Flow Energy - New provider

anon_ymous

I got a message from cheapenergyclub, that I could save £9/year with FlowEnergy (dual fuel) with no cancellation fees (fixed tarriff)

£9/year isn't much, but for a click it wasn't bad Though I then decided against it, purely because I have a Santander 123 account, which gives 2% cashback ie: £55/month = £1.10/month cashback or £13.20/year

Im only here for 3 more months as well, so it'd be a saving of £2.25

(Flow Energy isn't listed on Santander's site, as isn't Zog Energy/Extra Energy)

Any way, they certainly LOOK interesting, especially with their Flow energy boiler, which generates electricity, as it burns gas

Flow boiler explained here:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/62717175?api=1&player_id=player&color=67c7e3

Thoughts?

molerat

Their dual fuel comes in cheapest but still £84 dearer than single fuels for me.

anon_ymous

molerat wrote: »

Their dual fuel comes in cheapest but still £84 dearer than single fuels for me.

Ah fair enough. They're the cheapest for me. Might also have something to do with us having an IGT here. I think the whole boiler system they have is certainly an interesting thing

Though I wonder if they calculated the supposed savings of the boiler in to the comparisons?

philng

Just switched with EDF Fix coming to end 30 April-Cheapest dual fuel for me by £40 PLUS Cashback through Energylinx of £32 PLUS no Exit Fee if it all goes wrong!

Rhenser

waqasahmed wrote: »

I got a message from cheapenergyclub, that I could save £9/year with FlowEnergy (dual fuel) with no cancellation fees (fixed tarriff)

£9/year isn't much, but for a click it wasn't bad Though I then decided against it, purely because I have a Santander 123 account, which gives 2% cashback ie: £55/month = £1.10/month cashback or £13.20/year

Im only here for 3 more months as well, so it'd be a saving of £2.25

(Flow Energy isn't listed on Santander's site, as isn't Zog Energy/Extra Energy)

Any way, they certainly LOOK interesting, especially with their Flow energy boiler, which generates electricity, as it burns gas

Flow boiler explained here:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/62717175?api=1&player_id=player&color=67c7e3

Thoughts?

waqasahmed wrote: »

Ah fair enough. They're the cheapest for me. Might also have something to do with us having an IGT here. I think the whole boiler system they have is certainly an interesting thing

Though I wonder if they calculated the supposed savings of the boiler in to the comparisons?

I'm sure that whilst Flow Energy will supply to customers supplied by an IGT, they do make an additional charge.

I don't know how much it is. I think you need to call them to find out, but I'd be surprised if it was less than £9, therefore possibly more than wiping out any presumed savings. (assuming your current supplier makes no additional charge)

The Cheap Energy Club (like all comparison sites) does not include any additional cost of IGTs on energy cost estimations.

anon_ymous

Rhenser wrote: »

I'm sure that whilst Flow Energy will supply to customers supplied by an IGT, they do make an additional charge.

I don't know how much it is. I think you need to call them to find out, but I'd be surprised if it was less than £9, therefore possibly more than wiping out any presumed savings. (assuming your current supplier makes no additional charge)

The Cheap Energy Club (like all comparison sites) does not include any additional cost of IGTs on energy cost estimations.

I did think they'd make an additional charge

I thought that the CEC, took that in to consideration on an "average" basis, but apparently not

I would think that Better Energy do make additional charges, but Im not sure

IF both Better Energy and Flow Energy charge more for IGTs, then for penny pinching, the calculations would be as below

Next three months electricity: £75 (£1.50 cashback)
Next three months gas: £90 (£0.00 cashback)

Supposed savings over the year with Flow Energy - £9
Supposed savings over the next three months - £2.25

Saving a tiny £0.75p over the next three months, or 25p/month

anon_ymous

philng wrote: »

Just switched with EDF Fix coming to end 30 April-Cheapest dual fuel for me by £40 PLUS Cashback through Energylinx of £32 PLUS no Exit Fee if it all goes wrong!

Just wondering if you're going to get the boiler as well, or just the tariff itself?

