Atlantic Electric & Gas - 25.4% Price Increase

sergeant121

I'm on what used to called Atlantic's 'Direct' tariffs (they're now called Atlantic Internet tariffs) for both electricty and gas.

Today I received a letter advising me of price increases and decreases which will apply from 1/3/05.

THE DECREASES:

Electricity 'Service Charge' going down from 10.14p/day to 4.72p/day - a saving of about £1.62 per month - wow!

Gas 'Service Charge' going down from 11.2877p/day to 9.16p/day - a saving of about £0.64 per month - wow!

That's the good news over with. Now the bad news:

THE INCREASES:

Electricity - Unit price going up from 5.2p/unit to 6.52p/unit (an increase of 25.3846%)

Gas - Unit price going up from 1.515p/unit to 1.65p/unit (an increase of 8.9109%)

dealseeker

Rates in Scottish Hydro Region
Gas as for rest of UK for internet tariff up 8.9%. :mad:

Electricity
Standing charge down 13.42p to 13.23p = 5.7p per month!! LOL:rolleyes:

Unit rate 5.75p up to 7.08p = 23.1% :mad:

Conveniently they haven't put comparison info into the notification of increase so you have to dig out your old bills to understand what is going on! Oh and you have less than 2 weeks until the increase comes into effect.

Their "commitment" to customers is that "they won't see any more electricity price increases in 2005 and into 2006 for as long as possible"...... that'll be 1st January 2006 then. :rolleyes:

Time to check the comparison sites again me thinks....

Ickle_Steve

So being on the No Standing Charge tariff it's all increase for me :mad:
To make the calculations more complicated there's also the annual cashback to consider.
I'll give it a few weeks to settle down then try the comparison sites. They don't take the cashback into account though.

FJSRiDER

dealseeker wrote:

Time to check the comparison sites again me thinks....

I have just done this (on several comparison sites) and Atlantic seems to have come out as the cheapest supplier overall.

So I've just signed up with them and am expecting (:eek: !) to save 22% (£147.81) over my current suppliers (SWEB and British Gas). We'll see.

But (interestingly?) the rate I've been quoted at is 6.6680 pence per kWh for electricity and 1.5910 pence per kWh for gas.

dealseeker

Best to check that the rate you have is not before price increase is applied. Price checkers may take a while to catch up.

Don't think there should be any difference in rates between new and existing customers.

You have a cooling off period if you are not happy with the rates they are offerring so shouldn't be too late to change your mind.
Maybe worth giving them a call on 0800 0522080.

Let us know how you get on.

FJSRiDER

dealseeker wrote:

Best to check that the rate you have is not before price increase is applied. Price checkers may take a while to catch up.

That's why I posted the p/kWh charge - they seem to be similar to the increased rate sergeant121 highlighted rather than the old rates.

I will have a total of £18.96 'standing charge' per quarter too.

COUPONKEV

I'm with Atlantic Gas & Elec and like others have received the letter warning of increases.

I've just this evening used the EnergyHelpline comparison site which suggests I can save £23.79 pa by switching to Powergen EnergyOnline. I also get a £10 cashback.

1) Does anyone know if EnergyHelpline's website is doing the comparison based on Atlantic's new rates?

2) There's mention on another thread about a £43 cashback - how do we get more than the £10 (I read something about Currys vouchers but that was a £40 offer last year, cant see how someone got £43).

3) Are the rates on which they based the Powergen figure guaranteed not to increase for a period of time or is it possible Powergen might also increase their rates in 2005 leaving me no better off, potentially worse off than if I stick with Atlantic?

Not sure what to do!

thanks
Coupon

loon_2

The increase that atlantic are having now is the alignment increase that powergen had in November/January(for online).

rosscobley

Just to let you all know the internet sites will not catch up with the new prices till about the end of march. all customers that have signed up after 31/12/04 and any customer that sign up before 3 april 05 will be signed up on the old prices and the prices will be held untill 1/7/05

COUPONKEV

rosscobley wrote:

Just to let you all know the internet sites will not catch up with the new prices till about the end of march. all customers that have signed up after 31/12/04 and any customer that sign up before 3 april 05 will be signed up on the old prices and the prices will be held untill 1/7/05

So does this mean I'll save even more by switching to Powergen or are the rates for Powergen out of date too?

loon_2

ukpower have got the updated atlantic prices already.