Scottish Power Fixed Price - 28 February 2011

beecher2

Ruy wrote: »

I know that I'm now on a discounted 'variable' tariff and am subject to a cancellation charge if I change again before March 2012.

Only if you change suppliers - no charge if you change products within Scottish Power.

I went for Online Energy Saver 12 too, and phoned them to get it.

smithysaver

My Fixed price SP tariff also ends this month, I done a comparison and SP online energy 12 came out cheapest. How long does it take to switch to this tarrif ? As im thinking of leaving it for a while longer to see if any cheaper tarifs come out.

Premier_2

smithysaver wrote: »

My Fixed price SP tariff also ends this month, I done a comparison and SP online energy 12 came out cheapest. How long does it take to switch to this tarrif ? As im thinking of leaving it for a while longer to see if any cheaper tarifs come out.

Change of tariff from the same supplier should usually be able to be done immediately upon request.
(or, if preferred, they can usually time it for when your current deal ends if you have already been invited to contact them over your future tariff)

It's only switching suppliers that takes a minimum of 4 and typically about 6 weeks.

beecher2

I phoned just before 7 last night and was told the change would be immediate but my account still says 'online fixed price energy 2011'. Should I phone up, or leave it for a bit?

toepazz

beecher2 wrote: »

Only if you change suppliers - no charge if you change products within Scottish Power.

I went for Online Energy Saver 12 too, and phoned them to get it.

Does this mean you have to pay a cancellation charge if you change to one of THEIR other tariffs?

"

We may apply cancellation charges inclusive of VAT of £30 for electricity and £20 for
gas if you switch to Online Energy Saver 12 Offer but then cancel your supply contract
or switch to another tariff before the 29th February 2012. These charges will be
amended, if there is a change in the VAT rate at any time or times before 29th February
2012, by an amount equivalent to the applicable change in the VAT rate. These

charges will not be applied if the supply contract is cancelled due to a home move.
"

samizdat

I'd leave it a bit, unless you can call them for free!

I have done a lot of spreadsheet work on the London region.

It is really frustrating! One supplier might save me £100 a year on electricity, but it will be £100 more for gas, or vice versa.

So I decided that maybe I should adopt a seasonal approach. Gas consumption is much more seasonal than electricity. So the idea is that, as this Scottish Power fix ends on 28 February, towards the end of the Winter gas peak, I will be better off switching to a cheap electricity supplier and ignoring gas, on the assumption that I will switch Gas again in October.

Obviously, you then have to look through all the switching costs, such as: up-front cashback foregone, explicit cancellation charges, loss of discounts, loss of final bill discount, expected opportunity cost of inflexibility when a customer of 2 different suppliers (i.e. your future switching costs may be higher, net of cashback) etc. etc.

It's a bit of a nightmare.

However, I think I am leaning towards Ovo Energy 12-month Fixed electricity, and nPower Sign On-line 21 Gas.

nPower actually appear to be very expensive for gas, but it turns out that they are very expensive for Winter gas, and not too bad for summer gas, because of the reduced number of primary units that they apply in the summer months. Cashback of £20.20 effectively nets off the £20 explicit cancellation charge, so you are left with the loss of the £52.50 end-of-year gas discount and the £10.50 dual fuel end-of-year discount, in exchange for avoiding their hideous Winter gas rates.

nPower SOL 21 electricity is prima facie the cheapest, but this assumes that they do not jack their prices up, which they undoubtedly will. The 12-month guarantee is that they remain 2% below their standard tariff prices, but at the moment they are 33% below on my consumption figures (actually not what they base the guarantee on), so there is plenty of room for increases!

Meanwhile, Ovo are about the same price for electricity before nPower end-of year discounts, and you also get the protection of a fixed price, with just a £30 cancellation charge and no messing with final discounts.

There is no cashback for Ovo on TCB/Quidco - anyone know what would be the best comparison site for cashback with them?

samizdat

samizdat wrote: »

There is no cashback for Ovo on TCB/Quidco - anyone know what would be the best comparison site for cashback with them?

Of course, one place to look for _generic_ cashback switching deals is Martin's own article.

I like the sound of £35 Amazon vouchers with Simplyswitch, but there are a lot of horror stories it seems (non-receipt).

Will have to delve deeper.

Edit: Only £15 voucher for a single fuel switch. Will try Energyhelpine £15 cash.

Edit2: Moneysupermarket £17.50 for single fuel.

beecher2

toepazz wrote: »

Does this mean you have to pay a cancellation charge if you change to one of THEIR other tariffs?

"

We may apply cancellation charges inclusive of VAT of £30 for electricity and £20 for
gas if you switch to Online Energy Saver 12 Offer but then cancel your supply contract
or switch to another tariff before the 29th February 2012. These charges will be
amended, if there is a change in the VAT rate at any time or times before 29th February
2012, by an amount equivalent to the applicable change in the VAT rate. These

charges will not be applied if the supply contract is cancelled due to a home move.
"

That's annoying, as last night I asked about the cancellation charges and was told that there would not be one if I switched tariff but stayed with Scottish Power.

ANGLICANPAT

Seems the staff are not all singing from the same hymn sheet. Post 26 martyp was also told no charge for switched tarrif

veronarona

Well, it only says We may apply cancellation charges so I suppose one could argue with them that one had been informed there would be none :think: Must one record phone conversations? (I wonder if MSE has a bargain for that!)

I'm very confused: the deal ending this month was a no-brainer so it suited me, seems there are no more no-brainers on offer just now

veronarona