Gas & Electric Comparison sites

denwyn

We are on EON Fixonline 3 dual fuel tarrif which ends soon and i have been looking at maybe changing tarrifs now,not bothered on all the special cashback wine offers, but very confused as to the wide differences and claims made with the likes of U Switch ,Energyhelpline,moneysupermarket, putting the same figures for our anual consumption gave ver different figures with all of them, they all recommended N.Power sign online 19, but one said we could save £201, the other £296. Why is this, and should i believe them,i have never been keen on switching suppliers, just thought i would see if we could save anything,again staying with Eon and switching to another tarrif gave big differences in savings. is it woth all the hassle in changing,and who do i belive. We did swap about 4 years back when we moved house from EDF to Eon and while the gas only took about 6 weeks the Electric took 6 months,lots of phone calls.

Premier_2

denwyn wrote: »

...but very confused as to the wide differences and claims made with the likes of U Switch ,Energyhelpline,moneysupermarket, putting the same figures for our anual consumption gave ver different figures with all of them, ...

This is a common content of many posts on MSE, but no one has yet come up with the hard evidence. Will you be the first?

If you give us the annual consumption figures you are inputting, and your supply area/first part of your postcode, I'm sure we'll all take a look at the discrepency you tell us of.

Edit: From an earlier thread of yours, it appears you have some kind of oddball meter which is probably why it took 6 months to change supplier (but last year you said the switch only took 3 months.) Not sure exactly what you've got; seems to be a least a dual rate meter so not all suppliers will accept you on a single rate tariff, or possibly something like E10.
If that's the case, most suppliers won't accept you anyway. Eon claim they can sometimes offer a suitable tariff (which it appears they sorted for you after 3 / 6 months) but bad news is the old supplier, EDF, probably won't take you back now. If you try to switch with such an oddball meter, it nearly always ends in tears.

denwyn

Premier wrote: »

This is a common content of many posts on MSE, but no one has yet come up with the hard evidence. Will you be the first?

If you give us the annual consumption figures you are inputting, and your supply area/first part of your postcode, I'm sure we'll all take a look at the discrepency you tell us of.

Edit: From an earlier thread of yours, it appears you have some kind of oddball meter which is probably why it took 6 months to change supplier (but last year you said the switch only took 3 months.) Not sure exactly what you've got; seems to be a least a dual rate meter so not all suppliers will accept you on a single rate tariff, or possibly something like E10.
If that's the case, most suppliers won't accept you anyway. Eon claim they can sometimes offer a suitable tariff (which it appears they sorted for you after 3 / 6 months) but bad news is the old supplier, EDF, probably won't take you back now. If you try to switch with such an oddball meter, it nearly always ends in tears.

You may be right i may have said three months,i can't really remember exactly,the meter has two digital readings on it, but one has an oficail lable blocking it out and a message saying read as normal meter,thsi is what cause the problem last time,its been in since we moved in 4 years back,all i can think is many years back there could have been storage heaters here. Eon did sort it out,but there was a lot of confusion over it,and loads of emails and phone calls. Our anula usage according to EON is 5075 for Electric and 10177 for Gas we are on Fixonline 3 untill end of next month when it stops. any advice appreciated

Premier_2

We need the supply area as well please (or the first part of the postcode), as prices vary by area.


Edit: Just seen your current tariff details.

Could any difference be due to the way sites treat the 'current' cost as that tariff expires in just under 2 months, as you say.
Energyhelpline, for example, automatically considers this and assumes what tariff you will move to at that time. But it allows you the option to compare based completely on today's tariff/prices if you want.

denwyn

Premier wrote: »

We need the supply area as well please (or the first part of the postcode), as prices vary by area.


Edit: Just seen your current tariff details.

Could any difference be due to the way sites treat the 'current' cost as that tariff expires in just under 2 months, as you say.
Energyhelpline, for example, automatically considers this and assumes what tariff you will move to at that time. But it allows you the option to compare based completely on today's tariff/prices if you want.

