uswitch... they really love the price increase.

ihateyes

So sick off uswitch. They come out and portray themselves as consumer champions, but in reality they love when energy companies announce price increases.

Their band of media representatives are out slagging the energy companies off, while rubbing the hands quietly at the commission they recieve.

If it wasn't for these increases, they wouldn't have a business

MillicentBystander

It's yet another indication of how the industry has been ruined by privatisation - the rise of a whole new sub-industry feeding off its intentional (and easily avoided) complexity. Let's not kid ourselves either - the commission paid to these sites contributes to the higher prices we are seeing. An absolute shambles of an industry.

Andy_WSM

Also worth considering that the Government equally love a price increase as they receive more tax revenue. That's VAT & climate Levy taxes as they are charged as a percentage of your bill. Bigger bill = increased revenue for the Government to spend on wages, expenses and fig trees for shade.

How much are the climate levy taxes nowadays? We don't hear much about them unsurprisingly and my bill doesn't break them down suspiciously. I think it's 6% on gas and 11% on electricity isn't it? Oh, that's about equal to one of the large price increases of recent years!

Mr_K

The Energy Helpline top honcho was on BBC breakfast as well loving it all. He seemed to have a 10 minute free advert.

They always advise to switch, all the time, as that's how they make their profits. The time to switch was of course a month ago; these rises were well forecast.

Use the comparison sites by all means. Once you've found the best deal, clear all your cookies and go via a cashback site to actually sign up. The 'cheap energy club' on this site is one to be ignored aswell - only one person called Martin benefiting from that :money:

Pincher

I don't think I have ever bought through a comparison site,
and I have just had a shock with Moneysupermarket.com, which now owns MSE.

When I select Scottish Power as my provider, which means Moneysupermarket.com cannot switch me to their tariffs, the cheapest deals from Scottish Power do not appear! If I select E.On as my current provider, the cheapest from Scottish Power do appear! This is when I tick the show all tariffs box, of course.

uswitch.com is still behaving properly for me, and does not hide the cheapest tariffs.

[Deleted User]

Does no one else user a comparison site, clear their browser cache, then change via Quidco ?

NittyGritty

sadly all these comparison sites and even this site moneysaving expert gets some sort of kickback when people switch, its why they plug all these deals, even more so when price rises are around the corner.

DragonQ

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Does no one else user a comparison site, clear their browser cache, then change via Quidco ?

My next switch will definitely be via TopCashBack. They don't have cashback for as many companies as some comparison websites though.

Road_Hog

Uswitch and co, make a good living out of switiching, they gain their commission and who do you think pays for that commission in the long run?

Magic_Man

My issue is that looking over some comparison sites and using the same figures, I get different advice so presumably their calculations are 'wrong'...?

E.g. the edf fixed until march 2015 would save me different amounts when looking at uswitch and on the comparison tool here yet would cost me more according to other sites.

I've done the comparisons using known KW/h for a year (where sites take it, doesn't seem like comparethemarket does) and using monthly DD payments for a year and selecting the same existing tarrif I'm on.

So presumably their calculations of what each tariff cost are different leading to different overall savings calculations.

Do any sites just show me the best deals (duel fuel) for a set postcode rather than comparing against current tarrifs and supplier?

If anyone wants to give me a recommendation for the best duel fuel, monthly DD, online, no early exit fees etc. for CF381HL then please do so! Currently on BG duel, online energy with energy smart.

Cheers!

DragonQ

Always check prices with the actual supplier's website before switching.