EBICo Gas prices

tanmu

Hi,
I am currently deciding as to whether or not I should switch my gas and electric to EBICo. I would definately save on electricity, but when I used their calculator for Gas, my bill would have actually been a few pence higher than EDF (who I am with now), despite EBICo charging 2.55/kwh (inc VAT) and EDF charging 4.127/kwh (inc VAT)!!! How can this be??? Can anyone explain???

justtoclarify_2

Check your EDF bill for the following:

1. Dual charging tariffs, if you are on no standing charge tariff, there will normally be a higher and a lower rate. If you use a lot of Gas and reach the threshold for the lower rate (which in this case would have to be lower than Ebico flat rate) you may find this cancels out some of the Ebico saving. This works well in the typical high use periods from Nov - April. From May to October, you may find that your usage is low and all your Gas will be charged at the higher rate. Most utility companies with a dual tariff structure charge the a fixed number of KWh at the higher rate in 12 month period.

2. If you do pay a standing charge, check that you have included this in your price comparison.

3. Discounts for paying by DD or paperless billing etc may apply. If discounts are the reason your EDF bill came out a few pence cheaper, then the discounts may be become worth less and less as the acutal cost of Gas goes up. Ebico do not give payment method discounts


To get a a better picture you need to look at your annual gas usage and consider what discounts EDF apply. Lower users tend to benefit more from Ebico flat rate charging structure as you only pay for what you use. As a low user you get little or no benefit from a dual tariff structure as you don't use enough to get to the cheaper tariff.

Hope this helps.

JohalaReewi

It all depends on what figures you put into these calculators. To get any useful results, you need to know your annual kWh for gas (and electricity). That way, the calculator can get to work right away and give you an accurate cost (assuming they have the latest rates).

If you don't know your kWh usage, and just put in your current bill amount or monthly direct debit figure or whatever, the first thing the calulator has to do is convert this into an annual kWh usage. This can be fraught with problems so the final result could be way off beam.

As you suggest, if EBICO are charging 2.25 and EDF are charging 4.127 then there is no way EDF are going to be cheaper. Plus, EBICO don't have a standing charge (but I expect EDF do).

Cardew

JohalaReewi wrote:

It all depends on what figures you put into these calculators. To get any useful results, you need to know your annual kWh for gas (and electricity). That way, the calculator can get to work right away and give you an accurate cost (assuming they have the latest rates).

If you don't know your kWh usage, and just put in your current bill amount or monthly direct debit figure or whatever, the first thing the calulator has to do is convert this into an annual kWh usage. This can be fraught with problems so the final result could be way off beam.

As you suggest, if EBICO are charging 2.25 and EDF are charging 4.127 then there is no way EDF are going to be cheaper. Plus, EBICO don't have a standing charge (but I expect EDF do).

I think he said Ebico was 2.55 p not 2.25p.

The 4.127p from EDF is their Tier 1 price.(normally 1143 kWh a quarter) if their Tier 2 rate is substantially lower(and there are some extant EDF tariffs like London Energy on line, where gas is still under 2p) it perfectly possible that EDF could work out cheaper - especially as EDF do offer other discounts and EBICO do not.

justtoclarify_2

EDF Gas prices as from 31st July 2006:

"
ALL REGIONS First 5860 kWh per annum* Each additional kWh
Exc VAT Inc VAT Exc VAT Inc VAT
Single Fuel 4.053p 4.256p 2.550p 2.678p
Dual Fuel 3.930p 4.127p 2.472p 2.596p
" from EDF website 1/9/06.


Since even the lower tariff including VAT is more than Ebico flat rate and if you are not on a capped tariff, then the pricing difference between EDF current pricing and Ebico is entirely down to the discounts detailed below.


" DIRECT DEBIT DISCOUNT

Pay by monthly Direct Debit for gas and electricity and you could enjoy a further annual saving of £16.80 (inc. VAT) for gas and £8.40 (inc. VAT) for electricity per year.
DUAL FUEL DISCOUNT

Take both gas and electricity from EDF Energy and you get a Dual Fuel discount of £8.40 (inc. VAT) a year if you pay by cash, cheque or prepayment. If you pay monthly Direct Debit, you will get a larger Dual Fuel discount of £25.20 (inc. VAT) in addition to your monthly Direct Debit discount for each fuel. " from EDF website 1/9/06

PS I did format the pricing table but it still came out bunched up.

Cardew

Justtoclarify,

The EDF prices you quote do not apply to all their customers who are not on a fixed/capped tariff

As I said in the post above:

and there are some extant EDF tariffs like London Energy on line, where gas is still under 2p

In fact Jem16 posted this on 18 Aug 06 - and he is not on a capped/fixed tariff and in fact his tariff increased on 31 July 2006 and he still pays less than 2p kWh on tier 2.

EDF Online tariff for my area - includes VAT but not discounts for loyalty and self-read meter readings.
Gas

2.678p(first 1465 kWk used each quarter) was (prior to 31.7.06)2.231p
1.907p was 1.590p

EDF have absorbed a number of companies and have not brought all their tariffs in line with the prices you quote above.

So it is possible that the Tier 2 price the OP is paying is 20% or so cheaper than the fixed price of Ebico.

You conclude the reason for the lower quote is down to the discounts you detail. Well if the OP was paying 4.127p for the first 5,860 units he would be paying £92 more than the EBICO price on those units alone. Your quoted discounts will not be more than that sum.

Xbigman

Is anybody still getting those odd EDF tarifs? It could just be slow updating of subsidiary websites.
Regards



X

Cardew

Xbigman wrote:

Is anybody still getting those odd EDF tarifs? It could just be slow updating of subsidiary websites.
Regards
X

Apparently Yes. See post #99 on

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=90385&page=5

On 19 Aug 06 Jem16(who talks sense) posted:

EDF Online tariff for my area - includes VAT but not discounts for loyalty and self-read meter readings.

Gas

2.678p(first 1465 kWk used each quarter) was (prior to 31.7.06)2.231p
1.907p was 1.590p

Electricity

11.34p(first 225 kWh used each quarter) was 9.45p
7.22p was 6.03p

I believe it is an anomaly and EDF just haven’t caught up with some of these tariffs. There seems to be no reason why they are not brought in line with other EDF tariffs in the same manner as Powergen re-aligned their on-line tariffs and increased prices by 46%.

On the other hand EDF increased Jem16’s old London Energy tariff on 31 July 06 so why didn’t they do it then? It must still be the cheapest gas price in the country at under 2p(tier 2)

jem16

Cardew wrote:

Apparently Yes. See post #99 on

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=90385&page=5

On 19 Aug 06 Jem16(who talks sense) posted:

Thanks for the compliment

Yes I can confirm those figures are correct - just got my gas bill yesterday.

By the way, I'm a she, not a he.