Sorry forgot to put that in, its TA1 ( Taunton )

Premier_2

Have just done the comparison and figures I get are:

energyhelpline
eon = £973 adjusted, £841 unadjusted
npower sol19 = £772 (saving - £201 / £69)

(Adjusted reflects cost due to impending early termination of current contract - so guesses the likely tariff you will be on the rest of the year if you don't switch supplier.
Unadjusted reflects current contract price only - other comparison sites only do this)

moneysupermarket
eon = £504.81 (e) + £336.07(g) = £840.88 (my addition)
npower £771.99 (saving £68.88)

uSwitch
eon = £840.87
npower £771.99 (saving £68.87)


So essentially all the same, +/- 1p (energyhelpline round figures to whole pounds)

denwyn

Premier wrote: »

Have just done the comparison and figures I get are:

energyhelpline
eon = £973 adjusted, £841 unadjusted
npower sol19 = £772 (saving - £201 / £69)

(Adjusted reflects cost due to impending early termination of current contract - so guesses the likely tariff you will be on the rest of the year if you don't switch supplier.
Unadjusted reflects current contract price only - other comparison sites only do this)

moneysupermarket
eon = £504.81 (e) + £336.07(g) = £840.88 (my addition)
npower £771.99 (saving £68.88)

uSwitch
eon = £840.87
npower £771.99 (saving £68.87)


So essentially all the same, +/- 1p (energyhelpline round figures to whole pounds)

Thanks for your help, i did have another look last night and in the end did come up with the same figures as you,so taking in mind the ammount of problems i had with the electric meter and switching, for a saving of only about £68 i don't see it worth it,if i swap to another Eon tarrif now they will not charge the £30 penalty,so maybe its not really worth me changing suppliers,thing is now do i switch before the present tarrif ends or wait,nothing is ever simple anymore. i may see though about having the electric meter replaced for a standard one...they proberbly won't do it but its worth ago. Thanks for all your help

macman

What you appear to have is an E7 meter from the time when storage heaters were installed. In which case all you or the meter reader has to do is total the two readings together to give your actual reading.
What 'hassle' is involved in switching? Once you have your annual consumption figures it takes 5 minutes on a comparison site, and then maybe 15 minutes to sign up online via a cashback site. No phone calls are necessary. Some dual fuel switches pay up to £100 cashback, so with that and the tariff saving you are saving between £100 and £150 for 20 minutes work.
So unless you value your time at around £300ph it's certainly worth it.

Premier_2

macman wrote: »

...What 'hassle' is involved in switching? ...

I think my addendum in post #2 covers most of it

Even if it is just an E7 dual rate meter, (which I suspect it's not) posts by others elsewhere have given mixed responses as to whether nPower will accept that for a single rate tariff.

macman

Then there may still be other cheaper options to Eon than npower who will accept a dual rate meter-or those who may change the meter without charge.
What I was querying was the OP's approach of 'it'll only save me £68 so why bother'?
If you can save that sum on each utility it would be well worth it, assuming the meter issue can be overcome.

Premier_2

macman wrote: »

Then there may still be other cheaper options to Eon than npower who will accept a dual rate meter-or those who may change the meter without charge.
What I was querying was the OP's approach of 'it'll only save me £68 so why bother'?
If you can save that sum on each utility it would be well worth it, assuming the meter issue can be overcome.

The situation is further complicated by the fact the OP does not know the separate day/night time usages, only the total. This is partly why I suspect it isn't a normal E7 meter and why the previous switch to Eon took 3-6 months.

The £68 saving is not per fuel, but the combined saving for a dual fuel switch for both gas & electric. It only represents about 8% saving on the total bill, which remember is only an estimate anyway as it relies on anticipated future usage, based on previous usage.

Having said that, the current deal ends shortly, and if energyhelpline are correct, there could actually be a possible £200 saving to be had.

But essentially, if you haven't got a industry standard single rate or E7 dual rate meter in the property, any switching of electricity supplier is not going to be simple. (and don't even attempt to do it through a cashback site)