Moved to a new house....do I switch? If so who too?

dantheman2010

Hi all

We moved into our new home at the beginning of August and the current suppliers were British Gas. As we were living with parents beforehand we didnt have anyone to switch from/to so left it with British Gas.

The house is a 3 bed detached house and we have 2 adults and 1 (3yo) child living in the house. We are out all day Mon-Fri so gas/elec is mainly used first thing in the morning and the evenings and weekends.

I am currently on the British Gas standard variable tariff and pay the £105pm.

Anyway, I have notification from the MSE Energy Club I can save money by fixing. I have seen I can "save" money with Eon on a 1 year fix or Scottish Power on a 3 year fix.

EON Gas TCR 3.93p per kWh (1 yr fix)
EON Elect TCR 12.40p per kWh (1 yr fix)
SP Gas TCR 4.42p per kWh (3 yr fix)
SP Elec TCR 14.77p per kWh (3 yr fix)
Current BG Gas TCR 5.13p per kWh
Current BG Elec TCR 15.24p per kWh

My question is who should I switch to?

Scottish Power I have also heard the customer service is not great but is a 3 yr fix. But Eon only fixed for 1 year so may have to switch again. But both of them are cheaper than what I am paying at the moment, could the Eon one still be cheaper than BG after the years fix?

I have only been in the house 3 months so got no idea what our usage is truly going to be, but I dont want to have my pants pulled down by British Gas.

Any help would be appreciated, and sorry for the long winded story.

JJ_Egan

Any suppliers standard tariff is a high price to pay but at least you do not need to bother about switching and ten minuets of hassle .Alternative is to pay extra and lock into a fixed tariff to 2018 .
Key is not your estimated years bill or DD but the standing charge and Kwh charges .

dantheman2010

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Any suppliers standard tariff is a high price to pay but at least you do not need to bother about switching and ten minuets of hassle .Alternative is to pay extra and lock into a fixed tariff to 2018 .
Key is not your estimated years bill or DD but the standing charge and Kwh charges .

Hi i have amended detail to include the charges.

dantheman2010

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Any suppliers standard tariff is a high price to pay but at least you do not need to bother about switching and ten minuets of hassle .Alternative is to pay extra and lock into a fixed tariff to 2018 .
Key is not your estimated years bill or DD but the standing charge and Kwh charges .

Even the Scottish Power 3 year fix is less than what I am on with British Gas.

dantheman2010

Anyone with Scottish Power can either confirm or deny the bad customer service reports I have seen on here?

matelodave

Do your own sums, based on average usage ie 3200kwh electricity and 13500kwh gas because that's what the TCR is based on - it will be different if you use significantly more or less because the standing charge has more effect for low users and less for higher users.

based on averages your bill for the next 12 months will be
BG - (3200x15.24p = £487.68) + (13500x5.13p =£716.85) = £1204.53
EON - (3200x12.40p = £396.80)+(13500x3.93p = £530.55) = £927.35
SP - (3200x14.77p = £472.64)+(13500x4.42p = £596.70) = £1069.34.

Changing from BG is a no brainer but going to SP would cost you £142 more than EoN in 2015.

Your gamble would be how much energy cost would increase for 2016 and 2017. Your guess is as good as mine so let's say 10% a year. That would make Eon £1019 in 2016 and £1121.67 in 2017.

Therefore your Eon Energy over 3 years would cost about £3068 whereas the SP fix would cost you £3208 about £140 more over the three years - energy would have to go up by 15% per year for the SP deal to be worth it.

System

dantheman2010 wrote: »

Anyone with Scottish Power can either confirm or deny the bad customer service reports I have seen on here?

With respect, the problem posting the question above is that responders will, in the main, have had a bad experience as the quiet majority do not bother with forums such as MSE.

These tables might give you a better idea:

http://switch.which.co.uk/energy-suppliers/energy-companies-rated.html

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2014/09/ovo-energy-top-npower-rock-bottom-in-mses-latest-energy-poll

That said. you could choose the 'top' company in the table and have problems from Day One. Equally, you could choose the 'worst' and never have a need to speak to CS.