MSE News: Collective switching comes of age as 60,000 save £10 million

keiran

I switched to the 3 yr fixed tariff with Scot Power in this collective switch, already being with SP approaching the end of a similar long fix.

I was sent product switch/tariff details shortly afterwards, but then they have sent me new tariff details ( having higher rates) , saying the stuff they'd sent me had been an error.

As I did not keep a record of what the initial switch rates were, I now have no idea whether I'm being taken for a ride by SP...

Although this incompetence is very much part of what SP is, how can I be assured that the tariff rates they're now quoting were those for which I did the switch?

thanks in advance

Pincher

Using 16,500/3,300kWh average consumption on Moneysupermarket.com, I get


MSE Fixed 1 Year Collective Switch Online £1,077


Whereas on the slightly later Scottish Power fix:


Scottish Power Online Fixed Price Energy January 2016 £1,039


This saves £38, and has no exit penalty.






The cheapest E.On in-house alternative is currently


E.ON Fixed 1 Year v13 £1,258 Exit Penalty £10


So, as the oil prices keep falling, and cheaper short fixes come out, how are the Big Switchers going to jump on?


Oh well, you are only trapped for one year.


If the difference gets too great, I suppose MSE could do another Big Switch in January, to say Ovo. Isn't that what Clint Eastwood did in For a Fistful of Dollar?

Consumerist

keiran wrote: »

. . As I did not keep a record of what the initial switch rates were, I now have no idea whether I'm being taken for a ride by SP. . .

If you know which energy region you're in then it might help us to help you if you could give us a clue so that you stand some chance of someone else in your region who also switched, via CEC, onto the same tariff could let you know what the rates were at the time.

Edit
"Thanks in advance" is no incentive for people to reply; it suggests you can't even be bother to hit the Thanks button if people try to help you out.

keiran

That's harsh!

I've found the applicable rates by logging onto my cheapenergyclub account, and sadly the higher rates SP quoted me after their initial "error" appear to be right....

Still pretty shoddy on the part of SP, though!!

Consumerist

keiran wrote: »

That's harsh!

I've found the applicable rates by logging onto my cheapenergyclub account, and sadly the higher rates SP quoted me after their initial "error" appear to be right....

Still pretty shoddy on the part of SP, though!!

Sorry, didn't mean to be harsh but glad you got it sorted. Thanks for posting the update.

redux

Pincher wrote: »

If the difference gets too great, I suppose MSE could do another Big Switch in January, to say Ovo. Isn't that what Clint Eastwood did in For a Fistful of Dollar?

Well predicted, though it's Sainsburys.

The latest MSE mail tells me

MSE Big Winter Switch Event:!The CHEAPEST tariff.!The winner is the!Sainsbury's Energy Discount Fixed Feb 2016 tariff!(run by British Gas). For most it's by far the cheapest deal, with huge savings, and the rate you pay is guaranteed not to rise for a year.!Plus...

So I rejoin Cheap Energy Club, which tells me that would cost £19 a year more than the current tariff here.

Using another comparison site, there are several tariffs cheaper than MSE's new recommendation.

"For most it's by far the cheapest deal" is untrue. I wonder what explanation MSE will produce ...

What's more, the Sainsburys tariff has an exit fee of £60 (compared to none on some), which might be a nuisance while prices are falling.

canterswest

Not competitive for me either. It does appear driven by commission to advise switching now with a nasty £60 exit fee. Running the switch later or for longer would seem a better option which some of MSE's competitors are doing. MSE seems to need the sales NOW hence willing to take the risk consumers switch at the wrong time, but right for MSE.

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/moneysupermarket-hit-by-static-energy-prices-9983049.html

If MSE had any power it would have negotiated the exit fee down. Why it keeps on about the power of MSE I don't understand as it has not had better priced deals.

At least its one year recommendation is part of warm home discount. I was surprised to see Ofgem promoting everyone switch to cheapest deals which it said were from smaller new suppliers. These can be pure technology based intermediaries selling anything and everything based overseas with no long term investment in future energy supply or climate change just short term maximum profit for themselves.

I also did not believe that all the big 6's customers could switch to smaller suppliers on tariffs saving £250. These market leading tariffs have small quotas and small suppliers do not have energy contracts to match millions of new customers. Could all go horribly wrong if one was to build up huge extra sums of direct debits over and above what is owed, could not then buy to fulfill contracts at a competitive price so goes bust taking customers money.

Ken68

I like the idea of collective action. Not only to get the cheapest price, and not only in the energy industry.

MSE_Dan_L

redux wrote: »

Well predicted, though it's Sainsburys.

The latest MSE mail tells me

MSE Big Winter Switch Event:!The CHEAPEST tariff.!The winner is the!Sainsbury's Energy Discount Fixed Feb 2016 tariff!(run by British Gas). For most it's by far the cheapest deal, with huge savings, and the rate you pay is guaranteed not to rise for a year.!Plus...

So I rejoin Cheap Energy Club, which tells me that would cost £19 a year more than the current tariff here.

Using another comparison site, there are several tariffs cheaper than MSE's new recommendation.

"For most it's by far the cheapest deal" is untrue. I wonder what explanation MSE will produce ...

.

Just to confirm on this point, the Sainsbury's Energy tariff is the cheapest tariff available on the market at present based on average annual usage (based on Ofgem's usage figures) of 13,500 kwh gas and 3,200 kwh electricity across all energy regions.

As you've seen, it is possible that for some usage types, in some regions to find other tariffs which are cheaper. We show these on the 'full market comparison' section of your Energy Club results page. This should help you to spot if there are cheaper alternatives for you.

I hope this clears things up for you.

canterswest

MSE_Dan_L wrote: »

Just to confirm on this point, the Sainsbury's Energy tariff is the cheapest tariff available on the market at present based on average annual usage (based on Ofgem's usage figures) of 13,500 kwh gas and 3,200 kwh electricity across all energy regions.

As you've seen, it is possible that for some usage types, in some regions to find other tariffs which are cheaper. We show these on the 'full market comparison' section of your Energy Club results page. This should help you to spot if there are cheaper alternatives for you.

I hope this clears things up for you.

Is that not misselling to say something is cheapest then say it might not be look in the small print. Cheapest deals were not visible either until you scroll through MSE tariffs.

MSE should pay the exit penalty for its customers on its last 3 year collective switch because it was bad advice given the knowledge of prices falling .

Behavioural economics says it is really difficult to switch people when prices are falling because they care most about what they might lose by not waiting. It is much easier to switch customers when prices are rising. Switching sites are always a few months after everyone else in acknowledging when prices are falling for this reason.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/npower-becomes-fourth-energy-firm-to-cut-prices-1-3669849