Cheapest utilities providers?

Jack2004

Hi,
We are just returning to the UK after living abroad for several years. We have bought a new property and are looking for the best deals for electricity, water, phone and internet, but do not have the previous proerty owners bills...I know the suppliers they had but have no details of the tarrifs...how do I get the cheapest deals?
Is it not possible to that X provider is cheaper for any given tarrif...if not it ought to be?
How do I use this site to make a judgement about the best providers for me?

lstar337

Register with whoever is already supplying the property first, then use the national average values (3,200kWh of electricity and 13,500kWh of gas) in a comparison site to see who will offer the best deal.

After a year when you know your actual usage figures, compare again to get the best deal.

webbit

Daligas for gas and isupplyenergy for electric, i have systematically gone through all the tarriffs and these 2 separately come out the cheapest, not sure on customer service as they are 2 smaller companies but if they mess you about you hold the cancel direct debit button. 12 month contracts and £30 cancel fee with the electric company, but you get a contract on how much you will be paying for 12 months, you have to supply meter reading, im going to on the 1st of every month, and and debt/credit will be sorted out at the end of contract.
We all need to get away from the big 6 rip off companies and make the market more competative

lstar337

webbit wrote: »

Daligas for gas and isupplyenergy for electric, i have systematically gone through all the tarriffs and these 2 separately come out the cheapest, not sure on customer service as they are 2 smaller companies but if they mess you about you hold the cancel direct debit button. 12 month contracts and £30 cancel fee with the electric company, but you get a contract on how much you will be paying for 12 months, you have to supply meter reading, im going to on the 1st of every month, and and debt/credit will be sorted out at the end of contract.
We all need to get away from the big 6 rip off companies and make the market more competative

Pretty poor advice as the price will vary on so many things (region, usage, etc.).

Not to mention that while we love to hate the 'big bad six', one of them is actually the cheapest price for me by a long way. I'm not going to throw money away to stick it to the big six.

Frugalsod

I am with one of the big 6 but there are other factors to include. If you know what your actual usage is likely to be then you have a better idea of what to enter in a comparison site. As this will be your first year maybe the first priority is to work out that usage and until that is worked out then maybe go to one without a minimum contract period. So if after a few months you know what your usage will be and can switch.

It also depends on what lightbulbs you have. Mine are all LED so my electricity bill does not vary from summer to winter, or if I am up every night or out all day.

I would suggest keeping a daily meter reading for a while to see what you consume. I use an App for iOS called Meters

http://grahamhaley.co.uk/meters/

It helps you track your usage far better than you could do yourself. Working out the hourly or yearly rate of consumption. You could find that you will know fairly quickly what your rate of consumption is and then be able to switch well before the end of the year.

Nada666

No need to wait a year. Just make a reasonable stab at an estimate and use that to choose tariffs or fixes for a year. Unless your usage is wholly out of whack the best tariffs will be quite close - just choose one (or two single fuel ones) to pay by direct debit.

If it turns out your guess is out then you can just switch again.

webbit

lstar337 wrote: »

Pretty poor advice as the price will vary on so many things (region, usage, etc.).

Not to mention that while we love to hate the 'big bad six', one of them is actually the cheapest price for me by a long way. I'm not going to throw money away to stick it to the big six.

MMMMM think you are very wrong there as the gas company has no variation and if you do a comparison on elec and gas only these 2 come at the top for me, up to the OP anyway just posted my own opinion, sorry

lstar337

webbit wrote: »

MMMMM think you are very wrong there as the gas company has no variation

So you think gas is sold at the same price regardless of supplier?

Sorry, but you are wrong about that.

What comes up when you compare is irrelevant, the op will have their own requirements, and their own set of results. There is not one company who is cheapest for everybody, otherwise comparing would be a total waste of time!

webbit

well with daligas i am on a fixed 12 month contract and compared to the rest cheaper

Nada666

webbit wrote: »

MMMMM think you are very wrong there as the gas company has no variation and if you do a comparison on elec and gas only these 2 come at the top for me, up to the OP anyway just posted my own opinion, sorry

You checked for 18 different regions and a range of consumptions from 1,000 kWh gas to 9,000 kWh electricity? Your suggestions are a decent brace to consider (and it is important to tell new users about checking out single fuels from separate suppliers rather than just dual fuel tariffs).

lstar337

webbit wrote: »

well with daligas i am on a fixed 12 month contract and compared to the rest cheaper

It's cheapest for you, yes. I'm glad you have a good deal, but you can't simply apply that to everybody.

Everyone needs to do their own comparison.

No need to be sorry. I can see you were trying to help, its just your advice was a little misguided.