Switching Site Accuracy

full-time-mum

Having passed the anniversary of my contract and now being told it is OK to switch, I have been looking into just that.

The switching sites all suggest that I change from NPower to Atlantic so I have just spent an hour working out what I would have paid with Atlantic v NPower last year based on current prices - does that make sense.

Now the uswitch websites say I will be making a saving of £130 but by my calculations, there is £10 difference - which hardly makes it worth bothering.

The above is based on KWh gives estimated cost for next year at £835.
Just done the same calculation based on annual spend figures and it comes up with an estimated cost of £653.
My calculation comes out at £912

Doesn't really inspire confidence in the service.
(For the record, I am not having a go at USwitch in particular but the switching sites in general - USwitch just happen to be the one I'm using for my example)

When I rang the Telegraph sponsored phone line (simplyswitch), they told me my DD would be £61 with a months rebate in month 13, that is still way short of my estimates.

It may be that my calculations are wrong which is why I am interested to know if anyone else out there is sad enough to have tried the same?
What were your findings?

Before anyone asks, I have adjusted the figures to take into account the billing periods not being exactly 365 days!

masonic

Firstly, you should not be surprised that calculations based on annual spend come out cheaper than they should - prices have been going up sharply, so what you spent over the last 12 months will buy you a lot less energy now and that 'lot less energy' will therefore cost less.

As far as the calculations are concerned, Npower have recently announced they are putting up their prices (effective 1st Oct). You do not say where you got your unit prices from, so are you using their current ones whereas the switching sites are using the new ones?

Edit: Oh, and £835 = £912 - 8.5%. Did you remember to subtract the annual rebate for Atlantic?

full-time-mum

masonic wrote:

Firstly, you should not be surprised that calculations based on annual spend come out cheaper than they should - prices have been going up sharply, so what you spent over the last 12 months will buy you a lot less energy now and that 'lot less energy' will therefore cost less.

Absolutely but, I assume that they would take that into account when converting from £ spent into amount used otherwise it isn't a very good estimate of your annual usage and hence your projected bill next year. It would explain why so many people complain that their DD payments are never high enough.
If that is the case then, still no improvement in faith for the switching sites!

masonic wrote:

As far as the calculations are concerned, Npower have recently announced they are putting up their prices (effective 1st Oct). You do not say where you got your unit prices from, so are you using their current ones whereas the switching sites are using the new ones?

Atlantic prices I obtained from their website.
I couldn't find Npower prices so used the last bill/notification of rise but not the new ones from 1st Oct - they have conviniently not bothered to notify us yet :mad: - back to pen and paper then.

Now you've told me that prices rise on 1st Oct, I intend to do a meter reading - want to make sure that I don't get charged new prices for gas/electric that was used during old price period!

I thought that all prices rises had happened now, is this a new round and will all the other companies have more hikes too? It is impossible to keep track. Now, maybe I should get solar panels and a wind turbine in my garden!;)

masonic wrote:

Edit: Oh, and £835 = £912 - 8.5%. Did you remember to subtract the annual rebate for Atlantic?

Ah - that would be it then. So at least they give reasonable results when you put in KWh - but how many people bother with that calculation?

I was told that I would get one month DD refund in month 13 (sneaky, making you stay at least another month!)
Does that work out at 8.5%? (All mathsed out now! )
According to the Telegraph line DD was going to be £61 which is almost exactly what Npowers loyalty bonus is (so I discarded it and forgot to factor it back in) but I think that was based on the lower quote obtained from annual spend.
Now, 912/12 would give monthly direct debit of £76 so would expect £76 rebate - which is nearly 8.5%

Edit: Have now found some Npower tariffs but I'm no nearer knowing what the new prices for me are as there are several different online versions depending on when you joined. We are V.5. Can only find new customer prices which is (I think) v.6
I did speak to Npower yesterday when I was trying to establish which tariff I was on - no mention of the impending price increase :mad: :mad: :mad:
In fact, I think she actually mentioned the (old) unit price. :mad: :mad: :mad:

masonic

full-time-mum wrote:

I thought that all prices rises had happened now, is this a new round and will all the other companies have more hikes too?

