Energy price comparison sites with wrong information

Johnniea2

I thought that energy price comparison sites were supposed to compare all prices across the market. But I recently compared on the Energy Helpline site, looking for a fixed price deal, and the ones I got shown are NOT the cheapest deals on the market. I was quoted EDF Blue and npower fix June 2014 but every other price comparison site shows Flow Energy Thames tariff as the cheapest - and it is, I did the maths. So using Energy Helpline loses you money! Does this count as mis-selling? I'd be interested to hear if anyone knows.

ic

The energy helpline site looks pretty clear to me - on the front page it shows the ten suppliers they do compare against. Nowhere do they claim to be "whole of market".

Wywth

Energyhelpline, like all the accredited comparison sites, compares all the generally available tariff from all the suppliers.

It may be there is an error on a particular comparison site with a particular supplier's tariff. If you know exactly what it is, why not advise the comparison site and my experience is that they quickly correct any error.

If you don't know what the exact error is, if you care to post the exact details (supply region, annual consumption in kWh) then I'm sure someone will take a look for you
(But if you've done the maths, then presumably you know the error, so just advise the error to the comparison site)

Johnniea2

Hi there. I don't think what you said is true (I've been doing a bit of digging now!). Energy Helpline are signed up to Ofgem's Confidence Code, which relates to energy price comparison sites and says:

Requirement two – Tariffs and price comparisons
(A) The service provider must use all reasonable endeavours to include price
comparisons in respect of all available domestic tariffs

It's on the Ofgem website if you want to take a look.

So I don't think they can pick and choose whose prices they compare, if they want to comply with the code. Can they?

Johnniea2

hi Wywth, I tried that - I ran that quote a week ago and then spoke to Energy Helpline and they said they were putting the Flow tariff up on their site, but nothing yet. Isn't there a timescale for getting new tariffs up? I just feel a bit cheated cos I could have signed up for a more expensive tariff.

Wywth

Johnniea2 wrote: »

hi Wywth, I tried that - I ran that quote a week ago and then spoke to Energy Helpline and they said they were putting the Flow tariff up on their site, but nothing yet. Isn't there a timescale for getting new tariffs up? I just feel a bit cheated cos I could have signed up for a more expensive tariff.

I suggest you give us the details I requested previously, and someone will take a look for you
(EHL list Flow Energy as a supplier, e.g. their Thames tariff - they only launched this month. I doubt they have any paying customers yet! )

Johnniea2

Hi Wywth. I'm confused - do you actually work for Energy Helpline/MSE? I thought you were just someone like me but then you said 'us' above. If you DO work for EH, maybe you can just answer my question: why isn't the cheapest provider on Energy Helpline if this code says they should be? Where do EHL list Flow Energy as a a supplier? I can see they are noted as someone you can switch AWAY from, but you can't switch to them. I'm thinking there must be money involved here somewhere, or is that me being ultra-suspicious? Maybe the bigger suppliers pay commission and Flow Energy don't?

Johnniea2

They must have some customers (me for a start!) because they're on all the other price comparison sites (well, to be fair, I only checked uSwitch, GoCompare and the other biggies) They're just not on EHL. I just don't think it's right that EHL customers don't get the best prices. Maybe I'm old fashioned but it's not really a level playing field

Wywth

Johnniea2 wrote: »

Hi Wywth. I'm confused - do you actually work for Energy Helpline/MSE? I thought you were just someone like me but then you said 'us' above. If you DO work for EH, maybe you can just answer my question: why isn't the cheapest provider on Energy Helpline if this code says they should be? Where do EHL list Flow Energy as a a supplier? I can see they are noted as someone you can switch AWAY from, but you can't switch to them. I'm thinking there must be money involved here somewhere, or is that me being ultra-suspicious? Maybe the bigger suppliers pay commission and Flow Energy don't?

Flow energy come up as a supplier on the EHL website.

e.g. They came up for me as the cheapest supplier in the East Midlands supply are for an electricity only user on E7 using 8000kWh of electricity per year and 55% low rate.

You could not switch toi Flow energy via EHL, but they are listed.

Wywth

Johnniea2 wrote: »

They must have some customers (me for a start!) because they're on all the other price comparison sites (well, to be fair, I only checked uSwitch, GoCompare and the other biggies) They're just not on EHL. I just don't think it's right that EHL customers don't get the best prices. Maybe I'm old fashioned but it's not really a level playing field

How are you supplied by Flow Energy?

They only lauched this month, and any switch application typically takes 4-6 weeks,

Johnniea2

picky! I'm in the switching process. That counts in my eyes.