What to do?

Digital_Dan

Hi

I am with Npower and on the dual fuel tariff Energy Online January 2014.

I pay by monthly direct debit and my current payment is £134 per month.

I switched (via a online switching site) to Npower two years ago from British Gas (Gas) and Eon (Electricity) and went on their Sign Online 23 tariff. This switch initially saved my quite a bit of money – in May 2012 I was paying £65 a month. I provided (with great difficulty) a meter reading to Npower of both gas and electricity prior to switching.

In Oct 2012 as the Sign Online 23 tariff was about to end; I switched (via a online switching site) to the Npower Energy Online January 2014 tariff.

I find it very difficult to provide meter readings as the meter is located in a gully at the front of my building and I have a dodgy knee and hip making access to the meter very difficult.

During the middle of 2013 Npower came and took a meter reading and shortly afterwards they advised me that my energy usage was greater than anticipated and my bill increased to its current £134 a month.

I have a few months to go before my current tariff expires and if I were to switch now; I would face a £60 exit penalty.

Given that prices are once again sky rocketing; I would like to switch and ideally fix my price for as long as I can.

Entering my details into the MSE Cheap Energy Club web page; only three fixed/capped deals offer me some small saving:

First Utility - iSave Fixed v9 April 2015 saves me £44 a year.

Scottish Power - Online Fixed Price Energy March 2015 saves me £40 a year.

Scottish Power - Online Fixed Price Energy December 2014 saves me £35 a year.

The savings seem small as does the fix period.

All the other fixed/capped deals will cost me more than I am currently paying.

I am at a loss as to what to do now; any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

andrew-b

I had a similar issue. I was on Scottish power fix until January (well 31st december) but no exit fees and i've just changed to their march 2015 fixed deal... 2 months early to pre-empt the price increases that are almost certain to follow... but i'm having to accept a price increase of about £130 per year (if i do nothing it would be alot more!)

If you do nothing, at the end of your fix i doubt there will be as good a deals as there are now and the npower price rise is going to hit you with around about £13 a month. If you jump your clobbered with exit fee so scottish power march 2015 would effectively cost you £20 a year more.

If i was you i'd jump now.

footyguy

Digital_Dan wrote: »

Hi

I am with Npower and on the dual fuel tariff Energy Online January 2014.

I pay by monthly direct debit and my current payment is £134 per month.

I switched (via a online switching site) to Npower two years ago from British Gas (Gas) and Eon (Electricity) and went on their Sign Online 23 tariff. This switch initially saved my quite a bit of money – in May 2012 I was paying £65 a month. I provided (with great difficulty) a meter reading to Npower of both gas and electricity prior to switching.

In Oct 2012 as the Sign Online 23 tariff was about to end; I switched (via a online switching site) to the Npower Energy Online January 2014 tariff.

I find it very difficult to provide meter readings as the meter is located in a gully at the front of my building and I have a dodgy knee and hip making access to the meter very difficult.

During the middle of 2013 Npower came and took a meter reading and shortly afterwards they advised me that my energy usage was greater than anticipated and my bill increased to its current £134 a month.

I have a few months to go before my current tariff expires and if I were to switch now; I would face a £60 exit penalty.

Given that prices are once again sky rocketing; I would like to switch and ideally fix my price for as long as I can.

Entering my details into the MSE Cheap Energy Club web page; only three fixed/capped deals offer me some small saving:

First Utility - iSave Fixed v9 April 2015 saves me £44 a year.

Scottish Power - Online Fixed Price Energy March 2015 saves me £40 a year.

Scottish Power - Online Fixed Price Energy December 2014 saves me £35 a year.

The savings seem small as does the fix period.

All the other fixed/capped deals will cost me more than I am currently paying.

I am at a loss as to what to do now; any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Unless you are prepared to pay the £60 early exit fee, I would suggest you leave things for now and look again at the start of the new year

Digital_Dan

andrew-b wrote: »

I had a similar issue. I was on Scottish power fix until January (well 31st december) but no exit fees and i've just changed to their march 2015 fixed deal... 2 months early to pre-empt the price increases that are almost certain to follow... but i'm having to accept a price increase of about £130 per year (if i do nothing it would be alot more!)

If you do nothing, at the end of your fix i doubt there will be as good a deals as there are now and the npower price rise is going to hit you with around about £13 a month. If you jump your clobbered with exit fee so scottish power march 2015 would effectively cost you £20 a year more.

If i was you i'd jump now.

footyguy wrote: »

Unless you are prepared to pay the £60 early exit fee, I would suggest you leave things for now and look again at the start of the new year

Thank you both for your advice even though you differ in what you believe I should do!

I've been thinking about this; and I'm inclined to agree with andrew-b. I will be facing an increase if I do nothing.

The cost of switching in reality will be £30 i.e. £60 exit penality - £30 cashback for switching through the MSE energy club.

I think that's a price worth paying to keep my prices as they are (hopefully slightly cheaper) to the end of March 2015.

I've taken the plunge and decided to switch to Scottish Power.

My concern now; is that the deal disapears before the switch is complete.

What happens if the deal is pulled before the process completes? :huh:

This is the timetable:




I really cannot believe that the current fix until March 2015 will still be available in four-six weeks time...