Going back to British Gas!!

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

A couple of months ago I used USwitch to find, and change to, another Gas & Electric supplier (I never got the £15 'carrot' for using their website).

Since then the new supplier (Scottish Power) has put the prices up twice. Since the savings aren't that great (maybe £20/year), and Scottish Power don't seem to know-their-!!!!!!-from-their-elbow, I'm going back to British Gas whom I was with before.

debtbuster2K5

My Experience is probably the exact reverse to yours. I too switched from BG to SP and find the savings to be significant (£10 per month) and I find that Scottish Power Customer Services to be fantastic.

I Have had ongoing problems with my billing for Elec and I presumed it was down to Scot Power and was getting quite fed up with it. However following some investigations it came to light that on my final bill BG read the meter wrong or inputted the wrong figure, causing an overpayment to them of around £50.

Scot power have dealt with this admirably and are getting the overcharge credited to my account with them.

I accept that they have put their prices up twice, but I think most suppliers are doing that.

culpepper

british gas put our electricity monthly payment up to double what it usually is (£50 instead of £25) ,they say we are using more but that is rubbish.This last year we have been far more fussy about switching off appliances at night and no longer have a dishwasher running every day. They also sell us our gas which as usual ends up in credit but have not adjusted that payment to compensate. I sent them our meter reading via phone as they said they would send another bill but it never came.
I just started the ball rolling yesterday to switch to another company.

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

culpepper wrote:

british gas put our electricity monthly payment up to double what it usually is (£50 instead of £25).

They did try that one with me, my Mother & my Sister. I told my Mother & Sister to do exactly what I did .... tell British Gas "No, you won't put up my Monthly payment, you will leave it as it is". The did say "... but that will leave you with a large bill to pay at the end of the year", to which I replied "That's fine".

The money is better off in my account than in theirs!!!!

BexTech

I would rather poke myself in the eye, then ever go back to British gas.

Grimbo_2

debtbuster2K5 wrote:

My Experience is probably the exact reverse to yours. I too switched from BG to SP and find the savings to be significant (£10 per month) and I find that Scottish Power Customer Services to be fantastic.

I Have had ongoing problems with my billing for Elec and I presumed it was down to Scot Power and was getting quite fed up with it. However following some investigations it came to light that on my final bill BG read the meter wrong or inputted the wrong figure, causing an overpayment to them of around £50.

Scot power have dealt with this admirably and are getting the overcharge credited to my account with them.

I accept that they have put their prices up twice, but I think most suppliers are doing that.

thats funny because they way this works is that the company that you switch over to in your case SP takes a reading from you to open your account and then in turn through a national database that all suppliers use called uk-link the previous supplier being BG has to use the same read to close your account. Since it being in all cases the responsibility of the new supplier to take and pass on an accurate read it always ammuses me how happy other companies are to pass on the blame when it suits them.

=BOB=

littlereddevil

I changed to British Gas years ago and have always found them to be the cheapest.
Yesterday I got a phone call from scottish Power trying to get me to change.Based on my usage they wanted £2 a month more than British Gas.
Why would they think I would change to pay more??

Sarahrhiannon

anneg wrote:

I changed to British Gas years ago and have always found them to be the cheapest.
Yesterday I got a phone call from scottish Power trying to get me to change.Based on my usage they wanted £2 a month more than British Gas.
Why would they think I would change to pay more??

Its not what they SAY you will pay, but what you ACTUALLY pay that counts. Since British Gas tariff is somewhere around 25% more expensive than the lowest tariffs available, you MUST be paying too much.

I checked a couple of the cheapest suppliers and the unit price for gas is less than 1.50p on gas, and less than 4p a Kw hour, depending on the region you live in.

What precisely is the tariff that you are paying?

Also, don't forget that your monthly payments do not equate to your actual bill - they are merely payments on account. Your account may fluctuate into credit or debit, but at the end of the day, your bill be for every unit that you use, and not what you pay towards that bill.

BexTech

I read somewhere that British gas can't be cheaper for gas than other suppliers until their market share for gas is less than 50%. Whether this is correct I am not sure, but sounds like it could be as everyone else does appear to be cheaper for gas than British Gas.

Sarahrhiannon

BexTech wrote:

I read somewhere that British gas can't be cheaper for gas than other suppliers until their market share for gas is less than 50%. Whether this is correct I am not sure, but sounds like it could be as everyone else does appear to be cheaper for gas than British Gas.

I heard something along those lines too, regarding all the old 'monopoly' suppliers like BT, British Gas, the Regional Electricity Boards etc

Sarahrhiannon

Grumpy_Old_Duffer wrote:

A couple of months ago I used USwitch to find, and change to, another Gas & Electric supplier

Remember that most sites along the lines of Uswitch only recommend companies that pay them commission. Why on earth they are allowed to continue recommending based on who pays them commission is a mystery to me.