Are Comparison Sites Accurate

jos22

Last week following Scottish Power's decision to increase prices I did a comparison using 2 sites. Both, at that time, showed that on today's prices Scottish Power were cheaper by £100+.

Today one of the sites is now showing that I could save £190 by switching. The only detail that has changed is their computation of my current spend on energy which has increased by £300.

I have worked out my annual cost (on today's prices) and found that their first estimate was correct. On the basis that Scottish Power increase their prices by 20% on both gas & electricity, and that the comparison site uses these prices today, I could not get my bill to the figure quoted by the comparison site.

Cardew

Was one of the websites 'energyhelpline'?

Clairabella

I have just moved from one fixed tariff to another. The saving was supposedly £14. Today I received details of the new direct debit and it will be a whopping £324pa more!! I have rung energy help line and twice they have explained that I will be saving money this way but, I cannot get my head round it!

Plushchris

The thing you need to remember are the savings that are quoted are for the year ahead, not the past year. If you are on a tariff that ends soon there is no point comparing with something you are not going to be on. The websites do a "projected" spend based on the tariff you are likely to go onto (or in this case they factor in the price rises)

Energyhelpline gives you the extra benefit of being able to compare both ways, if you read the red writing at the top it takes you to a page that explains how they have calculated your spend and gives you the option to calculate it based on the tariff thats about to expire.

Clairabella

Plushchris - thank you. You have explained it so much better than the switch company reps did.

I still feel that an increase of 23.4% is massive - and I fixed this before the current price hikes!

Cardew

Plushchris wrote: »

The websites do a "projected" spend based on the tariff you are likely to go onto (or in this case they factor in the price rises)

I thought it was only energyhelpline that this???? or iirc the other websites didn't?

jos22

Cardew wrote: »

Was one of the websites 'energyhelpline'?

No

Uswitch

Money Supermarket - changed their mind this week

jos22

Plushchris wrote: »

The thing you need to remember are the savings that are quoted are for the year ahead, not the past year. If you are on a tariff that ends soon there is no point comparing with something you are not going to be on. The websites do a "projected" spend based on the tariff you are likely to go onto (or in this case they factor in the price rises)

On that basis the comparison site (Money Supermarket) in a week has decided my energy costs are going to rise nearly 50% next year. At the same time the comparator tariffs (including Scottish Power) have not changed.

Premier_2

jos22 wrote: »

Are Comparison Sites Accurate

Yes.

If you wnat help understanding the output, you will need to give us all the details.

Plushchris

Cardew wrote: »

I thought it was only energyhelpline that this???? or iirc the other websites didn't?

Yeah thats right, I kinda made a generalisation, EHL is the only one that does the calculation based on the tariff ending and what you are likely to go on to as far as I'm aware, but if a company puts their prices up then I think all of the sites do the spend based on the newer rates (as soon as they update their website)

jos22

Premier wrote: »

Yes.

If you wnat help understanding the output, you will need to give us all the details.

Thank you but I understand the output. What I don't understand is this:-

Last Week

Last week comparison site stated that best "other" tariff, also a Scottish Power non fixed price would cost just over £100 more than my present non fixed price tariff.

This week

Same comparison site, same energy use states that by switching to this "other" Scottish Power tariff I could save £200 approx against my present tariff.

On both comparisons the cost of the "other" Scottish Power tariff has remained the same. The only change has been to the estimated cost of my present tariff.