on who pays the most to promote one company above another.

However i can't complain too loudl.Last year i started to switch to British Gas ,with the promise of £10 cashback .When they announced yet another price rise i hurriedly cancelled it.Yet i still got my £10 2 months later!! Did i feel guilty? What do you think!!

pinkie

We're currently with Sainsburys Energy which im finding rather expensive, so ive just done a comparison with Energyhelpline and also Uswitch. Like a poster above, both companies have given different results, despite giving the same details! The thing that confuses me more is that i have just resubmitted my details having done this yesterday, and it has changed again. I thought perhaps the prices had been updated overnight, but ive checked the site and it says ''last updated 20/08/2006"! Im going to have to compare the price per unit myself at this rate as the results seem a little unreliable.

JohnDinton

On 18th August Martin sent out an email saying it was now time to switch gas and electricity suppliers. He included a warning that a price rise was expected from EBICo which, since it had not been announced, was not included in the comparisons. He suggested that the second choice should be used where EBICo came out top. I think it is time to withdraw that warning.

Earlier in the week I telephoned Energyhelpline with another query, and was told that EBICo had announced its price rise. I thought the new tariffs could not yet be in Energyhelpline's comparison as Equigas came out top in one I had just done, but when I checked I found that the new tariff had indeed been used.

Equipower and Equigas have a flat-rate tariff, and so are the cheapest for low users. npower is the generally the cheapest for higher users. Excluding any dual fuel or direct debit discount, even with the price increase, Equigas is cheaper than npower for anyone using less gas than 6016 kWh/quarter, which probably covers most small houses and flats. It would be a shame if anyone missed out on the saving because of the warning. npower is cheaper for usage more than 6016 kWh/quarter.

With electricity there is a regional variation in price. For the Southern region, one of the most expensive, Equipower is cheaper than npower for anyone using less electricity than 850 kWh/quarter. In this usage range some other suppliers are competitive, but for anyone using less than 600 kWh/quarter Equipower is cheapest because of its flat-rate tariff.

Energyhelpline has reservations about EBICo's service as it is a small company, which seems rather strange as EBICo's agent Southern Electric rates ***** while EBICo rates only **.

Caution is needed when Countrywide Farmers comes out top, as the tariff quoted by Energyhelpline is a lot lower than on Countywide Farmers' website, so a price increase may have been missed. Energyhelpline is also including Basic Power in its comparisons, whose website says its supplier has gone into administration so it is not taking new customers and its existing customers are being transferred to EDF. Some of the calculations for British Gas Regional Discounted Electricity seem a bit awry.

There is another problem with uswitch which Martin might like to take up with it, as it has ignored my email. As I understand it he has recommended uswitch not just because of the champagne, but because it includes EBICo and the other smaller suppliers in its comparisons. Indeed that is what uswitch says on its website. I have run comparisons on uswitch where EBICo comes out top on Energyhelpline, but EBICo does not even get a mention on uswitch. I have even put in a 1 bedroom flat with 1 person using 100 kWh/year gas and 10 kWh/year electricity. EBICo must win hands down with its flat-rate tariffs against everyone else's two-tier tariffs, but it does not show up on uswitch. When I emailed uswitch I thought the explanation might be that EBICo had been embargoed because of the expected but unannounced price rise, but there is no reason for uswitch to exclude it now.

(After writing this post I thought I ought to check that last comparison with my bold conclusion on Energyhelpline. It showed if my usage were that low British Gas and others would pay me, which I don't think can be right!)