Locked into EDF until Dec

hubb

If I stay with EDF I may be able to get a fixed price at September's rates. If I add 10% on the £66 a month I am paying it takes it to £72. Using less G and E will hopefully bring it down.

hubb

Ok, I have been told my average annual spend is £792 a year. I have also gone to Energy helpline and keyed in my annual usage in KW.

Gas is 11,220 kw year
Elec is 2589 kw year

Annual estimated cost from usage £798.42

I rang EDF and they told me I am fixed until 31st December of this year. If I change providers before this date I will incur a fee of £50. I can opt for the blue fixed for 2 years but this would put my monthly cost from £66 a month to £79 a month.

I have gone to Energy helpline and keyed in all this info and N-Power (who I have been with in the past) are quoting a saving of £202 a year on a yearly spend of £590 a year ! This seems too good to be true or is it ? £49 a month for both.

To complicate things more, Scottish Power are changing the meter on 13th of this month. EDF advised if I am changing providers to contact Scottish Power and put it off until settled with my new provider (last time we had our meter changed before changing a provider we were billed on our old meter that didn't exist and it was a nightmare to sort)

The question is, do I jump ship now or wait till my current fixed tariff ends ?

jalexa

hubb wrote: »

I have gone to Energy helpline and keyed in all this info and N-Power (who I have been with in the past) are quoting a saving of £202 a year on a yearly spend of £590 a year ! This seems too good to be true or is it ? £49 a month for both.

I'm not saying Energyhelpline is "wrong" but you may have missed something important...

We’ve noticed that you’re currently on a capped or fixed price energy tariff that’s due to expire in less than 2 months. To give you a more accurate comparison, we’ve used the prices you’ll most likely be transferred onto by your existing supplier when your current tariff expires, rather than your old prices.

EHL are unusual in this treatment but you can follow a link to get a "normal" comparison. Anyway never rely on a single comparison. Try one or two others. I find that uSwitch and TheEnergyShop are consistently accurate.

To answer your question, definitely "too good to be true".

hubb

This is why I am reluctant to trust these comparison sites. In the past I had switched and turned out nothing like the prices I was quoted. I ended up in a worse situation. How can I trust these sites to give me accurate estimations when the above example is so far out ?

OVO and EON seem to come up best in the other searches and the prices are more realistic for fixed. N Power are high too but I didn't like them last time I was with them and they have poor customer ratings. The question is, will they be the same when my fixed tariff expires ? Not sure weather to pay the exit fee now and fix or gamble and wait till Dec.

macman

If you feed the comp sites accurate data, then they give accurate results. And that means kWh usage, not monthly DD amounts.
You say that the actual price went up-presumably because you were on a variable tariff, and the price was subsequently raised within the minimum term?

hubb

I am on a fixed tariff which expires end of Dec. I fed the yearly KW data from my bill accurately.

hubb

Well this is good news for me. Just got this from Martin's circular:

New 'lock-in no price hikes for TWO winters'. Save £200+/yr. Good news if you thought you'd missed the gas & electricity boat. The new EDF June 2014 fix* is by far the cheapest long fix, locking rates in for two winters with no early exit fees, so you're free to leave if other prices drop. Those on standard tariffs paying £1,390/yr will pay £1,190 on this.

All I will have to do is ring them and ask to put me straight onto this when my tarrif ends at the end of this month :beer:

hubb

macman wrote: »

But that is hardly the fault of the comp sites? Those who fixed this Autumn have now saved a great deal of money for the next 2 winters.
The comp sites are acccurate if you feed the accurate data (kWh figures and not monthly DD spends).

Looks like all those who fixed in Autumn have been locked in but now I have the same deal and can come out at anytime with no fees AND EDF will tell me of any. Cheaper deals :rotfl:

snowcat53

Well crack open the champagne - I could stay another 18 months with EDF....

I really will have to think about that.