British Gas Websaver 5 Tariff coming to an end

humfer

Just had my "tariff coming to an end" email with them kindly telling me they will transfer me to their standard tariff at the end of the month. Just done a quick check on their site and amongst the 8 different tariffs (:eek::eek::eek:) Websaver 10 looks my best option which will cost me about an extra £25 a year but locked in for another year (£60 cancellation charges). Could save £60 if go with Scottish Power but as they charge extra for new house gas (cannot remember the exact term) guess BG have me for a few more months.....


ALTHOUGH

online saver 3 with energy smart looks like another option

websaver 5 £799 per year
websaver 10 £823 per year
online saver 3 £878 per year but with £45 discount £833 per year and no cancellation charges

Anyone know when the £45 is paid? At the end of each year I guess?

Premier_2

The extra charge for gas is presumably the IGT (Independant Gas Transporter) additional charge.

British Gas and SSE (inc Ebico) do not charge this extra - other suppliers do.

It may we worth looking at getting your fuels from different suppliers? Worth just doing a check.

I'm not sure what the £45 discount on Online saver 3 refers to. :huh: If you let us know, we can probably tell you when it is paid.

humfer

Premier wrote: »

The extra charge for gas is presumably the IGT (Independant Gas Transporter) additional charge.

British Gas and SSE (inc Ebico) do not charge this extra - other suppliers do.

It may we worth looking at getting your fuels from different suppliers? Worth just doing a check.

I'm not sure what the £45 discount on Online saver 3 refers to. :huh: If you let us know, we can probably tell you when it is paid.

Been looking a bit more at the BG site and I'm even more confused. Its says against Online Saver 3 savings of up to £150 a year with energy smart, £45 of this is a actual discount the other £105 is supposedly what the average user saves from noticing how much energy they use. However the difference between the "annual cost" and the "add energy smart" is only £110. And in another box it says online saver 3 only available with energy smart?:(

Gerrard_8_lfc

humfer wrote: »

Been looking a bit more at the BG site and I'm even more confused. Its says against Online Saver 3 savings of up to £150 a year with energy smart, £45 of this is a actual discount the other £105 is supposedly what the average user saves from noticing how much energy they use. However the difference between the "annual cost" and the "add energy smart" is only £110. And in another box it says online saver 3 only available with energy smart?:(

Correct however energysmart is more of a novilty which does wear off Websaver is a cheaper tariff than online saver 3 so you would be cheaper on that tariff and purchasing a electricity monitor or even ask BG nicely and they will give you one free of charge . That way you can keep an eye on your consumption and be on a cheaper deal. The only difference would be you would not be billed monthly.

Cheers

humfer

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

Correct however energysmart is more of a novilty which does wear off Websaver is a cheaper tariff than online saver 3 so you would be cheaper on that tariff and purchasing a electricity monitor or even ask BG nicely and they will give you one free of charge . That way you can keep an eye on your consumption and be on a cheaper deal. The only difference would be you would not be billed monthly.

Cheers

Looking more closely I don't actually think the £45 saving is an extra discount at all (i.e. paid as a lump sum) but just BG calculation based on ?% lower than standard tarif. They then add ?% of gas and elec that supposedly you'd save by being more aware of what you use to get to the £150 save. Seems like a bit of a con to me if I have read it right. May just go for the websaver then

ultramagnetic_commuter

@humfer - How did you work out how much more the new tariff would cost you? I'm in exactly the same boat as you and the BG site isn't very clear about comparing my current tarrif with the new ones (it just seems to compare available ones against each other).

Fred44

If you e-mail British Gas they will tell you which of their tariffs is the cheapest for you. In most (all?) instances this will be Websaver 10 at the moment.

katybull86

I have also been looking at this, having received my letter today. I reckon the £150 savings claim is irrelevant. As you say, it is just an estimate based on comparing OnlineSaver 3 with Standard and assuming you save 15% on consumption by using their monitor.

Also, comparing either of the options with Websaver 5 is not really useful, as it is coming to an end anyway.

The simple choice (IMHO) is between a 6% discount with WebSaver 10 with the potential £60 cancellation charge for changing before 29 Feb 2012 versus 4% with OnlineSaver 3, with the added incentive of a free £35 monitor and no cancellation charge.

My annual consumption is around £1300, so the difference between the options over the year is £26. So it seems to me that if you want a monitor anyway, Online 3 effectively gets you one for £26, with the added bonus of being able to play with EnergySmart until the novelty wears off and being able to switch again during the year at no penalty.

My wife wants to play with the monitor, so I guess we'll be signing up for OnlineSaver 3

Keith


PS On further investigation, using the comparison tool on the BG site with my own actual consumption, it looks as if the actual discounts in the current tariffs are more like 11.4% and 4.2%, rather than the quoted "minimum" of 6% and 4%, so WebSaver 10 starts to look a lot more attractive. Maybe my wife won't get to play after all !!

Gerrard_8_lfc

katybull86 wrote: »

I have also been looking at this, having received my letter today. I reckon the £150 savings claim is irrelevant. As you say, it is just an estimate based on comparing OnlineSaver 3 with Standard and assuming you save 15% on consumption by using their monitor.

Also, comparing either of the options with Websaver 5 is not really useful, as it is coming to an end anyway.

The simple choice (IMHO) is between a 6% discount with WebSaver 10 with the potential £60 cancellation charge for changing before 29 Feb 2012 versus 4% with OnlineSaver 3, with the added incentive of a free £35 monitor and no cancellation charge.

My annual consumption is around £1300, so the difference between the options over the year is £26. So it seems to me that if you want a monitor anyway, Online 3 effectively gets you one for £26, with the added bonus of being able to play with EnergySmart until the novelty wears off and being able to switch again during the year at no penalty.

My wife wants to play with the monitor, so I guess we'll be signing up for OnlineSaver 3

Keith


PS On further investigation, using the comparison tool on the BG site with my own actual consumption, it looks as if the actual discounts in the current tariffs are more like 11.4% and 4.2%, rather than the quoted "minimum" of 6% and 4%, so WebSaver 10 starts to look a lot more attractive. Maybe my wife won't get to play after all !!

Ask BG to send you a free electric monitor call 0800 048 0202 and tell them you have been told BG give these out for free.

ultramagnetic_commuter

katybull86 wrote: »

Also, comparing either of the options with Websaver 5 is not really useful, as it is coming to an end anyway.

It would be useful because then I'll know how different my current tariff is to the new one they are offering.

geordie_ben

I'm in the same boat, coming to an end at the end of the month, our annual spend is only about £800. We get dual fuel from BG and pay by monthly direct debit. What's the census so far?

We already have an OWL energy watcher thingymabob, but dont use it.

Would EnergySmart just give us another of these?

I've done a quick search on energyhelpline and switching to npower would cost me £4, and staying with BG would cost me £39.. not looked into the cancellation fees etc

So I'm guessing Websaver 10 Dual Fuel is my best option?

Also, I'm currently in credit on my gas and elec, about £110 in total.. if I switch can I claim this back?