confused

jktl

Hello
first post so here goes
as the title says confused.com just one of the websites I have been looking at to try and compare gas and electricity prices.
from Oct 12/12 to Sept 19/13 I have paid £836.55 for 17283kwh to british gas for my gas on standard tariff.
On approx same dates I have paid £335.27 for electricity to eon on energy plan. This equates to £1172 per annum for both. most websites appear to advise going for fixed prices and not to use standard tariffs but I do not appear to be able to find anything cheaper than I am already paying, In fact they all appear to be more expensive and also want monthly direct debit payments so paying for usage b/4 you receive it at the moment I pay quarterly direct debit.
Am I looking on the wrong websites or am I best staying with what I have now.
Thanks for any advice
regards
jktl

Nada666

Fixed prices are, by their nature, often likely to be more expensive. (Though it is possible to find cheaper fixes for some consumption patterns.)

Some suppliers offer you quarterly direct debit payments at the same price as monthly payments, others will charge you more for quarterly. If you can budget for quarterly payments why is budgeting for monthly payments such a chore? (On a very low consumption I can fathom preferring a one-off payment every three months. On your average/above spending I see no good reason to restrict your choice.)

Note that it can be tricky to find the quarterly payment options on some sites - make sure you are comparing correct quotes.

Biscuit_Tin

jktl wrote: »

Hello
first post so here goes
as the title says confused.com just one of the websites I have been looking at to try and compare gas and electricity prices.
from Oct 12/12 to Sept 19/13 I have paid £836.55 for 17283kwh to british gas for my gas on standard tariff.
On approx same dates I have paid £335.27 for electricity to eon on energy plan. This equates to £1172 per annum for both. most websites appear to advise going for fixed prices and not to use standard tariffs but I do not appear to be able to find anything cheaper than I am already paying, In fact they all appear to be more expensive and also want monthly direct debit payments so paying for usage b/4 you receive it at the moment I pay quarterly direct debit.
Am I looking on the wrong websites or am I best staying with what I have now.
Thanks for any advice
regards
jktl

Half the big 6 suppliers have announced price rises, BG being one of them.
So you can't look at what you paid last year.

Also because not all suppliers have increased prices yet (but probably will soon do so), then that is why it is not wise to switch to a variable tariff at the moment.

But you know the companies that have raised prices, and it's pretty evident it's about 10%, so if you allow for that, you can decide if a variable tariff is better for you than a fixed using any comparsion site. If you use the ones Martin suggests, using his special links, you'll even get cashback too if you switch supplier via them :beer:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

DragonQ

Nada666 wrote: »

Fixed prices are, by their nature, often likely to be more expensive. (Though it is possible to find cheaper fixes for some consumption patterns.)

I've only ever been on two fixed energy tariffs and both were not only cheaper than variable rates but also had no exit fee. You're probably right in general though!