uswitch... they really love the price increase.

alleycat`

Magic_Man wrote: »

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.

Just gone through the same exercise with the same mismatched results.

It gets even worse when you need to hunt down igt costs as these vary by supplier and quite often by tariff too.

oldskoo1

I'm confused

Why wouldn't uSwitch jump on this.

Every business makes money out of you, everything you buy you are being milked for the most profit. Just because uSwitch is on a national scale doesnt mean they are any worse than the local craft shop selling items with enormous mark ups.

uSwitch don't charge you anything but they do get a commission for all completed leads. Seems fair to me.

Some big utility companies issue press releases to say comparison sites push up prices but in reality this is a tactical release to try and prevent customers from using it and going to a competitor. No company can be cheapest in all regions.

Many big utility companies white label their energy and can afford to undercut their main brand without fear of affecting their market value or investor confidence.

Comparison sites simply provide a useful service to enable people to change supply and save in the process. Sure they make a good commission, why wouldn't they push their service in times of high demand, this is common business sense.

Makes sense to me. They aren't out to get you and it actually doesn't cost you anything. The impact of comparison sites on prices often has the opposite effect of what you think. It drives competition and that can only be a good thing. This whole site is about learning how to watch the market change with the right tools. The goal is to jump when the deal is right.

oldskoo1

Road_Hog wrote: »

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?

The previous founder bought it for £10m

Just sold for £210m in less than 3 years. That is impressive growth and simply achieved by having the best process and good frequent marketing.

Ffilchy

Both of these comparison sites will ignore Spark's tariffs unless you amend obscured fields on their systems.

EnergyHelpline - you need to change preferred payment method to 'Any of the above' as it pre-fills to monthly direct debit (unless you have a prepayment meter).

uSwitch - you need to change the answer to the question about showing tariffs you can switch to today to 'No'.

Nada666

Ffilchy wrote: »

Both of these comparison sites will ignore Spark's tariffs unless you amend obscured fields on their systems.

Not just Spark, though. If you are such a stickler and champion why did you not mention that fact yourself? Hmmm?

(Totally agree that no site should be allowed to default to the only show sites they can switch you to option. The payment method will only get worse with Ofgem's idiotic reforms - base prices will be more obscured and difficult to find.)

charlie12

oldskoo1 wrote: »

uSwitch don't charge you anything but they do get a commission for all completed leads. Seems fair to me.

But they do charge you indirectly, by taking the commission themselves. uSwitch claim to scour the market to find the best price for customers. If they were truly showing the cheapest prices, then they should advise the customer to sign up to a cashback site and purchase through that.

The issue here is principle. uSwitch claim to be getting customers the best price, but they fail to mention that the customer can save more by going through a cashback site. Sure, they are offering a tool to help consumers, and that tool needs to be paid for somehow, but for them to claim that they are offering the cheapest deal is misleading. The fact they they conveniently ignore some providers completely I think says it all.

This has always been the case (for what feels like) a decade now, and it has been documented and discussed years and years ago to use these services only as a guide and to clear cookies and go through a cashback site when ordering for real.

tillycat123

The man at SSE told me to use uk powers website to compare. He said the staff at SSE use this one when helping customers. I've found it much simpler to understand.

As posted above Uswitch gave completely different savings for the same tariff on other sites!

EDIT - Scrap that, just been on EDF website before going ahead and neither site has the same KWH price as what the EDF site says!!

My £200 saving the comparison sites claim I can make drops down to £169 on EDFs own site.

Nada666

tillycat123 wrote: »

EDIT - Scrap that, just been on EDF website before going ahead and neither site has the same KWH price as what the EDF site says!!

A 5% difference?

[Deleted User]

Another huge free advert for Uswitch last night on BBC Watchdog as they rolled some people out, all on "standard " tariff, to let Uswitch tell them how much they would save if they changed . One of them even said " we dont understand all this kwhr jargon ". The BBC would have been much better spending 10 minutes broadcasting to the Nation trying to simplify energy bills , tariffs, standing charges, eco 7 etc with some basics. On my rounds its rare to find anyone who understands their own energy bills. Its sad when I see an unemployed woman with kids who s on an eco 7 prepay meter (18 p per kwhr for the day rate electric ), she s no idea why or what eco7 is, has gas central heating and hardly ever uses the cheap rate hours, and is paying the highest price in the country for her electric