misleading price comparisons on comparison sites

conned2012

I have been looking at switching suppliers for my electricity. I looked at uSwitch and another from the Forum, both gave different price comparisons, higher than my present rate and gave a much lower yearly usage.
I emailed uSwitch with my figures from my last electricity bill and asked for a comparison, they sent me a link to their website without checking any of the details so was a waste of time and pretty poor customer service.
I also found that my energy plans were not listed, I am on an equivalent of Economy 7 and Energy Assist Tariff.
I found that all the companies listed were basing their prices on the misleading higher rates and lower yearly usage figures.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Has anyone else with Economy 7 and Energy Assist Tariff managed to switch to another cheaper rate?
I joined Cornwall Together to get a supposed cheaper deal by bulk buying, all they did was send me the same deal as uSwitch, not what they promised and they did not state they were connected to uSwitch on their registration papers, not very open!

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

There are endless 'debates' on the issue of comparison website accuracy.

The first thing you need to understand is that the websites sole purpose is to get people to switch supplier(via themselves) and hence they get their commission.

However, despite claims to the contrary, as far as I am aware nobody has found inaccuracies in their figures, and they are audited.

That said they can present figures in different ways. For instance one firm gives £100 rebate when you have been with them a full 12 months. It is not an error to include or exclude that £100 from their figure.

If you are on a fixed/capped tariff that is ending in the next year, they can make the assumption that at the end of the fixed period you will remain with the company on their(expensive) standard rate. So your current tariff would be calculated on, say, 6 months at the fixed tariff rate and 6 months at the company's standard rate.

I think many of us don't bother to look at the calculated 'savings' but just look at the overall tariff price for xxxkWh. In fact I don't even bother to select my present tariff most of the time.

You need then to look at the detail of the tariff to see if there is a catch.

I doubt if any comparison website will include any of the 'social tariffs' like EDF's Energy Assist. You will just have to do a 'manual comparison' with that tariff:

http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/documents/product-terms/energy-assist.pdf

jalexa

Cardew wrote: »

That said they can present figures in different ways. For instance one firm gives £100 rebate when you have been with them a full 12 months. It is not an error to include or exclude that £100 from their figure.

In the spirit of you hedging your bets on that last point I will also do so.

The first caveat is that the "new confidence code" is current. Confusingly it appears undated and a different version, also apparently undated but presumably earlier, can be found on the Consumer Focus website.

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/files/2010/12/New-Confidence-Code.pdf

The (new) Code is clear about one thing, discounts paid (or earned) after 12 months "should not" be included. Certain discounts paid (or earned) inside of 12 months "should" be included.

So the issue is should the NPower direct debit (deferred:eek:) discount be included in the calculation? Contrary to common belief that the discount requires 12 direct debits to be collected I do not think that is the case. The customer only needs to be a customer continuously on direct debit terms and the discount is "earned" on the last day of the 12 months. AFAIUI, the discount is credited (unearned) pro-rata every billing cycle.

I *think* that qualifies to be included as a "discount" in a Consumer Focus accredited comparison (unlike the Atlantic former 13th month discount), but note that this can result in unearned discount being clawed back:eek: if a customer switches before it is earned (at 12 months).

I agree with your other points but open to debate on the foregoing.

Bark01

conned2012 wrote: »

I also found that my energy plans were not listed, I am on an equivalent of Economy 7 and Energy Assist Tariff.

To do a quote against energy assist - select EDF standard (variable) as the supplier / tariff

Monthly Direct Debit as your current payment type (all customers receive the DD discount regardless of how they pay)

Then you'll need to do the next bit manually but take off £39.375 per fuel as this is the energy assist discount.

If you do a quote and nothing is cheaper than £40 for single fuel or £80 for Dual Fuel your probably better off staying.

The issue with E7 quotes is making sure that you can accurately enter the consumption for you day and night rates seperatly

conned2012

Thanks for your suggestions and advice. Bark01, I will use your figures and check, thanks.