First Utility - to switch or not

SuiDreams

If I moved to First Utility I could save £84 based on current usage (winter 2013/14 mild winter), or £34 based on last years usage (severe winter of 2012/13). This fix would alos last a year longer than the one I'm currently on. The fix I'm currently on has no penalty charges if I leave early, but this one has £30 per fuel (£60). Looking on here people either hate FU or think they are just ok. As the saving isn't huge and due do penalty charges, I'm not sure what to do. It would be nice to save a bit more money, but don't want to be stuck with a bad supplier?

matelodave

I switched to them at the beginning of November last year and the switch seemed to go OK and they are taking the agreed DD every month on the day they said they would.
BUT
I haven't seen a bill yet, their on-line accounting system doesn't seem to be working and I cant send them any meter readings either by phone, on-line or SMS.
I have sent them readings by E-mail and got acknowledgements but am still not seeing them on my account. It shows the DDs but no readings or consumption data.
Providing they don't muck about with my DDs it should be OK until my contract runs out in April 2015 when I calculate they'll owe me about £20 depending on what next winter throws at us This one has been remarkably mild and it's upset my estimates by quite a bit (we've used about 1000 fewer Kwh in Jan/Feb 2014 compared with Jan/Feb 2013). So they might owe me even more.
I'm willing to forgo £20 or so if it relieves me of any hassle trying to get it back but hopefully they will have got their act together by then. Although if they haven't, changing away might be a problem, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
In the end you pays your money and takes your chance

SuiDreams

Will have to have a long think, I do have a preadsheet set up to track actual usage and costs, so can use that if they fail to send bills. I'll leave it for a couple of days before making a decision, knowing my luck a better price will come out the day after I transfer with no tie in.