Electricity help

Laura1206

Hi, I'm new to this board. I have been doing a little research on electricity bills as I am aware that prices are going up.

I am currently with Scottish Power and have lived in my one bed flat since December. I have so far had two bills, one for £127.02 (actual) and a second one for £84 (estimated). It is all electricity in my flat and unfortunately do not have Economy 7. I had a bit of a shock at the prices but with the cold over the past few months have had the heaters on, although I am trying not to use them so much now. With Scottish Power I am on their standard pay monthly plan, I have just signed up to their online service to pay by direct debit and had to pick an option when signing up, it was quite confusing. I ended up picking one that was about saving 2% online and having no daily charge, providing regular meter readings and paying by direct debit.

I have been on uSwitch to look at prices and saving money. The top one was Npower on their Sign Online 21 deal. It works out that if I stayed with Scottish Power I would spend £1008 a year, whereas with Npower it would be £646. SP charge 13.619p/kwh, Npower 17.62p per kWh 9.16p per kWh above 728 kWh p.a, if that makes sense? Now, am I best staying with Scottish Power to see if my bill comes down over the coming months with it getting warmer and me using the heaters less or do I switch now? I am renting but trying to tighten my purse strings as I am trying to save a deposit for a house, not doing so well at the moment!

I'm sorry this is so long winded, this is all so confusing and I need a bit of help!

Thank you all v much for reading

KimYeovil

Using heater less is neither here nor there if the price for each kWh is less. Why do you doubt the uSwitch quote? If you are on Scottish Power's standard tariff then you can save a lot of money switching to one of Scottish Power's cheaper tariffs (or another supplier's.) If you have used the winter payments then the twelve months saving will be smaller - but still pro rata to what you actually use (give or take tier 1).

penrhyn

Economy 7 only makes sense if you have storage heaters and take advantage of the cheap night rate.

Laura1206

KimYeovil wrote: »

Using heater less is neither here nor there if the price for each kWh is less. Why do you doubt the uSwitch quote? If you are on Scottish Power's standard tariff then you can save a lot of money switching to one of Scottish Power's cheaper tariffs (or another supplier's.) If you have used the winter payments then the twelve months saving will be smaller - but still pro rata to what you actually use (give or take tier 1).

No, I don't doubt uSwitch's quote. I was just wondering if it was worthwhile me staying with Scottish Power a bit longer to see if my bills came down as I am not using the heating anywhere near as much as I was. I have signed up to their online paying system and chosen the option that saves me 2% and there is no daily standing charge. I was just wondering if I should bite the bullet and switch to Npower even though they charge more per kwh. I find it a bit hard to understand and not sure what to do for the best.