Rhenser

waqasahmed wrote: »

I did think they'd make an additional charge

I thought that the CEC, took that in to consideration on an "average" basis, but apparently not

I would think that Better Energy do make additional charges, but Im not sure

IF both Better Energy and Flow Energy charge more for IGTs, then for penny pinching, the calculations would be as below

Next three months electricity: £75 (£1.50 cashback)
Next three months gas: £90 (£0.00 cashback)

Supposed savings over the year with Flow Energy - £9
Supposed savings over the next three months - £2.25

Saving a tiny £0.75p over the next three months, or 25p/month

In common with many small suppliers, I don't think Better Energy will even supply customers supplied via an IGT.

anon_ymous

Rhenser wrote: »

In common with many small suppliers, I don't think Better Energy will even supply customers supplied via an IGT.

I noticed that several months AFTER we'd been supplied with them ie: they weren't meant to supply us, but they did

Daligas outright refused to supply us (£6 cheaper over the year, with a nicer web interface - which Better Energy doesn't have at all)

monkei

waqasahmed wrote: »

Any way, they certainly LOOK interesting, especially with their Flow energy boiler, which generates electricity, as it burns gas

Flow boiler explained here:


Thoughts?

Like you I got an alert, saw Flow and looked with interest at their 'free' mircoCHP boiler.

However after reading more about the technology I think you need to be quite a high gas user to really benefit (and probably to be selected by Flow for a free boiler in the first place).

On their website it says you need to use between 28,000 and 52,000 kWh of gas a year for the Flow boiler to be suitable. Did a quick google and I think the average household uses 20,000 kWh or less of gas a year.

To generate 2000kWh of electricity a year you need to use about 35,000kWh of gas a year. This would save you about £200 a year in electricity but Flow effectively takes this for the first 5 years to pay off the cost of the free boiler.

On their blog they mention Flow boiler users will be on a separate tariff. I'm guessing this will be a higher tariff? because in 5 years can you really generate enough electricity from the feed-in-tariff to pay off this high tech boiler? They're a business after all and need to turn a profit somewhere.

I would really like to see the terms & conditions of the Flow boiler offer, especially terms concerning the tariff during the 5 years you're fixed with them and if there are any penalties if you don't generate enough electricity to pay off the boiler etc. I'm sure some people will benefit from the Flow boiler offer but maybe not be as many as upon first glance? or as straightforward as the video makes out?

As there are people who are already trialing Flow boilers, I would love to hear any feedback on them and any T&C's you are tied to... anyone here have a Flow boiler installed?

Thanks.

anon_ymous

monkei wrote: »

Like you I got an alert, saw Flow and looked with interest at their 'free' mircoCHP boiler.

However after reading more about the technology I think you need to be quite a high gas user to really benefit (and probably to be selected by Flow for a free boiler in the first place).

On their website it says you need to use between 28,000 and 52,000 kWh of gas a year for the Flow boiler to be suitable. Did a quick google and I think the average household uses 20,000 kWh or less of gas a year.

To generate 2000kWh of electricity a year you need to use about 35,000kWh of gas a year. This would save you about £200 a year in electricity but Flow effectively takes this for the first 5 years to pay off the cost of the free boiler.

On their blog they mention Flow boiler users will be on a separate tariff. I'm guessing this will be a higher tariff? because in 5 years can you really generate enough electricity from the feed-in-tariff to pay off this high tech boiler? They're a business after all and need to turn a profit somewhere.

I would really like to see the terms & conditions of the Flow boiler offer, especially terms concerning the tariff during the 5 years you're fixed with them and if there are any penalties if you don't generate enough electricity to pay off the boiler etc. I'm sure some people will benefit from the Flow boiler offer but maybe not be as many as upon first glance? or as straightforward as the video makes out?

As there are people who are already trialing Flow boilers, I would love to hear any feedback on them and any T&C's you are tied to... anyone here have a Flow boiler installed?

Thanks.

I didn't really look in to their pricing structure that much, though I guess for my parents, it'd be cheaper because they do use around 35000KwH/gas. How? I don't know (Though my guess is all the curries that take hours to make )

Id also be interested in knowing the above as well Though, what did most impress me purely was the micro generation boiler, even if it might not be the most economical of things to do for most people