British gas or EDF,help me decide Please.

cooking-mama

Looking for help,basicaly,according to Uswitch i would save £150 if i changed from BG. to EDF....BUT,im confused re;standing charges and discounts...for anyone who knows anything(i dont),is this a clear cut £150 savibg,or could it possibly be less due to BG discounts and lack of standing charges...any advice greatfully accepted,I need to make my decision today(other option i have thought of is BG websaver 12,still variable rate but 6% lower than standard,Thanks guys.
New plan details
Fixed Price 2014 (from EDF)

Unit prices

Gas
Annual standing charge of £82.36
3.556p per kWh (3.387p excl. VAT)
Electricity
Annual standing charge of £80.94
12.107p per kWh (11.530p excl. VAT)
All prices shown are inclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Gas Discounts

£8.00 for Dual Fuel Gas customers
6.00% for customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Electricity Discounts

6.00% for Standard Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Fixed Price 2014 features

Prices will be fixed until 31st March 2014
Cancellation fee of £70 if contract terminated before 31st March 2012 and £30 if cancelled before 31st March 2013

Current plan details
Standard (from British Gas)

Unit prices

Gas
No standing charge
8.635p per kWh (8.224p excl. VAT)
3.917p per kWh (3.730p excl. VAT) above 2680 kWh p.a.
Electricity
No standing charge
25.797p per kWh (24.569p excl. VAT) above 17692 kWh p.a.
12.558p per kWh (11.960p excl. VAT) above 720 kWh p.a.
All prices shown are inclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Gas Discounts

0.19p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Gas customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit up to a maximum of £61.91 a year
Electricity Discounts

1.78p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Standard Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit up to a maximum of £38.09 a year
0.67p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Dual Fuel Standard Electricity customers up to a maximum of £14.25 a year
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Standard features

No cancellation fees
Paperless billing available

PS/I forgot to add I want to save money(who doesnt),but im also worried about EDF's poor reputation with MSE'rs..and do BG;s Rewards such as free insulation,free energy monitors,£3 a month boiler/plumbing/electric cover,make up for higher tarrifs.?

HalloweenJack

EDF plan is fixed till march 2014 - and will not go up before then

BG is standard price and will change when they put prices up.

cooking-mama

Thanks HalloweenJack,apparantly Uswitch have based this comparison on BG's increased prices due on 18/08.....Altho theres nothing to say they wont go up againafter that...im realy tempted to go with EDF for peace of mind...im also just under £200 in credit with BG just now,so probably a good time to switch for various reasons.

Premier_2

cooking-mama wrote: »

Looking for help,basicaly,according to Uswitch i would save £150 if i changed from BG. to EDF....BUT,im confused re;standing charges and discounts...for anyone who knows anything(i dont),is this a clear cut £150 savibg,or could it possibly be less due to BG discounts and lack of standing charges...any advice greatfully accepted,I need to make my decision today(other option i have thought of is BG websaver 12,still variable rate but 6% lower than standard,Thanks guys.
New plan details
Fixed Price 2014 (from EDF)

Unit prices

Gas
Annual standing charge of £82.36
3.556p per kWh (3.387p excl. VAT)
Electricity
Annual standing charge of £80.94
12.107p per kWh (11.530p excl. VAT)
All prices shown are inclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Gas Discounts

£8.00 for Dual Fuel Gas customers
6.00% for customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Electricity Discounts

6.00% for Standard Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Fixed Price 2014 features

Prices will be fixed until 31st March 2014
Cancellation fee of £70 if contract terminated before 31st March 2012 and £30 if cancelled before 31st March 2013

Current plan details
Standard (from British Gas)

Unit prices

Gas
No standing charge
8.635p per kWh (8.224p excl. VAT)
3.917p per kWh (3.730p excl. VAT) above 2680 kWh p.a.
Electricity
No standing charge
25.797p per kWh (24.569p excl. VAT) above 17692 kWh p.a.
12.558p per kWh (11.960p excl. VAT) above 720 kWh p.a.
All prices shown are inclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Gas Discounts

