Newbie to this, please bear with me.

wood71

Hi,

I have been reading the site for some time but have just started to put some of the money saving tips into practice. Why the wait? - heaven knows!!! Anyhow am now determined to whip my finances into shape.

Anyway I am looking into switching my gas and electricity,

Gas is currently with Utillity warehouse which is paid by direct debit each month.

Electricity is with Powergen which is paid promptly on receipt of bill.

I live in a 3 bed semi. Now I have used the comparison sites and they reckon i should save about £300. Should I try to stick with individual companies where if i need to switch in the future i presume it would be easier and there would be no other utility involved. Or should i go for a joint one, currently coming up as Atlantic which would save me aprox £30. more?

Also, when you switch are you tied into any contract? The comparison sites Uswitch etc, how correct are they? Should I be actually checking the Kwh prices myself?

Thanks for your help.

Wood71

wood71

Hi,

Anyone got any ideas on this? please?????

Rikki

Personally I keep mine with the same company because it is convenient. Just one company to deal with.

Rikki

You are not locked in to a contract. So you can change again when you like.

You can compare with the bill amount for the year or the Kwh figure, up to you.

full-time-mum

wood71 wrote:

The comparison sites Uswitch etc, how correct are they? Should I be actually checking the Kwh prices myself?

You might be interested to see what happens in here...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=265269

emilyt

I get both my gas and electric through British Gas. I wasn't sure whether or not to switch suppliers. But to be honest i think it is just swings a nd round abouts. What you save on one you pay more somwhere else. I must admit i find it hard to understand properly as the prices are always changing. So for us i would rather stay with what i know. Sorry i couldn't be of any help. Hopefully there will be someone out there who understands all the utilitie company's and can help us all.

emilyt

Sorry forgot to say
Welcome wood71:j

wood71

Hi,

Thanks everyone for your help. It does seem like a bit of a minefield, the link you gave me full-time mum was a help as i did think that i took it for granted that these comparison sites would be accurate. Some of the savings hardly seem worth the fuss of changing over although whats the saying? 'Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves'.

I think i will keep delving and see what i come up with.

Thanks again for replies and the welcome!

Wood71

sammyjammy

emilyt wrote:

I get both my gas and electric through British Gas. I wasn't sure whether or not to switch suppliers. But to be honest i think it is just swings a nd round abouts. What you save on one you pay more somwhere else. I must admit i find it hard to understand properly as the prices are always changing. So for us i would rather stay with what i know. Sorry i couldn't be of any help. Hopefully there will be someone out there who understands all the utilitie company's and can help us all.

Emily,

British Gas charge the most by far, most if not all suppliers have now put there prices up in September/late August so you can be pretty sure they won't put them up again within the next few months, they m,ight even come down. BG are charging so much as they are making a loss, d oyou really want to pay money for that? It's not as hard to swap as you might think, do a bit of research I can assure you its well worth the effort and you'll get plenty of help from MSE.

Sam