can you help me switch?

mrsm

I've recently looked into all our spending habits and am saving loads of money thanks to the lovely people on MSE. However our utility bills are huge but my husband is of the opinion that gas will always be cheaper from BG as it comes from them in the first place.:mad:

I really want to switch but am scared of making a mistake and also i get confused by the switch sites as all the info is different to my bills

is anyone up to the challenge of saving me money but more over proving my hubby wrong. I could post my details here and maybe someone could help me compare costs

wowsavings

Have a look at the switching sites to see how BG compares. I guess that your husband has the same thoughts as a lot of people which is why not enough people are switching energy suppliers and saving themselves money for the same product.

BG are always more expensive for gas! True, all companies have put huge increases on energy bills, but BG are consistently the most expensive, especially if you are on a standard tariff.

The easiest way of proving this to your husband is to visit the switching sites and printing off the results pages. This should speak for itself. When you do the comparison, try entering the amount of energy that you use in KWH. This information will be on your bill. It means that the results will be a lot more accurate.

By all means post your details here if you like and I will post back the savings for you from one of the switching sites.

However, BG can be very competitive on electricity.

How do you currently pay? I assume (maybe wrongly) that you pay by cash or cheque when you get the bill. Changing to DD and even an online account will save you a lot of money even if you don't switch supplier!

mrsm

thanks, we pay by DD (48 pound a month:eek: ) and have been granted the low income winter payment thing, think its 2 credits of £30.

Trouble is our meter hasnt been read that often, but these are the figures i have from online.

reading Date reading reading type total cons.* no. days av. daily cons.*
18/09/2006 8516 Customer read 73 98 000.74
12/06/2006 8443 Estimated 135 101 001.34
03/03/2006 8308 Estimated 217 92 002.36
01/12/2005 8091 Meter Reader 127 85 001.49
07/09/2005 7964 Estimated 18 46 000.39
23/07/2005 7946 Meter Reader 64 47 001.36
06/06/2005 7882 Estimated 87 84 001.04
14/03/2005 7795 Estimated 184 91 002.02
13/12/2004 7611 Customer read 33 5 006.60
08/12/2004 7578 Estimated 97 83 001.17
16/09/2004 7481 Customer read 63 191 000.33
09/03/2004 7418 Estimated 260 99 002.63
01/12/2003 7158 Estimated 93 59 001.58
03/10/2003 7065 Meter Reader 72 120 000.60



I also want to switch electricity too, well basically i want to pay the least i can. but i dont have my figures to hand
Post code is SG17

thanks for your help. i've been trying to do this for ages but i get so confused and really want to get it right or will never hear the end of I told you so:rotfl:

Mike_by_the_Sea

Hi mrsm

Your rough average annual reading is about 475 to 500. Assuming that you have a metric meter, then multiply this by 31.3, which gives an annual gas consumption of about 15,000 kWh.

If you use this usage in the comparison sites, this will give you the level of savings you could make. Show your husband how BG compares with the other providers and I'm sure he will be convinced that there are significant savings to be made. You should be able to see savings in excess of £100 per year.

To get a true comparison for potential dual fuel savings, you will need to put in your electricity info as well. If you are with BG for both, the savings could be even higher.

Good luck.

wowsavings

I have just had a look on ukpower.co.uk and using your readings (17277 kwh in last year which is meter difference between 07/09/05 and 18/09/06 times by 31.3 to get KWH) and used the Energywatch average for electricity of 3300 kww.

I assumes that you pay by cash or cheque, that you are on BG standard and Powergen standard (incumbant suppliers).

I selected it so you pay by DD and the cheapest account is £316 cheaper for an online tariff (bills viewed online) and £285 for a normal tariff.

The savings here are huge compared to what you are currently paying. That should help convince your husband!

Don't just take my word for it though, have a go yourself!

mrsm

thanks both of you. I have my electric bills to hand now too so I'll sit down and go through it tonight (or maybe tom night as I have to watch the last lost tonight:rotfl: )

I had a quick look tho and it looks like Atlantic is coming up as the best, (yes we are with powergen for electric using aprox 1200 per quarter)

Does anyone know if Atlantic are ok? You hear so many horror storys I find it all a tad :eek: but I'll be damned if I let that put me off.

Also does anyone else give the cashback thing that BG do for low income (I think we get 2 credits of £30)

espresso

mrsm wrote:

Does anyone know if Atlantic are ok? You hear so many horror storys I find it all a tad :eek: but I'll be damned if I let that put me off.

Atlantic are fine but be aware that they will shortly announce price rises to take effect from Jan 07. They have stated that they will give details next month. If you pay by DD and have dual fuel, they will pay back one months DD payment as an annual loyalty payment. This may have already been taken into account by the comparison site that you have used.

HTH

:T

mrsm

thanks, another question i've just thought of, am i tied into new suppliers for a length of time or can i go to a new one then switch again when they raise their rates

espresso

You can switch again. It's all a bit of a gamble but Atlantic have been constantly cheaper for me for the last few years and they have a free-phone number to supply your own meter readings if they estimate.

HTH

mrsm

cool, so when I sit down and compare, if they come out on top its prob best to swap to them, then review again when the prices change in the new year.

johnofhertford

You can switch as often as you like but remember that it takes something like 4-8 weeks to switch, so be careful not to switch to a provider who hasn't put up prices recently - they may be about to. Martin has a table with this info here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103281560,22751,

Also, be aware that some of the deals that may show up as best buys include an annual discount, i.e. you get a rebate after twelve months so you may not get the full reduction unless you're with them for a year.

Personally I think you'd go nuts if you switched more than about once a year, and in any case if you make a good switch in the first place then your should be pretty competeitive for that length of time even it's not the best. After you've switched the first time you'll probably find that in a few months you could go somewhere else and save a pound a month, which probably isn't worth it.