0.19p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Gas customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit up to a maximum of £61.91 a year
Electricity Discounts

1.78p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Standard Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit up to a maximum of £38.09 a year
0.67p/kWh off tier 2 rates for Dual Fuel Standard Electricity customers up to a maximum of £14.25 a year
All discounts shown are exclusive of V.A.T. at 5%

Standard features

No cancellation fees
Paperless billing available

PS/I forgot to add I want to save money(who doesnt),but im also worried about EDF's poor reputation with MSE'rs..and do BG;s Rewards such as free insulation,free energy monitors,£3 a month boiler/plumbing/electric cover,make up for higher tarrifs.?

The comparison sites give you the annual cost of your energy (inclusive of any discounts etc) assuming no price changes in the meantime.

As the previous poster points out, the BG tariff is variable whilst the EDF one is fixed. AS they say, prices can go up or down. The recently announced price increase by BG will be included on the comparison site's results.

cooking-mama

Thanks guys,so the saving is pretty accurate then,and not realy likely to vary much...decision made,gonna go with EDF...did a 2nd comparison based on BG;s only Fixed rate,price promise 2013,and EDF will save me a whopping £229,per year with this comparison..So for a saving of over £458 in 2years,its worth the risk of dodgy customer service...and with those savings i could buy my own insulation/energy monitor and still have change.;)
Worth it for the peace of mind too.
Update.OK deed done...hope ive done the right thing,..applied over the phone,short and simple so far,although apparantly the whole process could take up to 8weeks to complete,and in the meantime I may have to pay their standard tarriff,!..hope thats not too steep then!
I should get a pack in 5days time,with everything in detail.

HalloweenJack

if you take this years price increase - say 16% , then add them for the next 3 years - as a random guess - 50% over teh standard price now , the savings made will be better than the figure you have

macman

You mean that you phoned EDF and managed to get straight through?!
Had you applied via a cashback site, you'd have been £20 up already on the deal.
You will be on BG Standard until well after their increase comes into effect on 18/8.

backfoot

HalloweenJack wrote: »

if you take this years price increase - say 16% , then add them for the next 3 years - as a random guess - 50% over teh standard price now , the savings made will be better than the figure you have

You may be correct. The danger is that these fixed deals are normalising our view of how prices will rise. Not only rise but mega rise in line with the current hikes.

If such increases are linked to oil prices then we are going to suffer fuel poverty on an unprecented scale and cost of living inflation from petrol through to food and other prices.

Many may be smug in the short term from fixing but the long term consequences are horrific.Non of this is personally directed,

grumpycrab

macman wrote: »

...
You will be on BG Standard until well after their increase comes into effect on 18/8.

On the bright side, better to do now than over the winter (when consumption is higher).

cooking-mama

macman wrote: »

You mean that you phoned EDF and managed to get straight through?!
Had you applied via a cashback site, you'd have been £20 up already on the deal.
You will be on BG Standard until well after their increase comes into effect on 18/8.

Yeh with hindsight i shouldve gone via a cashback site,but i was worried that the "deal" would be withdrawn..id already missed out on the scottish power one with free boiler cover,because i was too slow,then it got pulled,
Didnt get through "straight away",but was only on hold for 3 or 4 mins..and im happier to be on BG's standard for a few weeks..maybe even couple of months than until 20014...not using much gas just now anyway,even up here in sunny Scotland,but by jings,we;l be using plenty come winter no doubt;)

cooking-mama

backfoot wrote: »

You may be correct. The danger is that these fixed deals are normalising our view of how prices will rise. Not only rise but mega rise in line with the current hikes.

If such increases are linked to oil prices then we are going to suffer fuel poverty on an unprecented scale and cost of living inflation from petrol through to food and other prices.

Many may be smug in the short term from fixing but the long term consequences are horrific.Non of this is personally directed,

Totaly agree backfoot,however im not feeling "smug" at all,but i have a quiet reassurance for the next couple of years at least.:)