Well, I have Finally Gone With British Gas...

macman

You don't need to phone any comparison sites. Just put your postcode and annual kWh figures into any comp site to find the best deal for you. A couple of minutes work.
Or post your region and figures and someone can check for you.
Standard tariff is always the most expensive option with any supplier, it's only advantage is that there is no lock-in.

flumper

We have recently taken out a service contract for our boiler. Whilst on the phone booking the service, the BG guy mentioned that should I switch to BG, they will provide £200 cashback and he could get a colleague to phone me to discuss.

With our Eon Online 9 coming to an end in September, I had already done some ground work on prices.

BG online tariff would be £45 more expensive a year than Eon saveonline 12. So with the £200, would work out cheaper. But then Eon aren't the cheapest....

When the BG guy phoned up, he started his sales speech.... The £200 would be £100 within 14 days and the last £100 after 12 months or it could be in Nectar points, in staged amounts.... But it isn't available on the online tariff, just the standard tariff. So when you calculate it, it doesn't actually work out any cheaper than going with someone like scottish power?

cally6008

macman wrote: »

Not so, some tariffs are noticeably cheaper for very low users, Ebico being the obvious one.
But why theorise about it when, armed with your annual kWh figures, a comp site can find you the cheapest tariff in a couple of minutes. then switch using a cashback site.

This. Have you looked at Ebico ?

We're low gas users and our direct debit is £7 per month starting from October.
Currently at £15 and they wanted to drop it down to £3 after seeing our yearly consumption.
Hard to believe we've been with them for a year already!

Popperwell

Macman, Flumper and Cally6008,
I have talked to First:Utility now they have offered me "Fixed Price Until December 2013. There is standing charges but they say unit price wise they are cheaper than NPower and BG. But if I move to a different property I would lose £30 both electric and gas(even if I wanted them to start with them again)

First:Utility say that would happen with all major suppliers anyhow that you'd have to start from scratch.

They say that their unit prices are cheaper so that kind of evens out the standing charges...

On National Average statistics they say that(and as I am low user it would probably be less...)

BG would charge me £1,181 annually(That includes VAT)on Standard Tariff First Utility would charge £1,029(Saving £152)

If a big user BG would charge £1635/First Utility £1,419(Saving £196)

But now that you have mentioned Ebico maybe I should look at them? First:Utility are phoning me this afternoon to see if I am going to sign up with them...so I may have to make a decision quite quickly...

cally6008

Ebico have no standing charges

macman

Stop phoning suppliers and use a comp site. Do you really expect any suppliers to claim that they are not the cheapest for you?
You will lose any cashback offers if you sign up over the phone.

penrhyn

Stop phoning up energy companies, they all lie (ask Dr House).

Get your annual usage figures in Kwh.

Use Energy helpline or Switch with Which or any other comparison site.

PS You may well think that with First Ultility the clue in in the initials, but I couldn't possibly comment.

CharlieRabbit01

Popperwell wrote: »

I doubt I can change again and I'll have to stick with someone and I just get more confused and believe eventually they are all alike and any savings are temporary. I certainly could not be any more thrifty than I am and my only entertainment is the internet, without that I'd only have a radio and how boring would that be even though I love radio...

If anyone has ideas or advice or just stories of what to expect good or bad I'd appreciate them...

British Gas offer a cooling off period so if you found a better deal you can still switch during that time.

It can be quite complicated, I ended up doing all my own manual calculations to make sure I was on the best deal.

If you can I would try to get onto the Online Tarriff with the energy smart meter as the meter can help you monitor your usage and find out ways to make it cheaper, such as I found out that I made a saving by putting my under counter lights on in the kitchen rather than the main light.

Popperwell

No matter how I put estimated readings into a number of comparison sites and even though some calculations are higher on unit price, some have standing charges and some don't(and whether VAT is included or not)

All the sites keep bringing up First Utility first and say they can save me money and this is on calculation of National averages for both medium and high users and I am a low user seemingly.

None of my bills are accurate until I start supplying meter readings as when Mum was here we had high gas bills(because she was ill and liked the heat on)

Now I have gone the other way and use warm clothes rather than use the heating un-necessarily.

I try to avoid cooking too many meals in the electric fan oven and use micowaves, George Forman Grills, slow cookers and halogen ovens. It's gas CH/Electric for everything else...

Mainly run a computer, DAB radio and energy saving lightbulbs if I put a light on...that's about it! Washer and tumble drier on approx once a month(if I can dry clothing on a washing line I do)but the spin on the washer is so good I don't have the tumble drier on for long. Fridge/freezer on 24/7...that' about it...

Switching things off has become an obssesion.

First-Utility seems quite a lot cheaper than BG but not much cheaper than NPower but slightly...

I have tried so many different ways to calculate the bills in so many ways so I guess I'll be pretty safe with First Utility and it is a fixed tariff.

I think it's about £97 a month for both gas and electric using National Averages but if I use less, that will reduce the costs still further and they are going by estimation...

In General I have been only using 35 units of electric per week and 21 units of gas per week so perhaps that will come down to the £60/£80 region per month...

Update:The upshot is I have gone with First Utility...and I want to thank all of you for your help and understanding too.

Joyful

Popperwell

You started this thread saying you had signed up for British Gas. If you have now signed up for another company the Industry will block it. You need to call BG and get them to cancel the contract you took out with them as you can only have once change of supply in progress at any time.