Confusing comparison

skintony

As my current tarriff with N power expires at the end of the month, I went online to look for a new deal. I tried U switch and Go compare first, and they came up with very similar results, (a very slight increase on what I am paying now). I then tried Money Supermarket, and using exactly the same data as before, was rather supprised when the result came up and they claimed that they could save me £285 a year on my annual bill by switching to Scottish Power!! Now being a naturally suspicious type, I then went on to Scottish Powers own site, and put my data into the tarriff recommended by Money supermarket, which came up with an increase of £125 a year on my current payment. (this figure was confirmed the following day, when I was `phoned by a Scottish Power rep. who told me that the figure quoted on their website was correct).
I wasn`t "brave" enough to press the Switch button on the Money Supermarket site, but wonder what would have happened if I had.

macman

Are you using your annual kWH figures as input? Using monthly DD amounts does not give accurate results.
Also remember that the comp sites give prices for the next 12m-not for what your DD is currently set at-which may not be one twelfth of your actual annual usage. Your current tariff expires in one month, so the figure produced will reflect whatever tariff you will then be defaulted to for the next 11 months.
So essentially you are not comparing like with like.

lithopsian

Dig down into the details. You made a mistake or the MSE database temporarily had the wrong data. Either way it isn't your birthday today

skintony

Thanks to you both for replying to my post. Just to clarify, yes I did use my annual kwh readings for all my inquiries, I keep a record of both meter readings each month and added them up for the last 12 months (I`m retired with too much time on my hands!) When my present tarriff expires, my current supplier would revert me back to their standard tarriff, so I also entered the same readings for this, and was quoted an even greater saving of £646 per annum. I did e mail Money Supermarket asking for an explanation of their figures, but have not received any reply yet (and I`m not holding my breath either). I didn`t expect anyone to give a definitive answer to my post, to me the figures quoted were ludicrous, I just wondered what the outcome would have been had I pressed "switch".

macman

Your annual kWh figures are given on your annual statement, no need to total them manually...
Did you convert your gas meter readings correctly from cu ft or cu m to kWh?

Plushchris

Some of the comparison sites work out your spend based on the tariff you are most likely to go onto when your current tariff ends (usually standard) so that could be where the difference is.

To be honest, its best not to take too much notice of the savings figures and the current spend figures and just look at what your spend will be with the new supplier, if you have entered KWH usage in all the sites then the new yearly spend should be the same on all sites, although y our current spend and savings may vary depending on how the site you are using works them out.

victor2

skintony wrote: »

I just wondered what the outcome would have been had I pressed "switch".

You would have started the process to switch to the chosen supplier. Figures given are not what it will actually cost you, only an estimate of what it will cost with the new supplier at their current rates, if you use the same energy you entered.
You know your actual usage history - let the comparison sites highlight a possible best deal and then calculate the costs yourself if you were to go with that supplier.

jalexa

skintony wrote: »

As my current tarriff with N power expires at the end of the month, I went online to look for a new deal.

Be aware that if your current NPower tariff is a "deferred discount":eek: tariff (likely) you stand to forfeit the discount if you switch before it is earned after 12 month complete periods of supply. Worse, already credited (but unearned) discount will be clawed back in the closing bill.

Regarding the dubious Moneysupermarket result, my experience is that uSwitch and TheEnergyShop are consistently accurate when annual consumption is input.