really cross!

tinkerbell1978

british gas!!

just rang them up twice! firat time i just got through and they cut me off just as i said hi so i rang back and another ten minutes later i get through to a man who all he wanted to kow was what i did at the weekend?! and when i finally got him talking about what i actually wanted he said i will put you through to so and so and cut me off completely!!!!

i am currently paying 93.00!! for electric (there is no way we are using that much i switch all plugs off etc and never leave anything on all the time!) but we are in debit with electric by 110.50 even so is 93.00 a month for electric a little crazy??

i am currently paying 81.00 for gas a month when we are in credit with them by 38.50!!!! sooo this seems a steep payment tooo!

all this is making me mad!! or is it just me being hot headed? anyone else think this is far too much to be paying?
what can i do? do i complain? he offered to lower electric to 84.00 before cutting me off no idea if he change it or not

gazhawkins

I'd switch suppliers if I were you.

I have electric only with Southern Electric - their prices have been the cheapest for a long time and their customer service always seemed to be rated highly by the likes of uswitch, simplyswitch etc.

Register with https://www.quidco.com and use one of the companies registered with the site - might earn yourself a few quid while you're at it.

tinkerbell1978

thanks for that will chat to my other half when he gets in about it!

mleonard79

Hi tinkerbell1978,

Yes that does seem terribly high! Up til a few months ago we were paying £95 for gas and £75 for electricity and were in debit too - this is for a large flat with 4 people in it. We switched and are now paying £36 for electric and £77 for gas (though we are hugely in credit for this now so I'm sure they'll reduce the payment soon.) If you've never switched from brtish gas I would say don't think twice about it as there are large savings to be made! Which supplier it is best for you to switch to is dependent on which area you live in as it varies a lot. I'm in Glasgow and London Energy (edf now) were best for me and even with a price increase recently remain so. It could be totally different for you though so it's best to do some research.

I would suggest reading martin's article on switching:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103281560,22751,

Also visit energyhelpline cashback (link below) to see what savings you can make - it's a good idea to find out your usage for the last year as it gives a more accurate picture of savings. If you do switch using the site they'll pay you £15 cashback for doing it too which isn't a bad little extra!

http://www.energyhelpline.com/energy/rg_home.aspx?aid=107

Hope that helps and you get those bills down soon.

Regards

Michelle

Cardew

mleonard79 wrote:

Hi tinkerbell1978,

Yes that does seem terribly high! Up til a few months ago we were paying £95 for gas and £75 for electricity and were in debit too - this is for a large flat with 4 people in it. We switched and are now paying £36 for electric and £77 for gas (though we are hugely in credit for this now so I'm sure they'll reduce the payment soon.) If you've never switched from brtish gas I would say don't think twice about it as there are large savings to be made! Which supplier it is best for you to switch to is dependent on which area you live in as it varies a lot. I'm in Glasgow and London Energy (edf now) were best for me and even with a price increase recently remain so. It could be totally different for you though so it's best to do some research.

What you were paying months ago and what you are paying now is meaningless because DD payments are greatly affected by debit or credit balances and estimated readings.

The only thing you can judge by is the prices charged on each tariff.

To imply that by switching you can reduce your Electricity payments from £75 to £36 is totally misleading; there simply isn't that difference between electricity tariffs. What it does mean is that you were paying too much before to clear a debt, or too little now.

tinkerbell1978

maybe i should ask my landlord if he would mind us putting in an electricty meter would that be a good idea?? surely if we are in credit with gas though there is no reason to pay such a high price i think i might read my meters and note them down and check cheersx will still have a look into switching when we moved in the people before us were with powergen im think we should have stuck with them.

mleonard79

What you were paying months ago and what you are paying now is meaningless because DD payments are greatly affected by debit or credit balances and estimated readings.

The only thing you can judge by is the prices charged on each tariff.

To imply that by switching you can reduce your Electricity payments from £75 to £36 is totally misleading; there simply isn't that difference between electricity tariffs. What it does mean is that you were paying too much before to clear a debt, or too little now.

