Comparison Sites may mislead

h49

I just tried to check that I'm on a reasonable tariff with ScottishPower. (I'm on Online Saver 10.) I used 3 of the comparison site links from this site. All suggested that significant savings could be made by switching. All the sites said that First Utility would save me £133 pa. None of the sites mentioned any tariffs from ScottishPower. However, I subscribe to Which? and I was interested in whether the customer feedback ratings for any of the proposed tariffs were better / worse that ScottishPower, so I completed their switching questionaire, too. Their results show there is a ScottishPower tariff (Online Saver 16) that would save me £131 pa. So I now wonder if the comparison sites ELIMINATE results from your current supplier in order to get you to switch, so they can get their cash from the new supplier? It was interesting to note from Which? that the two or three tariffs that were slightly cheaper than the best from my current supplier had significantly worse customer satisfaction ratings. So my view is that the comparison sites don't give the full picture, you may be able to get a good deal without switching.

t0rt0ise

Try the same sites saying you are with another supplier and see if Scottish Power comes up.

I'm with EDF and using uSwitch, it does show EDF's other tariffs in its results so your theory doesn't work with uSwitch at least.

Airmike23

Most of the sites have a question, "show me tariffs I can switch to today", it is already answered yes, so if you do not change that questions answer to no, you will get no results for current provider, as the sites make money on you switching, by answering no you get all results including current bill provider.

Cardew

h49 wrote: »

I just tried to check that I'm on a reasonable tariff with ScottishPower. (I'm on Online Saver 10.) I used 3 of the comparison site links from this site. All suggested that significant savings could be made by switching. All the sites said that First Utility would save me £133 pa. None of the sites mentioned any tariffs from ScottishPower. However, I subscribe to Which? and I was interested in whether the customer feedback ratings for any of the proposed tariffs were better / worse that ScottishPower, so I completed their switching questionaire, too. Their results show there is a ScottishPower tariff (Online Saver 16) that would save me £131 pa. So I now wonder if the comparison sites ELIMINATE results from your current supplier in order to get you to switch, so they can get their cash from the new supplier? It was interesting to note from Which? that the two or three tariffs that were slightly cheaper than the best from my current supplier had significantly worse customer satisfaction ratings. So my view is that the comparison sites don't give the full picture, you may be able to get a good deal without switching.

Welcome to the forum.

The comparison websites are regulated. However they are in business to get you to switch and hence get commission, so the thrust of your post is correct, if not the detail.

There are a number of 'tricks' they use to achieve this aim. An obvious one being to grade 'Service'. It would be easy to speculate that there might be a correlation between high service score and high level of commission!

Another method for those on a fixed/capped tariff, nearing the end of its term, is to assume that you will switch to the most expensive Standard tariff(the default position for most companies) and give your annual spend on that assumption.

e.g. fixed tariff ends in 3 months, annual spend will be given as 3 months on fixed tariff and 9 months on Standard tariff.

All of this is explained in the 'small print' for those who read it - many don't!

System

Every time I have used the various comparison sites, my own current supplier's tariffs have always been included in the list
(without me needing to change anything from the default)

You can use the comparison sites and some of the cashback sites to switch tariff but stay with the current supplier.

undaunted

At the end of the day comparisons sites may be helpful but are still businesses out to make money not to become your best mate.

If comparison sites were totally there for your benefit alone you ought to get the same result with them all. You don't in my experience (thinking car insurance not just energy here) so that "detective / murder" tv programme that used to use the phrase "trust no one, suspect everyone" is probably worth bearing in mind when looking at the results.

Geodesic66

Welcome to the forum - I'm new here too.

Having just done the annual comparison of suppliers I can confirm that my current supplier came up top, but in doing so revealed that I wasn't on the tariff I thought I was on as the "current rates" stated didn't tie up with what I thought I was paying!

Further investigation revealed that I have fallen victim to an EDF scam whereby an online rate ends and they say they will inform you a month before it ends in their Ts and Cs, but then don't and you end up on the "Standard" (AKA rubbish) rates.

When I put in the correct tariffs in from the online bill this changed the comparison completely such that I could save 16% a year by switching so I will (as it happens to my previous supplier). I'll also be claiming back the difference in the rates as they have broken their Ts and Cs by not informing me.

To me customer service is just a lottery with energy companies and with the huge amounts involved these days, sadly what matters has to be the price you pay. In our village we have a couple of power cuts a year anyway (1 mile from the M25) which is nothing to do with the electricity supplier and so the main reason for complaining (i.e. the lights don't work) isn't even applicable to the supplier you select! They are all much of a muchness, and will rip you off as much as they can unless you know your rights and argue with them tooth and nail. My experience is that you will eventually win the argument and the money back, but of course they rely on the 95% who allow themselves to be ripped off.