Best supplier for low usage customer

pixiechick_2

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best supplier(s) for a low usage customer (my dual fuel bill is less than £800 per year)?

I'm coming to the end of my present deal and have been told by my current supplier that they will put me on their standard tariff when my deal ends. Obviously, I'm now looking at changing suppliers but, despite being reasonably intelligent, I'm getting rather confused with all the different tariffs, with/without standing charges etc!

HappyMJ

That's not a really low user....A low user would pay much less than that....What does the comparison site say is your cheapest supplier? You should use the annual kWh shown on your bill to compare rather than the £££ figure. first:utility will probably be first but it does have a large deferred discount which you will lose if you don't pay on time and you must stay with them for 12 months or a multiple of 12 months to benefit.

pixiechick_2

Well according to the comparison sites I've been on it's low usage!


I was just coming back to add the kWh figures because I just knew that someone was going to pull me up on not putting them on :rotfl:

Consumption figures:
Gas - 11000kWh
Electricity - 1900kWh

By the way, on the Energy Helpline comparison site, npower gives average usage as gas - 16500kWh, electricity - 3,300kWh - so my usage is a lot less than average.

Your right, 1st utility comes out as cheapest but says that prices are only fixed for the first 3 months. I may be in debt but I always make sure my utility bills are paid in time by monthly direct debit.

macman

You don't say which FU tariff. If it's a variable tariff then the prices can rise the day after you go on supply. Lots of negatives about FU customer service on this board-just search.
Lower than average usage is not the same as low usage. With low usage, you'd probably find Ebico coming much higher up the list.

fordy

is there a website that just shows the tariffs without needing to compare to your current usage?

I'll be a new customer with no utility history and would like a straight list to look at.

macman

Just put in average kWh figures with any supplier you wish, you'll still get the tariff list.
You can't compare without usage figures, because annual prices vary greatly according to usage (and region).

fordy

So just hit and hope?

No offers for new customers that have nothing to compare to?

macman

You are missing the point. All the available tariffs that you can get now will come up in the site listings for you to compare. Comparing to a theoretical legacy tariff does not help you.
Just use the average annual kWh figures for your type of property.

jalexa

pixiechick wrote: »

have been told by my current supplier that they will put me on their standard tariff when my deal ends. Obviously, I'm now looking at changing suppliers

Why "obviously"? Does your current supplier not have a reasonably competitive tariff to transfer across to?

And your current supplier and tariff is? That is needed for meaningful advice.

pixiechick_2

Perhaps I should have put 'usually' not 'obviously'.

My current supplier is Scottish Power and my tariff is Online Energy Saver 9 - April 2012. I originally switched to them because of the £132 cashback from topcashback but I've been very happy with them in the 18 months they've been my supplier.

I'm having trouble accessing details of their tariffs as I keep getting an error message when I try to get a quote.

I've emailed their customer service department who sent me a link - to the part of the site where I keep getting the error message.

macman

Use a comp site-much easier.