Is it worth changing to an online tariff for British Gas?

freeasabird

We are currently on the standard tariff for British Gas but wish to change to the Websaver 10 online tariff.

I've looked at the BG's website and while the online tariff states it will be 6% cheaper than the standard rate; the small print says they can change the offer at any time.

There's also a £30 cancellation fee and the Websaver 10 tariff is only guaranteed until the 29th of February 2012.

My mother will be responsible for dealing with the bill and she's not computer literate and this will be a paperless account.

The example they gave for a four bedroomed house doesn't really show that much of saving (I may have got the figures wrong). Under the circumtances, is it worth it to change?

neilmcl

Anything is better than the standard tariffs. Use one of the many comparison websites to compare which is best for you.

t0rt0ise

Why stay with British Gas. Using a comparison site like uSwitch will tell you if there's anything else cheaper out there.

rabbitmumu

freeasabird wrote: »

My mother will be responsible for dealing with the bill and she's not computer literate and this will be a paperless account.

1. Perhaps you should ask your mother if she's happy to use the computer to submit readings every month, and receive all the bills online?

They do have an option where you can submit your meter reading via mobile but their reminders don't seem to work all the time. If for any reason she forgot to submit the reading, and doesn't check her emails, then you/her might have to go through more trouble having to phone up and get your bills amended.


2. Price Comparison web sites should be used with extreme care - in particular for gas consumptions which can fluctuate a lot between summer and winter months, and the tariffs you are looking into have different prices for different Tiers.

For argument's sake - if you simply put in your last year's annual consumption in the comparison web site, the web site assumes you use those gas uniformly over the year - which of course will be cheaper as some have been allocated to the lower Tier 2 rate.

But if you take Npower for example, their Tier 1 unit allocation is NOT the same for each month - so for a moderate or low user (like me), ALL of my usage throughout the year were allocated to the more expensive Tier 1 - this is something the price comparison web site doesn't tell you... so be very careful.

macman

Any supplier's standard tariff is always the most expensive one on offer. Of course it's worth switching, and the discounted online tariffs are usually the cheapest. If this involves submitting online readings and paperless billing then you can probably handle that for her if necessary.

molerat

rabbitmumu wrote: »

For argument's sake - if you simply put in your last year's annual consumption in the comparison web site, the web site assumes you use those gas uniformly over the year - which of course will be cheaper as some have been allocated to the lower Tier 2 rate.

But if you take Npower for example, their Tier 1 unit allocation is NOT the same for each month - so for a moderate or low user (like me), ALL of my usage throughout the year were allocated to the more expensive Tier 1 - this is something the price comparison web site doesn't tell you... so be very careful.

AFAIAA Npower are the only company that use sculpting and you have to be an extremely low user to be seriously affected by it. Eon for example use the tier 1 allocation / 365 x days in billing period.

OP, just enter your annual kWh figures into one of the comparison sites and see what figures come up, I think you will be suprised by the savings. Don't take any notice of there 4 bed average consumption guff, use your own figures. I am sure you could help your mum out.

For me the saving between BG standard and the cheapest (eon) is £342, websaver 10 £258, quite a saving !!

kerri_gt

If you do switch, don't forget you can also earn extra cash via cashback sites.

Btw, echo that about BG online account mgmt, there used to be a countdown timer to say when you had to submit the next meter reading - this seems to have disappeared from my account and I am pretty sure that although I haven't received a reminder email, I am due to submit a reading.

freeasabird

I've checked the comparison sites and BG's Websaver 10 may be good for the electricity as well as the gas. My only concern is that there is doesn't appear to be a guarantee that the price won't rise but you're tied in until feb 2012 and have to pay a £30 to cancel.

This is more difficult than I thought mainly I don't want to do anything that will mean our bills go up instead of down. Oh dear.

macman

No standard or discounted tariff has any guarantee against a price rise during the contract term. If you want that, you need to look at fixed price tariffs, which command a heavy premium for the security.
But if Websaver 10 goes up, so will the standard tariff too. So every day you stay on a standard tariff you're losing savings. To repeat, you are currently on the most expensive variable tariff that BG offer.

freeasabird

I guess I was trying to put off the inevitable contact with BG but you're right, the standard price will change too. I'll do it ASAP.

Thank you.

macman

You don't need any contact with BG. Check your best tariff on a comp site, switch via a cashback site. takes maybe 30 m in total.