No Standing Charge Tariffs

ILuvEbico

Cardew wrote: »

I actually have an Ebico account for an annex with tiny electricity consumption.


However inputting figures into a comparison website, Ebico's tariff is slightly more expensive, than the cheapest tariff, for an annual consumption of only 1,000kWh.


So very few people will find Ebico cheapest.

Absolutely.

As both I and MSE suggest, use a comparison site to find the best deal for you.

There is no one common supplier/tariff that is cheapest, but sometimes, as in your own case, people obviously are not driven by cost alone. The unique offering by Ebico, for the reasons I explained earlier, could indeed be some of the reasons for choosing them.

I don't know where you live, nor the OP, and and I also explained, prices of electricity do vary regionally, but in the region I live in (Yorkshire) according to energyhelpline.com, only Sainsburys appear to offer a cheaper offering than Ebico for a user of 1000kWh per year; a saving of just £6 on a yearly cost of £167. Every other supplier & tariff will cost more.
Unfortunately, the Sainsbury's offering does apply a daily standing charge (something I thought the OP was hoping to avoid) and whilst its charges are fixed until May 2015 (Ebico's are effectively capped, meaning they can fall but cannot rise) there is also a £30 exit fee for leaving the Sainsbury's tariff early; Ebico have no such penalty clauses.

Also, to obtain the Sainsbury's tariff, you must agree to pay by Direct Debit, whereas there are no such restrictions with Ebico.

Furthermore, whatever region the OP lives in, I would estimate Ebico to cost between £150 and £200 p.a. for 1000kWh of electricity per year, and that does appear to represent a saving of 15-35% compared to the tariff the OP is currently on.

Cardew

ILuvEbico wrote: »

Unfortunately, the Sainsbury's offering does apply a daily standing charge (something I thought the OP was hoping to avoid).

As stated in post #4 it doesn't matter at all if a company has a daily standing charge(DSC)or not.


It makes no difference at all if they have a large DSC and low kWh price, or a zero DSC and high kWh charge. All that matters is total cost of xxxxkWh of electricity or gas.


I live in the Midlands and for electricity 1,000kWh is roughly the 'break even' point between Ebico and other suppliers.


The OP states that without gas his electricity consumption will be heavy when in occupation -' when we are in residence we use a lot of electricity as the property does not have mains gas.' I take that to mean in excess of 1,000kWh pa so Ebico will not be cheapest.

ILuvEbico

Cardew wrote: »

As stated in post #4 it doesn't matter at all if a company has a daily standing charge(DSC)or not.


It makes no difference at all if they have a large DSC and low kWh price, or a zero DSC and high kWh charge. All that matters is total cost of xxxxkWh of electricity or gas.


I live in the Midlands and for electricity 1,000kWh is roughly the 'break even' point between Ebico and other suppliers.


The OP states that without gas his electricity consumption will be heavy when in occupation -' when we are in residence we use a lot of electricity as the property does not have mains gas.' I take that to mean in excess of 1,000kWh pa so Ebico will not be cheapest.

As I said in both my previous posts in this thread, a comparison site will show you the relative costs of all the various suppliers/tariffs for your own individual needs.

For you, a user in the (West?) Midlands, using just 1000kWh per year electricity, the possible savings are even less.

Sainsburys would save you just £5 a year on a total annual cost of £168 and there is nPower that just sneaks in too saving a matter of pennies.

However, based on the title of this thread, I had presumed the OP was looking specifically for a tariff with no standing charge; Ebico have zero standing charge yet Sainsburys do and nPower apply it and then discount it only if you agree to pay by DD

May I remind you the OP also said

fallen121 wrote:

PS we don't want to pay by Direct Debit because estimated bills would lead to us building up huge surpluses because estimates assume you are at the property all the time. Also we need to manage the account online because the billing address and the property address would be different.

Well Ebico are the cheapest supplier in your example that do not require payment by DD.

As for online account management, this too is not an issue as Ebico use SSE for all their billing so it's the SSE online management software.
When you first apply for Ebico, there is an even an opportunity to declare a second mailing address there - so all postal correspondence will be sent to that preferred mailing address.

macman

OP only made that comment about DD payment because they misunderstand how the DD is calculated...pretty pointless thread now unless the OP comes back with their annual usage figures.
Ebico might be the cheapest (though I doubt it), but without kWh data there is no certainty. Your username indicates that you are hardly taking a unbiased approach to the question originally raised.

Cardew

ILuvEbico wrote: »

As I said in both my previous posts in this thread, a comparison site will show you the relative costs of all the various suppliers/tariffs for your own individual needs.

For you, a user in the (West?) Midlands, using just 1000kWh per year electricity, the possible savings are even less.

Sainsburys would save you just £5 a year on a total annual cost of £168 and there is nPower that just sneaks in too saving a matter of pennies.

However, based on the title of this thread, I had presumed the OP was looking specifically for a tariff with no standing charge; Ebico have zero standing charge yet Sainsburys do and nPower apply it and then discount it only if you agree to pay by DD

May I remind you the OP also said



Well Ebico are the cheapest supplier in your example that do not require payment by DD.

As for online account management, this too is not an issue as Ebico use SSE for all their billing so it's the SSE online management software.
When you first apply for Ebico, there is an even an opportunity to declare a second mailing address there - so all postal correspondence will be sent to that preferred mailing address.

You seem not to understand the issue.


I have stated twice that for consumption around 1,000kWh pa Ebico are contenders. Above that level of consumption they are not(price wise)


I have also stated twice that it doesn't matter if there is a daily standing charge or not - all that matters is the annual cost.


The OP has not given his annual consumption, but the clear indication from his opening post is it will be well above 1,000kWh pa.


I also told you for my annex which has a consumption of less than 1,000kWh pa I use Ebico - so I really don't need to be told that they are cheaper for ultra low consumption. In the same way I don't need to be told that for my main house with a consumption of around 7,000kWh pa (electricity) Ebico are non-starters.