There are still companies that have not yet put up their prices following British Gas's latest rise. For example, BG's Click Energy tariff (expected later this year) and the Scottish & Southern Group, which includes Atlantic (who have an ongoing pledge not to increase prices for the rest of 2006).

masonic

full-time-mum wrote:

Edit: Have now found some Npower tariffs but I'm no nearer knowing what the new prices for me are as there are several different online versions depending on when you joined. We are V.5. Can only find new customer prices which is (I think) v.6
I did speak to Npower yesterday when I was trying to establish which tariff I was on - no mention of the impending price increase :mad: :mad: :mad:
In fact, I think she actually mentioned the (old) unit price. :mad: :mad: :mad:

This calculator will list unit prices for the old Npower tariffs. It'll probably give you a good stab at doing some real like-for-like calculations as well.

mrs_baggins

Like you I was having problems working out the actual prices with the savings the sites said I would have. In the end in desperation I put everything onto a spreadsheet so I could work out my costs although I had been inputting my actual useage. When I started to switch with BG they were telling me that the prices on the site were wrong but I think this was just BG being wrong! When you do the calculations I guess its really only a ball park figure and most of the sites take into account the various discounts you get so for atlantic you would have to factor your free 13th month to get the same amount that they say. Its not easy!!

full-time-mum

mrs_baggins wrote:

Its not easy!!

You can say that again!;)

I don't see how you can ever be sure of getting the best price. You move but most companies are only competetive if you take into account their annual discount/loyalty rebate so you have to stay for a year and hope that your chosen company doesn't increase excessively more than the others.

Who wins - well it isn't Joe Public - even if they are MSE Joe Public!

full-time-mum

While we are on the subject of tariffs, I was just wondering about Economy 7. How do you know if you would be better off with it or not?

I have a built-in electric cooker (gas hob) that I inherited with the house and I've always thought that was enough of a reason to stay on a normal tariff as E7 day units seem to be a fraction more expensive than normal 24/7 units.

I could put a timer on my washing machine but not on my semi-integrated dishwasher as the plug is hidden somewhere under the unit with only a fuse switch above the work surface.
I have a gas fired central heating system and the only other things running overnight are a fridge freezer and another freezer.

The only way I can think of checking my usage is to read the meter last thing and first thing and get back to the pen and paper. This is only going to give a rough idea as E7 doesn't run from 11pm - 7am. It also relies on the other members of the family checking the meter before boiling the kettle/switching on lights/tv etc and given that they all think I getting a bit carried away, I can't see them bothering.

JudyLugg

I so agree with you - I have taken hours working out our gas and electric bills by useage of Kwh's, price, taken off the discounts (this with Powergen) and come up with so many different answers, varying wildly from £670 to £950.

I have been on Powergen's site looking at our bills and can only say that the way things are structured, they do not REALLY want you to find out what you are actually paying! I have taken into account pay increases, which I believe Comparison Sites do not - THEY SHOULD, ELSE HOW CAN THEY EVER GIVE AN ACCURATE COMPARISON? ALSO, LIKE YOU, I HAVE STRUCTURED MY CALCULATIONS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT DIFFERENT BILLING PERIODS, ESTIMATED METER READING, ETC.

I too have been told that Atlantic can save me anything varying from £269 to £168 BUT what do you do - I don't know whether to stay with the devil we know (Powergen) or try another equally evil supplier?

JusT thought I'd let everyone know what I think.

full-time-mum wrote:

Having passed the anniversary of my contract and now being told it is OK to switch, I have been looking into just that.

The switching sites all suggest that I change from NPower to Atlantic so I have just spent an hour working out what I would have paid with Atlantic v NPower last year based on current prices - does that make sense.

Now the uswitch websites say I will be making a saving of £130 but by my calculations, there is £10 difference - which hardly makes it worth bothering.

The above is based on KWh gives estimated cost for next year at £835.
Just done the same calculation based on annual spend figures and it comes up with an estimated cost of £653.
My calculation comes out at £912

Doesn't really inspire confidence in the service.
(For the record, I am not having a go at USwitch in particular but the switching sites in general - USwitch just happen to be the one I'm using for my example)

When I rang the Telegraph sponsored phone line (simplyswitch), they told me my DD would be £61 with a months rebate in month 13, that is still way short of my estimates.

It may be that my calculations are wrong which is why I am interested to know if anyone else out there is sad enough to have tried the same?
What were your findings?

Before anyone asks, I have adjusted the figures to take into account the billing periods not being exactly 365 days!

full-time-mum

Just received my latest elec bill from NPower but still no notification of new prices.
Also says win superman return goodies*
*see enclosed leaflet (no leaflet in my envelope - useless lot)