Would now be a good time to leave Equipower

ic

I've been with Ebico for two and half years, but have now switched my electric over to British Gas. It was simple maths:

Ebico: 9.680p unit
BG: 9.319p unit (first 225kWh), 8.059p unit (thereafter)

Starts cheaper, and gets cheaper still! Then they throw on the 4.8% reduction for paying by direct debit. For me it works out to two free months in every year.

For gas Ebico remain unrivaled, and I've left that well alone.

Woby_Tide

what usage do people have that makes their gas prices relatively high? I've kept electric elsewhere but for 15-16kwh of gas per year the biggetst saving I can make is £10, I know electric is a bit higher but I'm genuinely surprised that people can make big savings over Ebico, what usage/regions are people in and who tends to be cheapest currently in those areas?

me 15kwh Southern region, Southern £10 cheaper is best gas deal

wills34

ebico charge a flat rate of 2.5.. per kwh. Ebico are the only company to charge a flat rate with no QSC's. Compare this to a 2 tier structure where you will have an intial rate of for example lets say 3.5 for the first 4572. Then a lower rate of for example 2.2. It would depend on total annual consumption as to who would be the cheapest. If all companies had the same pricing structure as ebico usage would not matter and suppliers would have to be more competitive and it would be easier to choose

Cardew

wills34 wrote: »

ebico charge a flat rate of 2.5.. per kwh. Ebico are the only company to charge a flat rate with no QSC's. Compare this to a 2 tier structure where you will have an intial rate of for example lets say 3.5 for the first 4572. Then a lower rate of for example 2.2. It would depend on total annual consumption as to who would be the cheapest. If all companies had the same pricing structure as ebico usage would not matter and suppliers would have to be more competitive and it would be easier to choose

The pricing structure is further complicated by discounts for DD and dual fuel that are given by some companies; which can be substantial.

Even worse is that some companies have now started regional variations for gas prices in the same manner as electricity.

wills34

quite right cardew don't make it easy do they, would be nice if the suppliers would make things less complicated wouldn't it? As far as i'm aware only scot power have regional gas variances. Anyone else?

ic

If they all made their tariffs easy to understand, then everybody would be able to work their bill out and would move suppliers. By keeping them confusing, they can instead use the power of marketing to entice people in. After all talking little blue flames and bouncing blue and yellow balls are so cute...!

By the way, my calculations above were for the Norweb region, though I guess other regions would work out with a very similar comparison on the prices.

wills34

a bit of regulation over tariff structure would help. For example why do EDF have a much higher gas threshold than other companies? Why do some companies have very confusing electric thresholds particularly southern? Why charge Daily Standing charges? Even if all suppliers kept their 2 tier billing system if all companies had the same thresholds it would at least be a bit easier to compare because when the suppliers sell their products to you they will compare their rates as if like for like which can be misleading

dc

Sadly I think that competition has made the Utility companies take a leaf from the mobile phone companies in their needs to frighten possible leavers and target other companies customers using headline grabbing "offers", (with a little help from the double glazing companies).

Muddying the waters is not what Ebico is about and that seems to be their attraction for some of us.