Working out best tariff for gas & elec- help!

catt_2

I'm trying to sort out my gas and electric as the cost has gone up so much.

I've found out my annual usage. Can someone please tell me if it's too high. I live on my own in a 2 bed place that has a gas combi boiler and good insulation. I try to be careful, eg never fill the kettle more than I need, have a shower not bath, wear two sweaters.

I'm with Ebico for gas and electric.

Gas 9800 kWh @3.5p + 5% VAT

Electric 1300 kWh day @ 14.84p + 5%VAT
700 kWh night @ 5.27p + 5%VAT
so about 33% on the night tariff.

I asked Ebico and they said I'm best staying with the 2 meters than switching to standard tariff.

What can I do from here? I can't use less can I but could I change from Ebico? But what company instead please? Which comparison site do I use? Please help me.

catt_2

I followed Martin's link in his article and did the comaprison on energyhelpline.

It shows my provider as the second cheapest. Scottish Power beats it by £39. Not sure how reliable the calc is because it worked out my annual bill higher than it is. Maybe best to stay with Ebico?

Should work harder at reducing my consumption I suppose.

Premier_2

The comparison sites are generally very accurate (when you use annual kWh figures)

The reason the comparison site might currently show a higher annual price than what you historically paid, or what you last bill suggested would be your annual cost, may be because the comparison sites use the latest increased tariff rates. They tell you what the cost will be for the coming year, not what it was last year.

Premier_2

When I do a search on energyhelpline, it suggests an annual saving of £126, representing a saving of 20% on the annual cost of £635 you will pay staying with Ebico.

Scottish Power Online Energysaver 12

Premier_2

Having said that, and working on the premise that if something seems unbelievable, it probably isn't true, there seems to be some errors on energyhelpline.com at present.

According to that comparison website, you would only pay £509 per year total on SP OES12

However, according to the Scottish Power website, the annual cost for you on that tariff would be £641.08


Does anyone know a reliable source for the unit costs for that tariff? I think energyhelpline are perhaps using the wrong unit charges (and I can't find the detail on the Scottish Power website)

Edit: just checked two other comparison sites at random (switchwithwhich & energylynx) and they both say your annual cost will be £509, so perhaps its the Scottish Power site that is misleading?

Edit 2: Found the tariff details here.
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/PDF/OnlineEnergySaver12.pdf
Looks like the comparison sites are more accurate than the supplier site

Edit 3: I think I've worked out what is wrong with the SP website.
When you first go to the Scottish Power website, it asks if you are an existing customer. For some reason, if you say you are, it does not offer you the Online Energy Saver 12 tariff (but confusingly offers a very similar named product, Online Energy tariff)
If you look as a non-existing customer, you get the Online Energy Saver 12 tariff details

rabbitmumu

I presume you are not at home during the day time? Electricity usage looks good at a total of 2000 kwh. We have a 2 bed well insulated flat and ridiculously careful with our usage for 2 people came to about 2500kwh last year.

But the gas at 9800kwh looks a bit too high? Have you converted your meter readings correctly? How do you use the gas and/or do you keep your heating on all the time?

Yolina

I'm in a 2 bed flat with ok-ish insulation (i.e. whatever was standard 20 years ago, the double-glazing and boiler are also 20 years old) and I'm in most of the day - annual usage for gas is just under 8000kwh and electricity around 1600kwh so you might be able to reduce your use a bit.

catt_2

Thank you Premier for taking the trouble to check the sums.

Yes I put in the annual kWh figures. I have now cross checked on the Ebico website and I still get a slightly lower figure of £602 instead of £635 on energyhelpline.

When I did the comparison I put in 35% on economy 7 electric, quarterly DD and no standing charge, which is how I pay now, just to get a fair comparison. When I take that out I get Scottish Power £126.

I checked the Scottish Power website and its OES12 for £509 saving me £93. The downside is I have to pay monthly DD and they charge £30 + £20 if you change tariff or provider before Feb 2012. I plan to move home before this.

catt_2

Thanks rabbit and Yolina.

I'm going to try to get my usage down. The gas is the combi boiler only. I don't use gas heating except on a timer and only autumn/winter months. I use gas for hot water but take showers.

As for electric, I can't really reduce use more as I'm already careful but will try to use the washing machine on the night rate meter.

rabbitmumu

catt wrote: »

Thanks rabbit and Yolina.

I'm going to try to get my usage down. The gas is the combi boiler only. I don't use gas heating except on a timer and only autumn/winter months. I use gas for hot water but take showers.

As for electric, I can't really reduce use more as I'm already careful but will try to use the washing machine on the night rate meter.

Agree re electric - as I think you have done very very well already.

Re gas - just double check on the combi's settings / have an annual service check. Coz' when our combi was checked, we were told the "optimum" setting was 1.3 and ours were something weird initially which explained the high bill we had last winter. Others may have 1.6 or whatever they are between the dial/ setting of 1 to 5.

Coz' you are using 3 times as much gas as I do, but I know we are ridiculously careful with using gas so shouldn't really set ourselves as the standard. In winter months we only set to max temp of 17.5 (otherwise too hot) and we live in the south... so it's not only how often you switch the combi on, but also what combi boiler temp and individual thermometer(s) you set as well.

Hope this all helps.

Premier_2

catt wrote: »

...I checked the Scottish Power website and its OES12 for £509 saving me £93....

Unfortunately, the Scottish Power website doesn't cater for Ebico, so you will not get an accurate savings figure (since the current tariff assumption is incorrect). But the annual cost from Scottish Power is correct - £509.

£635 (your current cost allowing for latest price rises) - £509 = £126 saving

catt wrote: »

...The downside is ... and they charge £30 + £20 if you change tariff or provider before Feb 2012. I plan to move home before this.

Those early exit charges do not apply if the reason for early exit is because of a home move

Edit: I know the tariff has the downside of having to pay monthly by DD (something I hate due to a bad past experience), but with savings that good, you really shouldn't avoid it.
I was so impressed, I have arranged to switch to it myself