Sorry if my post seemed misleading in any way - I was only recounting my personal experience which I felt could be helpful. What I should have said is the tariffs we are on now are substantially lower than the ones we were paying before. I was simply trying to get across the point that if you have never switched from British Gas before there are large savings to be made (something Martin himself advocates in the article I suggested the OP reads.)

British Gas Electricity Single Rate for Monthly DD:

First 225kwh inc VAT - 20.010p
Subsequent kwh - 11.311p

Edf Online Tariff I am currently on:

First 225 kwh - 9.73p
Subsequent Kwh - 7.40p

This includes a very recent price increase so I was paying even less for the last 6 months since the switch. I feel that the difference here contradicts your statement that there simply isn't that big a difference between electricity providers - especially for those who have never switched.

Admittedly these tariffs vary from area to area so there's no way to know which company is offering the best prices in your area other than researching it for yourself. Also I'm not 100% sure EDF are still offering their online tariff as some people have said it ins't coming up when they do a search on the comparison websites but even so I feel those British Gas prices are ridiculous and there must be better alternatives.

As far as my previous dd goes I was not clearing a debt at any point. I was perhaps, instead, slightly in credit with the electricity every month when I was paying £75 p/m by dd but no more than £5-10 so the bill was at least £65 p/m at that time. Since we have switched we are no longer in credit at all but the bill is just about spot on at £36. Since then I have also been monitoring the meter and being more fastidious about turning things off etc so that will have saved a little also but even so there is still a very large saving there that can only really be explained by the much lower prices we are now paying. Thus I feel it is fair to say you can make good savings doing this as my personal experience supports that idea. Perhaps I have been very lucky with the tariff I managed to get but I feel it's worth investigating for the OP.


Regards

Michelle

tinkerbell1978

cheers everyone for the help going look over it all over the next few days!

snaffler

British Gas screwed us over as well very bad time with them and awful customer care the worse, even worse than some ISPs and that is saying something.

I am giving the Thumbs up to Southern Electric brilliant customer care, emails replied to in just under 24 hours and good prices.

I can't speak for other costings but we are in a 2 bed end of terrace house with insulated attic 300mm of lagging and insulated walls, we have recently had a whole new heating and hot water system put in as well which is very efficient.

Any how we are paying Southern Electric £18.00 electric and £22.00 gas at present, the gas is a little out by around £24.00 so I will add some payment on next month to bring this inline.

I can not fault SE customer care A1, you always get through pretty quick and they do what they say.

Your bills do sound very high. In our house every light bulb except 2 are energy savers, we never leave anything on standby at all. Not even a video recorder.

Elfin123

mleonard79 wrote:

Sorry if my post seemed misleading in any way - I was only recounting my personal experience which I felt could be helpful. What I should have said is the tariffs we are on now are substantially lower than the ones we were paying before. I was simply trying to get across the point that if you have never switched from British Gas before there are large savings to be made (something Martin himself advocates in the article I suggested the OP reads.)

British Gas Electricity Single Rate for Monthly DD:

First 225kwh inc VAT - 20.010p
Subsequent kwh - 11.311p

Edf Online Tariff I am currently on:

First 225 kwh - 9.73p
Subsequent Kwh - 7.40p



Regards

Michelle

Hi,

This is obviously a cheaper a cheaper tarrif in Kwh charges, and while I would agree with Michelle that its a good idea to investigate different tarrifs and it is cheaper for her situation, please make sure you take into account the standing charges, British Gas don't have one (so taking the kwh alone doesn't give you the whole picture)- although the Kwh unit charge is higher British Gas works out cheaper for me, and may also for others who use a very low amount of energy or use consumption is erratic

You really need to have all your usage figures in kwh to hand and try one of the switching sites recommended by Martin.

This will give you a clearer picture if for your situation you should consider changing suppliers.

mleonard79

Hi Elfin,

I totally agree that you should take into account standing charges too - the prices I quoted for both British Gas and Edf don't have standing charges.

I agree that getting your usage figures for the year together and then doing a comparison is the most accurate way of testing what the best provider for you is.

Regards

Michelle