Confused about energy costs

Rose_Crow

Hi there,

I'm relatively new to home ownership, having lived in our first house for a year. We were on a discounted energy plan with Scottish Power which is due to end on 31st July 2011. They were offering a replacement discounted energy plan though the prices will have increased.

I've been to USwitch and they said I could make a saving so decided to go with npower sign online 22 for both gas and electricity.

I've received paperwork from them today, and they seem to charge a standing charge which Scottish Power did not do. Can someone have a look at my prices below and let me know whether it's going to cost more?

I'm struggling to get my head around this. All prices are exc. VAT.


Proposed Scottish Power Deal

Electricity: First 225kWh used each quarter 20.539p then 10.278p

Gas: First 670kWh " " " 7.663p then 3.524p

Proposed npower Deal

Electricity: First 2kWh used each day (so approx 180kWh per quarter)

The only price I have is 8.35p don't know if this is the higher or lower rate PLUS 18.80p daily standing charge.

Gas: First 4572kWh used each year (different for different months, Nov-Feb 882 kWh, March 272kWh, Apr & Oct 271kWh, May-Sept 46kWh)

The only price I have for gas is 3.162p - don't know if this is the higher or lower rate PLUS 36.90p daily standing charge.

Do these companies do this deliberately to confuse people into paying more by mistake?

Thanks to anyone who got to the end of this post.

ic

When you have a standing charge, you normally just have a single rate per kWh of gas and electric.
With no standing charge you have a high rate for x amount, which then falls to a lower rate beyond that point. The higher rate is to claw in the lost of cost of the standing charge - its the standing charge in disguise!

So the Scottish Power deal is no standing charge, and the NPower deal has a standing charge (though I'm not sure why you have the "first x amounts there - perhaps confusion between two tariffs?). Each has its plus points - an empty house with a standing charge for example will still owe something, whilst if that same house were on a no standing charge and no gas or electric is used, there will be nothing left owing.

Otherwise yes, its partly to make comparing difficult! Don't forget that on top of what you've listed, there's probably discounts for dual fuel, online meter reading, payment by direct debit, etc. etc.... My current tariff with Eon gives a 20% discount, so obviously that makes a big difference when comparing. Also remember that sometimes the discount is applied at each bill, sometimes it is applied once per year, so if you jump ship prior to that point of the year, you may lose the discount!

As you're new, you won't have figures on, so I guess went through the comparison engines using their estimation facilities? Really you can only go with this till you've a good years worth of bills - in future pump the actual kWh used into the comparison sites for a real comparison. Of course once you've signed up, prices can change down the line, so keep your wits about you and check the comparison engines at least once per year or when you're notified of a change to your tariff.

Rose_Crow

Thanks I haven't read through your whole post yet, but just noticed on the page which details the higher and lower rates, it also says "with most of our credit meter tariffs you pay higher rate etc etc" and also "this doesn't apply to our prepayment meter tariffs and certain online and non-standard tariffs". So maybe that's it. Sounds like that pay is just a standard thing they chuck in the envelope. On the page detailing the sign online 22 details it just shows one unit rate and the daily standing charge.

Thanks for you help. Makes much more sense to have a real person explain it, rather than a huge energy company

Rose_Crow

Just read the rest of your post. You're right I don't have the actual kWh figures, but on USwitch I chose Scottish Power's Discounted Energy March 2013 which was the one they were going to move us onto in August. USwitch didn't have our current deal which is the August 2011 one, but I don't suppose it makes a lot of difference, as we were being kicked off that plan anyway. Will definitely use the actual kWh figures next time. Do you use these direct debit online deals? My parents always pay their energy bills quarterly, though I much prefer to pay something every month, that way I know I won't be in for a big shock - seems to have worked so far as we're about £50 in credit with SP. The only problem with these deals is they always have an exit fee, NPower's is £20 for each fuel if we leave before July 2012 which is a tad annoying. I'm surprised USwitch didn't stick us on a fixed price deal :think:

Thanks again for your time