Southern Electric

hubb

I have been with these for a year as I decided to go with their offer when a guy called round though it's not my usual way. Suffice to say I think I am paying more than I was with N Power.

As the science of it all baffles me I really don't know if it's worth it or not to change. I will give you a rough idea of my situation. In Cheshire, Just the 2 of us in a semi Terraced, 2 bedrooms. Gas central heating but try to use the coal fire as much as possible. Paying £80 per month for gas and electric.

Thanks.

molerat

Put your kWh per year useage into one of the energy comparison sites and it will give you your options. For accuracy kWh per year is the only figure to use.

hubb

And how on earth do I know how much in a year I use ?

neil9313

hubb wrote: »

And how on earth do I know how much in a year I use ?

Look at your bills!

Premier_2

... or contact your supplier who will provide you that data.

macman

And in future don't sign up via cold callers. They are only interested in their commission and will tell you whatever you want to hear in order to get your signature. Sign up via a cashback site and keep the commission for yourself.

hubb

I have phoned them and they tell me that my Gas consumption for the year was 11078 KW and my electric was 3784.

macman

That's quite low on the gas, average on electricity.
So now put those figures into a comp site and find your best tariff.
Remember to include all payment options to get the best choice of tariffs.

hubb

The reason gas is so low is because we used the coal fire as much as we could last winter.

I have done some comparisons and I save around £199 if I go back to N Power LOL. Southern Electric told me when he called that it would be cheaper to switch from N Power. It wasn't.

Ok, so I go with a new supplier and save whatever the comparison site shows me. What if the new supplier suddenly increase their tariff ? This you can't foresee.

macman

hubb wrote: »

The reason gas is so low is because we used the coal fire as much as we could last winter.

I have done some comparisons and I save around £199 if I go back to N Power LOL. Southern Electric told me when he called that it would be cheaper to switch from N Power. It wasn't.

Ok, so I go with a new supplier and save whatever the comparison site shows me. What if the new supplier suddenly increase their tariff ? This you can't foresee.

An open coal fire is the most inefficient way of heating your house imaginable-most of it goes straight up the chimney.
A utilities rep lied to you! You are surprised?
What if your current supplier increases their tariff? No difference. If you want to eliminate that risk, go for a fixed or capped tariff.
Remember to use a cashback site for the switch.

dogshome

Hi hubb - Unless you go for a 'Fixed' tariff where prices are G'teed, usually for a year but cost more to start with, you can never be sure how prices will move

N'power are usually somewhere near the top of the Comparision Tables, but you need to look beyond the headlined price as this company's history shows they have more tricks than a circus pony to take money off the customer.

Your best bet is to take control:
Number your bills & write on them the number of days it covers, then when a new Qtly bill comes in add the number of days it covers and it's amount of Kw, to the total on the previous 3 ( To get a 365 day total, add or subtract the use per day on the last bill ).
By doing this, as each Qtly Bill comes in you will have accurate annual Kw figures with which to hit the switch sites - And by the way, on most n'power tariffs you only get a bill every 6 months