British Gas phone offer

Emma18

Coming to end of Eon contract currently on Fixonline V5. They suggest going to EnergyOnline - however, comparison says that Eon's SaveOnline 5 Dual Fuel is cheaper than the EnergyOnline (they are just trying their luck I think - hoping we wouldn't check!)

British Gas rep phoned me 3 times now with temptations of thousands of Nectar points (which I don't currently use) and his rates are as follows:
Electricity@ 19.85p for first 180 units then 8.528p up to 720 units per quarter. When we hit 720 units, we revert back to 19.85p for the next 180 units and so on....

Finding it a bit confusing - I guess that's their aim!

British Gas rates for Gas are 6.8p for first 670kwh per quarter, then 2.319p

Help! I don't know if we are better to go with BG because of this pricing structure...

Eon SaveOnline 5 is 20.150p for first 225 kw per quarter, 9.07p thereafter. I assume whatever we use the rest of the quarter will be at the cheaper rate and not loop back to the higher rate like the British Gas one does?

Our usage since Jan 10 is Electricity: 6055 units Gas: 30,324kwh (if I've converted correctly! - our units used are 1120 since Nov 09.

Can anyone with a better maths brain than mine help? British Gas guy going to phone back this week and I just wonder if it's easier to stay with Eon - less hassle and easier to understand pricing....? Four children to look after mean I don't get much time to devote to this kind of thing! Thanks!

SwanJon

I work for for British Gas,so maybe able to help.
Ignore the nectar points if the rest of the deal doesn't suit.

The two tier thing: You pay more for the first bit each day, and then the rest (no matter how much) is cheaper. it doesn't go back up after you use a certain amount (i.e. exactly the same as Eon). It works out pretty much the same as a standing charge if you use more than the threshold.
Check the prices on a comparison website - other suppliers than eon & BG are available!

Your gas consumption looks high - about double the notional average. Does your meter have m3 next to the reading? (often a white bodied meter). If so you've used closer to 12500, which is a bit below the notional average.

Airmike23

Sounds like it's web saver 10, only tariff that may offer those sort of rates, if you do a comparison, save online 5, npower sign online 21, edf online saver 8, and scot pow online energy saver 12 wil all be cheaper than BG.

Emma18

Thanks for your replies.

Eon SaveOnline 5 was the second cheapest on comparison site 'energyhelpline' EDF Online Saver 8 was no.1 saves us an extra £19 over the year. Tried two other comparison sites and they didn't find us any savings! I'm not sure that can be right though.....will try again! BG didn't appear to show up in any of them....

I have just checked gas meter but it's 'ft 3' not m3. Nov 09 gas reading was 1842. Reading today is 2962, means we used 1120 units in 14 months. I multiplied by 2.83, then by 1.02264, then by 39.3 and divided by 3.6 to work out kwh (these figures are on a Dec 09 bill (would they have changed at all?) This gave me the figure of 35,384, but as it was 14 months worth, I divided by 14 and multiplied by 12 to get an average of 30,324kwh for 12 months for the purpose of comparison.

Are we just using way too much gas?! With 2 adults and 4 children I guess there are more of us than average! We currently pay £102pm to Eon for dual and it seems to cover us OK as we are approx £100 in credit at the moment with them. You've got me worried now though!

The BG rep definitely said about the rate reverting back to the higher rate after 720 units reached (he reckoned that would last us a month). Difficult having a conversation though when they talk fast and there are children screaming in your ear!!:)

macman

Pro-rating 14m to 12m is not always reliable if the overlap months include winter months of high consumption-you will use up to 80% of your total annual gas consumption in the winter quarter. Just use your last 4 bills, which should cover approx 1 year.
If you put in your annual kWh consumption (not your monthly DD amount), then the comp sites should produce similar results.