M&S energy

Luvly.cuppa.T

Hi all,

I got collared by some nice peeps in Marks and Spencers today (went for in for their £10 dine in deal), and signed up to their gas and electric.

The price list they showed me, showed theirs to be cheaper (I am currently on Eon for both), and in addition all their offers of M&S vouchers for DD, staying with them for 3 months, and other things got my attention.

I do need to update and recheck the cheaper options and know that I have a 7 day cooling off period in which to cancel should I find anything cheaper.

I guess what I am asking is any one else with M&S (via Southern Electric), how have they found them in price comparisions (ie better, or have I been duped with their little list?)

Prob is as I have recently split with partner, who paid these bills, I'm not entirely sure what we have paid, or what our usage is. I try to keep an up to date file of bills, but seems all of last years are missing, so can't calculate much.

FYI it was aparantly about £100 per month dual, thus £1200 a year for both. There were 2 x adults and 3 children (one being a teen). Now it's the one adult and kids, but I reckon might be about the same price for us still anyway?

penrhyn

First off they can't possibly tell you how much cheaper or expensive they are without knowing your current tariff and consumption.
Second these people get paid by the number of gullibles they sign up.

Do your own research.

FYI I have used Southern in the past and always found their customer service if not their prices and sales tactics very good.

Luvly.cuppa.T

Good point on the ' they can't possibly know the tariff you are on' thing.

I had a look at the comparison sites and I was blown away with all the different tariffs there are! I will certainly look into this and get more info my what my bill amounts to- Eon should be able to provide me with that info shouldn't they?

penrhyn

Internet tariffs are usually the cheapest.
You could ask EON if you are on their cheapest tariff for your consumption whilst you are on to them, but definitely get your usage figures in kilowatt hours for the last 12 months.

fullstop

Besides the usual comparison sites Moneysupermaket, U switch Energy helpline etc, you it might be worth having a look at Which switching service, I have found that it easily the best for extra information.

http://www.which.co.uk/switch

daveyjp

We were also collared by someone in M&S. I wouldn't trust the list as it shows about 5 tarriffs from hundreds.

I didn't sign there and then, I asked for details of their tarriffs to check and after checking they were the cheapest for us based on our consumption and our method of payment.

Luvly.cuppa.T

Davey- I was going to do the same as yourself, but thought actually I need a kick up the backside in checking out the best tariff for me, so by signing up I am effectively ensuring I do get this sorted asap!
Otherwise it becomes one of those things that I know I need to do, but wouldn't get round to doing it...

Yeah I know, never sign up there and then... but I thought if M&S do turn out to be the cheapest I would have all the vouchers that they offered in addition

But I am certainly looking into it all as we speak.

On another note, does anyone know how much less electric and gas it will be since we are one less adult? I'm thinking it wont be a huge difference as the gas is heating only (so therefore same amount will be used to heat house) and electric will be just a little less?

macman

Never sign up on the doorstep,or in-store. Even if they were the cheapest tariff, (which is very unlikely), you're still giving them the commission that you could have had yourself by signing up online through a cashback site.

Luvly.cuppa.T

Okay so all through my trawling it appears that NPower (sign online 19) are coming on top everytime. M&S appear to offer fairly decents rates in comparison it has to be said, but as I use a hell of a lot of electric, their M&S second rate (10.66) is higher than NPower second rate (8.3265) and M&S are .2p higher on gas 1st rate too. However M&S elec first rate is .289p cheaper than Npower, but as said my usage appears to favour the second rate more, and this is where I should be looking?

One thing I can't figure here is Eon gave me the figures of usage over the past year, do these look right?

Gas: 429 (only used for heating inc water)
Elec: 4483

Yet when I put these into the comparison sites, and put correct price plan in, they tell me that my monthly bill is £47. In fact my monthly bill has been £64, and that has been somewhat under as we were in arrears of £88.

I'm gonna let this info lie for a bit and see what you good peeps say on this before I make a move! I am thinking Npower online 19 is the one, but will have to stay put with them until Sept 2011 otherwise get charged £20 per utility.

This whole price comparison thing is a nightmare in this area!!!

macman

Your gas figure looks like cubic ft or cubic m, not kwh, you need to check which your meter uses (marked on it) and convert if necessary. For a 3 b/r house , 25,000 kwh would be a typical annual usage.
If you use gas for space heating and hot water then that will be the major part of your total energy consumption, not the electricity. Your electricity usage looks high on this basis.

Luvly.cuppa.T

Oh Macman, thankyou! That explains it better now, yes it works out to be around 13,485 kwh. Think I ought to go back and plug this in to see what happens now....