Am I a total numpty or is it actually difficult to understand tarifs?

Adrian_J

ViolaLass wrote: »

or A level maths.

I struggled with O level maths!

That you have A level maths means your understanding of mathematics is better than the average person.

so of course more simplistic maths will be easier for you to comprehend whilst for me more difficult

Anyway of topic...

I will go and re-read the pages, the links after I have worked out my kwh for gas and electricity

Adrian

Plushchris

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I am with Kim on this one. I won't use comparison sites because I want to see the actual tariff and do a few 'what if' calculations. The comparison sites obscure the information I want, as do the suppliers themselves.

What comparisons sites have you used that "obscure" the tariff information?

Personally I find they make the tariff information MUCH easier to find on comparison sites than anywhere else..

ViolaLass

Adrian_J wrote: »

I struggled with O level maths!

That you have A level maths means your understanding of mathematics is better than the average person.

so of course more simplistic maths will be easier for you to comprehend whilst for me more difficult

Anyway of topic...

I will go and re-read the pages, the links after I have worked out my kwh for gas and electricity

Adrian

I was responding to your point that you have a degree 'from the time when degrees meant something' (I paraphrase) and should therefore not struggle with this (you said that).

I was agreeing with you. I don't think you should be struggling with this either. x number of units multiplied by one price plus x number of units multiplied by the second price gives you your total cost. Which bit do you struggle with? (if you could explain, I might be able to help)

Adrian_J

ViolaLass wrote: »

I was responding to your point that you have a degree 'from the time when degrees meant something' (I paraphrase) and should therefore not struggle with this (you said that).

I was agreeing with you. I don't think you should be struggling with this either. x number of units multiplied by one price plus x number of units multiplied by the second price gives you your total cost. Which bit do you struggle with? (if you could explain, I might be able to help)

But I also admitted maths is not my strong point.

Even now I will get work colleagues to check my calculations, yet I understand how HIV integrates, and avoids immune systems...

Right will be back later

Adrian

DVardysShadow

Plushchris wrote: »

What comparisons sites have you used that "obscure" the tariff information?

Personally I find they make the tariff information MUCH easier to find on comparison sites than anywhere else..

I gave up on them years ago because of difficulties like email response only and everything being done by £ rather than kWH. But just having been to one of the recommended ones from this thread, I agree, you can see the tariffs and things have moved on. But you are still limited to the suppliers they choose to show you.

cepheus

Don't wish to confuse you, but you can gain more by linking through a cashback site, Topcashback is the best.

Plushchris

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I gave up on them years ago because of difficulties like email response only and everything being done by £ rather than kWH. But just having been to one of the recommended ones from this thread, I agree, you can see the tariffs and things have moved on. But you are still limited to the suppliers they choose to show you.

What suppliers did they "choose" not to show you?

dogshome

Hi Adrian J - As others have suggested, do not use your D/Debit payment levels on the Switch sites as it's rough & ready information that will get rough & ready answers

For an accurate response you must enter your annual Gas & Elect use in Kwh - If you cannot determine this from your bills - phone your supplier who will tell you.

Try the 'switchwithwhich' site - This gives the usual list of suppliers prices in price ascending order, but on each one there are icons for the Tariff & Terms. Click on the Tariff and the next screen will show all price details directly alogside those of your present supplier - Click on Terms and it will show the conditions, ie. Contract Term and any early exit penalties

Adrian_J

Annual electricity usage in KWh 7554

Annual Gas usage in KWH 10717

On BG One Click 6 tariff

Entered the two sets of figures into Energy Helpline and Uswitch

USwitch:

You are currently paying £464.26 a year for gas and £704.19 a year for electricity based on a consumption of 10717kWh for gas and 7554kWh for electricity with British Gas.

Unit prices

Gas7.331p per KWh (6.982p excl. VAT)3.332p per KWh (3.173p excl. VAT) above 2680 kWh p.aElectricity21.27p per KWh (20.26p excl. VAT)8.06p per KWh (7.68p excl. VAT) above 720 kWh p.a All prices shown are inclusive of V.A.T. at 5%


Whislt this morning when I entered my monthly DD payments Uswitch suggested Websaver11 from BG though would cost me an extra £33 or so per year


Now with the KWh information it suggests standard duel fuel and will cost and extra ~£87 a year (but the cheapest!)


Energy Helpline


Your Current Gas Usage: 10717kWh per year
Your Current Electricity Usage: 7554kWh per year



Unit charge (pence per kWh) 7.331 p for the first 670 kWh per quarter, and 3.332 p thereafter 21.273 p for the first 180 kWh per quarter, and 8.063 p thereafter

Your current spend on gas & electricity is £1,098 per year.



Save £40 by swtiching to websaver 11 (as opposed to £33 earlier)


Comments thoughts anyone?

KimYeovil

I took your figures but could not recreate any difference between the uSwitch and EnergyHelpline results. Are you sure you are including the same inputs?

I am not sure what you mean by

Now with the KWh information it suggests standard duel fuel and will cost and extra ~£87 a year (but the cheapest!)

but if on that iteration you chose pay quarterly rather than direct debit then, yes, the suggested cost will be significantly higher.

I would suggest you consider nPower's Go Fix 5 tariff. For your useage it is the same cost as BG's WebSaver 11 but has the significant advantage of being a fixed price. (Although there is no guarantee prices will be going up I don't think anyone will be losing sleep betting that one of the current cheaper tariffs will become uncompetitive any time soon.) It is, though, a short fix.