Is switching worth the time and effort?

TrickyNicky

A year ago I finally got round to switching my electricity supplier (there is no gas near us so just electric). Had been with Scottish Hydro for 20+ years. Was paying £28 a month. Switch company recommended an nPower capped deals. Was told it would save me approx £60 a year and payments would only be £22 a month. Switched.

8 months on, nPower advised my monthly payments weren't enough and they would have to increase them to £32 a month! I phoned them and was told I was using more electricity than was estimated at the time of the switch. Smelled a rat but turns out this not the case.

Seems this wasn't the problem. My usage is actually much the same as estimated but when I did the maths, £22 a month was never going to pay the estimated usage. £24 would have been more like it. Did the switch company set it at £22 so I would be more inclined to go for the deal? As it is, the increased payments for the last 4 months balanced it all out and by the end of my contract this month I will have paid £60 or so less than if I had stayed with Hydro just as was promised.

So, for saving £60 I have spent probably >30hours looking at all the options, making a decision, dealing with the emails, completing the forms, checking the Direct Debits, making phone calls, making more phone calls, collating all the old bills to check my usage, trying to understand the tariff/costs, doing the maths. I am now starting all over again as my deal finishes end of February and I will revert to a standard tariff unless I switch again. Scottish Gas is the best deal now and will save me £27 this year over nPower!! Here we go again............:(

WLM21

We are in a very similar situation. We joined NPower about 12 months ago and were given a monthly rate.
Now we receive a bill of over £600, ie the underpayment we have made ... Or at lest what they had asked us to pay.
We are going to change.

Do the suppliers have to provide 'in simple term' details of our gas and electric consumption ? If I can get the number of kW For the past year, this should make changing much easier.

pc1271

Personally, I wouldn't bother switching for £27/year saving. In fact, I think about £50/year would be my threshold.

Have you checked you're now on your current supplier's best tariff for the coming year? It will be easy to switch tariffs with nPower as your current supplier. You might find their cheapest is only marginally more than the very best deal you can find and not worth the effort.

Hasbeen

If you are considering switching, do not EVER put your direct debit payments in.

You have to put in ACTUAL usage for year what you have used from your bill in kwh etc

HappyMJ

£50 a year is my limit. If the savings are less...well I just can't be bothered with the hassle. I've had too many issues in the past when switching to make it worth it.

Does Npower have a better tariff than the standard tariff that you could switch to? At least the hassle factor is much less.

Nada666

I really do not think >30 hours is normal or necessary. 30 minutes is more than enough. nPower also usually offer £30 to £50 cashback - did you receive this or was that pocketed by the 'switch company'?

£288 is a modest consumption - savings are more difficult, particularly as you are single fuel. But ten percent is still ten percent for ten minutes work once every twelve months.

macman

30 hours? Are you serious? It takes less than 2 minutes to do a comp site check, once armed with your annual kWh figures (which are on your anual statement). Then maybe 20 minutes to sign up to a new tariff online via a cashback site. No emails to check, no phone calls, no maths. But let's be generous and say 30 minutes of your time to save £60.
How many other jobs will pay you £120 per hour?
The average saving is more like £200.

Meadows

pc1271 wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't bother switching for £27/year saving. In fact, I think about £50/year would be my threshold.

HappyMJ wrote: »

£50 a year is my limit. If the savings are less...well I just can't be bothered with the hassle. I've had too many issues in the past when switching to make it worth it.

Have to agree and when you do switch often what you end up with is less than what you had for the want of a few £'s

Better to see what your own supplier offers before looking to switch.

sillygoose

macman wrote: »

30 hours? Are you serious? It takes less than 2 minutes to do a comp site check, once armed with your annual kWh figures (which are on your anual statement). Then maybe 20 minutes to sign up to a new tariff online via a cashback site. No emails to check, no phone calls, no maths. But let's be generous and say 30 minutes of your time to save £60.
How many other jobs will pay you £120 per hour?
The average saving is more like £200.

Exactly all there is too it!!! even if your bill doesn't have the figures on it all you have to do is dig out say, last January bill and subtract the reading on it from this January's reading and there is your annual consumption near enough.

I switched to a rate £220 a year cheaper and that can't change as its capped, I got £42 cashback which was paid fairly quickly and I have spent on Amazon. My old supplier has put their rates up since so I am saving even more now!

I feel so stupid not doing it long ago. the thing is you cannot look at it in terms of monthly payment, you have to only look at annual cost.