Savings comparison sites - did you actually save!?

JasonW_2

Looking to switch supplier soon and one thing about these price comparison site Im wondering is, I could save £45 a year on leccy so approx £5.50 a month. While this is still a good saving, I was wondering if anyone has switched with the impression they would save but has either cost them more or just not saved anything! I know the sites only work on what info you put in, but this is not that easy to count sometimes.

JW

waterbaby

I don't have an answer I'm afraid, but I also wonder about whether switching will be worth it.

Prices do alter and todays best deal may be not so good tomorrow if they put the prices up.

Also, in our last house the electricity company took six months to work out which water meter was ours, and they kept sending us bills addressed to the wrong person. We paid one (to show that we did want to pay), and then refused to pay the rest until they sorted it out.

I know that a switch would probably work fine, but after the last experience I don't really want to risk problems.

I would describe myself as a 75 per cent money saver - I make a good effort to save money and I like making savings, but I have the rest of my life to get on with as well and I will only spend the time if the reward justifies it. Sounds like you feel the same.

Incidentally, the British Gas man came to our house and told us that 'Scottish Power charge a standing fee', in an attempt to get our business. I told him that I know this, and explained my calculations to him, based on the past years energy usage (in our case, their charge per unit is low enough to make paying the standing charge the cheaper option). He complemented me on my calculations and went on to the next house!

dickdasdedly

I,ve just been on these comparison sites and according to these i could save £100 + if i move.
Now maths isnt my best subject but when i compared price p/kwh with my provider and the one they want me to move to my provider was cheaper on gas & elec. Even when i factored in standing charges from my provider and the fact they did,nt have any charges and dual fuel discounts from both providers they still come out on top. it was,nt close ether it was £20 + a month.
Im with telecom plus & ive seen a thread elseware for these and im going to look at that next but unless im missing something and totally dim their sums dont add up

JasonW_2

Thanks for the replies. I am in the same way of thinking that for a potential saving of £5 a month it is a lot of effort. There are no guarantees I will save anything and it might cost me more, so to me its a waste of time switching. Of course, I want lower bills, but comparing the different rates on the sites I cannot get the sums to add up either. So far I have worked out:

No standing charge tarrifs are a con - you just pay more for the units used. This might work for people who use hardly any leccy, or away from home for weeks at a time, ie no charges at all for those times, but this wouldnt be any good to me

Higher unit costs for the first x units - Why? Usually on the no standing charge tarrifs. This is probably a clever plan to claw money back and get round the situations above - low usage + higher units = the customer thinks they are saving

Normally the lower unit costs is still higher than what I am paying for scottish power, and with the 11p/day standing charge that is around the cost of 1 unit on the higher rate with a no standing charge tarrif, so I am getting 1 unit 'free'

For now, I will stay put.

JW

Robert5988

JasonW wrote:

Looking to switch supplier soon and one thing about these price comparison site Im wondering is, I could save £45 a year on leccy so approx £5.50 a month. While this is still a good saving, I was wondering if anyone has switched with the impression they would save but has either cost them more or just not saved anything! I know the sites only work on what info you put in, but this is not that easy to count sometimes.

JW

Er isn't £45 a year saving equal to £3.75 a month not £5.50 or have I missed something?

rosscobley

My advice to people using them sites is they are rubbish. when you use them look at the unit rate that you will pay with the new company get your bill out and work out how much it will cost you. that is the only way you will know how much you will save

JasonW_2

Robert5988 wrote:

Er isn't £45 a year saving equal to £3.75 a month not £5.50 or have I missed something?

Yes, you have missed something. The fact that I am thick and crap at maths

Definitely not switching then to 'save' that piddly amount :eek: As above, there is no guarantee I would actually save. I guess the only way to really save anything is use only whats needed

D

waterbaby

You make a very good point that the amount you pay depends not only on the price but also the amount you consume.

By coincidence tonight, before I came on here, I saw at 10.00 that our heating was on till 10.30. I asked him what time he was going to bed, he said when his film had finished at 10.30, so I turned the heating off, the house will be warm enough for half an hour.

Thinking like that over the course of the winter probably removes days of heating costs. No need to be cold, but no need to pay more than required either.

stuwilky

"A lot of effort"

How?Fill in your name and address and bank details, sign contract, read meter, hew presto.

I change suppliers approximately every six months and have only ever had problems once. - and then made that situation good by giving me free electricity for 4 months while they sorted the problem out.

Its difficult to actually do the calculations manually because the per unit price is different with every supplier depending on your geographical area. Its a nightmare.

And yes, everytime I change supplier my direct debit amount reduces.... each time i switch it works out at around 3 per month for my summer supplier and then 6/8 per month for my winter supply.

waterbaby

I may try again then. No harm in looking is there.

JasonW, if I could be sure that I WAS going to save £3.75 a month, I would switch, as you save every month so it all adds up.

I'm going to wait til April though as then I'll have been here a year and can get the accurate average monthly usage to put in to the comparison site. And then check if the suggested company really will be cheaper or not.

JasonW_2

Yes I know its still a saving, but Ive only been here for 7 months, and the house is leccy only. Im having gas installed in a months time, so this and the warmer months will have a huge impact in the leccy bill. Im currently £80 underpaid so would have to pay this as a lump soom before I could switch, so all that just puts me off. Ive had my meter changed last week to a standard meter, used to be Economy 7, but havent used a single off-peak unit since I moved in, so was costing me more in unit costs and daily standing charge. Should have said that at the start actually as it does change the situation a bit

As soon as I have got the gas installed, and worked out my useage and get the leccy bill back on track, I will look again and will switch then. It just seems a hassle just now.

JW