Going back to British Gas!!

Grimbo_2

the monopoly line is true indeed, BG cannot lower their prices as they cover more than 50% of the gas market and have to have theirs above anyone else to promote competition. The statement that BG have worked out to be the cheapest by anneg is not automatically false, for example BG are often cheaper than alot of companies for electricity, maybe anneg is a low gas user and picks up his/her savings on the elec side.

MarkyMarkD

Sarahrhiannon wrote:

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.

This may, or may not, be the case - they certainly feature all the main suppliers. It's pretty irrelevant - I do not accept for a moment that their advice is not correct (from the large number of suppliers they DO feature) and that anyone will not save money if they are currently supplied by BG and follow the advice of uswitch or the other similar sites.

Cardew

Sarahrhiannon wrote:

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.

Presumably the "4p a Kw hour" you quote is for electricity? Could you tell us all where electricity is that cheap please. (I assume it is not the Economy 7 night rate you are looking at?

I think it is generally agreed that BG has the highest rates for Gas but are pretty competitive(depending on region) on electricity. With the bewildering, leapfrogging changes of tariff from all the suppliers it is very difficult to work out who is cheapest at any one time. I have Gas and Electricity supplied by BG simply because I don't want the hassle of changing. Although they are currently well down the list according to USwitch etc it is by a rather small amount and they are not the most expensive.

BexTech

If I was to switch from my pre-March SWEB dual fuel online to the best British Gas tariff, it would be £150.26 more expensive for the year. And there are a few who are worse than that too.

Cardew

BexTech wrote:

If I was to switch from my pre-March SWEB dual fuel online to the best British Gas tariff, it would be £150.26 more expensive for the year. And there are a few who are worse than that too.

I don't doubt that.

By stating pre-March presumably you have 'escaped' the latest round of price rises.

The prices for electricity from BG vary greatly from region to region - by up to 30% in some cases. So obviously they are even less competitive in some areas.

I am certainly not recommending BG - even though I remain their customer.

littlereddevil

It is electricity I am paying british gas for and it is deinately cheaper than scottish power on all the survey sites here

littlereddevil

Forgot to say my area is north of scotland i see different areas have different rates.

Cardew

MarkyMarkD wrote:

This may, or may not, be the case - they certainly feature all the main suppliers. It's pretty irrelevant - I do not accept for a moment that their advice is not correct (from the large number of suppliers they DO feature) and that anyone will not save money if they are currently supplied by BG and follow the advice of uswitch or the other similar sites.

MMD,
The use of the word "not" three times in your last sentence(triple negative?) makes it difficult for me to understand the point you are making.

Are you unequivocally stating that there is always a cheaper alternative to BG for electricity in all parts of this country?

MarkyMarkD

Apologies for excessive use of the word "not".

I believe extremely strongly that there is always a cheaper alternative to BG for electricity.

In my area, there are 5 cheaper suppliers (although 3 of those are all part of the same group and charge identical prices). For our usage, BG are £16 more expensive for electricity and £29 dearer for gas - overall, around 6% dearer than Swalec who supply both fuels to us.

In my parent's area (completely different part of the country) there are 3 cheaper electricity suppliers (once again, all part of the same group as Swalec), saving them £4 compared to BG for electricity and £40 for gas.

I am sure that there might be one or two areas where BG is actually cheaper than the best competitor for electricity, but I am equally sure that there are no areas where gas and electricity combined are best taken from BG.

My point, anyway, wasn't to go on about BG being bad value - although they are - but that the search engines like uswitch are useful and anyone using them whose gas is currently supplied by BG will save money if they follow their advice.

It doesn't really bother me if uswitch fail to refer to every single supplier in the country - for example, they specifically do not show suppliers with poor customer service unless you ask them to do so - the fact remains that people using uswitch and similar sites will save money compared to people saying "the switching sites don't give a full picture of the market" or "the switching services get commission from suppliers" and consequently not switching at all!

BexTech

Cardew wrote:

By stating pre-March presumably you have 'escaped' the latest round of price rises.

Just managed to escape the price rise.

Cardew wrote:

The prices for electricity from BG vary greatly from region to region - by up to 30% in some cases. So obviously they are even less competitive in some areas.

The prices for electricity from all suppliers varies, as the cost each distribution company charges vary, heavily populated areas being cheaper.