Internet comparison sites Vs suppliers quotes are different & calculating annual use

fimonkey

Dear All,

After suffering a price hike for a monthly DD for dual fuel from Scottich Power from of £110 to £168 pm I decided to try and get smart and compare energy prices.

From never having read a meter in my life I have now calculated the number of units we currently use per week (for the past 4 weeks I've taken a reading of both meters, applied the gas conversion factor, then taken an average).

We use:
Electricity; 179Kw/ph per week
Gas; 556Kw/ph per week

So back to Scottish Power who tell me that based on these figures if I switch to their online energy saver 12 my monthly DD will be £146pm which will save me £264 per year, but these figures entered onto a comparison website (energy helpline) show me saving £325 per year on that tariff

Anyone know whey there's such a discrepancy?

Also, to enter the details on the energy helpline website I multiplied by 52 to get a yearly average. Except obviously its winter and we're using more energy to this is an over-estimate. Do the energy companies and comparison websites allow for this or are they basing my monthly DD's on what we're currently using?

Thanks in advance.

Cardew

You have to know your annual consumption in kWh for both gas and electricity.

If you tell Scottish Power on the phone that you are using 556kWh a week at this time of the year, they will have tables that estimate you will use, say, 18,000kWh pa - you use far less in the Spring and summer

If you enter 556kWh x 52 = 28,912kWh in a comparison website it will work out your saving for a consumption that is 11,000kWh more. The more you use - the greater your saving and this accounts for the discrepancy between the Scottish Power figure from the company and the comparison website.

Both figures are correct because you are calculating savings on different amounts.

MillicentBystander

You need to ring your supplier and request they provide details of your gas and electricity usage over the last 12 months. Don't worry, they are legally obliged to give you this info. Then, armed with those 'true' figures you can either hit the switching sites yourself or come back here and we'll help out (there are lots of pitfalls that can be avoided by getting the info from the people on here which could save you lots of hassle/money in the future).

fimonkey

Thanks for the advice. The only true meter reading we have is from last April, all over readings were estimated other than when I took the readings myself. Thus I can get readings from April to now, and divide by the number of days - but this is still going to be 'out' somewhat isn't it?

Is it still worth looking at it from April (thats when we moved in)

Cheers again

silverjay

I always do my own comparison by clicking on the more info button to get the actual charging rates per unit and any standing charges. Then I take my last bill and work out what it would have cost me with the different suppliers I am looking at switching to, to see what the real saving to me will be.