Equigas and Equipower

rob290482

I have seen this supplier of gas and electricity and the seem tobe the cheapest for prepay. i have just bought my first home and still in university so i dont want any bills coming in (or as few as possible) this is why i want a prepay meter.

they say they charge £40 to fit the prepay meters
the gas is charged at 1.620p per kWh (including VAT)
the electricity is charged at 6.86p per kWh (North West region)
they do not have any monthly, annual or standing charges

there web site is http://www.ebico.co.uk/index.htm

does anyone think this is any good?

thanks. also if i get prepay meters fitted by my current providers (for free) do i get around having to pay the £40 from Equipower/gas?

i am currently with powergen for my electricity and british gas for gas. both paid quarterly by bill sent out (only moved in my home last month so nothing is really set up yet)

thanks again

iannewbery

Yes i know what you mean i was in a similar position...

however good news......equipower and equigas really in my view are the cheapest.

secondly they are handled by southernelectric.....they manage the account for equipower and equigas..... now the good thing is they have an online account system free so what i do is take a weekly meter readings for electric and gas......the electric is straight forward times the kwh by the unit cost......the gas multiply the unit by eleven and then by the kwh cost to give a rought idea and then i go online and pay it........

no nasty shocks when the bill comes in...


just give them an online meter reading every now and then to keep it up to date....

i used to have a meter but i prefer this.....

rob290482

Thanks iannewbery for that info. might stick with the normal meter and not bother with the prepay meter (save about £40)

just another question. my electric meter reads 3740 and then there is another number that changes. do i disregard this number and just watch the the other 4 digits, or do i use this last digit as it was 3 when i last looked, but probably well changed by now.

so my electric meter is 37403 and if it went to 37413 (thats 10 or 1 ???)
it would either be 10kWh x 6.86 (North West charges) = 68.6p
OR would it be 1kWh x 6.86 = 6.86p ??????????

My gas meter is the same. it has 4 digits and 2 red digits. do i read the difference between all of them. i.e

my meter reads 4229 [36] the numbers in the brackets are red
if it went to 4239 [36] would it be 10 or 1000 ????

A big difference in price (when i rang up to tell my current provider the gas reading they said ignore the red numbers. so i wouuld guess, in my example it would be 10 kWh. also what do you mean by timesing it by 11?

why multiply the number of units used by 11?

if i do my example would work out to be £1.78 if not it would be £0.16

Sorry for so many questions. i really do not get any of this at all. i think i undrestand how to read and calculate my gas (but dont know why i have to multiply by 11) but the electric seems harder due to the last digit that moves the fastest

thanks

roger56

Yes, they do come up as the cheapest and I particularly like their fair pricing policy even though I can pay monthly DD. I don't see why anyone should pay more per unit for essentials just because they live on a tight budget. (On Uswitch they don't come up as an option initially because they are rated 2 star for service, you need to select the show all suppliers option). I phoned their enquiry line and the lady was very helpful.
I'm currently changing over and can recommend them. Electricity is nearly sorted, had two postal updates to keep me informed. Gas is in also progressing but a bit slower.

Nearly forgot, follow this link for an explanation on meter readings:
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/homeenergy/aboutyourbill/readyourmeter.asp?section=smallbusiness

Hope that helps

rob290482

Figured it out (how to work out my costs) however, i still dont understand why you multiply the gas units by 11 to get the kWh. I read you have to follow a small formula to get the units to kWh for gas only. done it on excel swo it works it all out for me and shows me my savings compared to british gas prices

roger56

The *11 is to convert from units of gas as shown by your meter to KWhr:

units used * volume conversion factor * calorific value / KWhr conversion = KWhr

eg

your reading * 1.00223(typically) * 39.2 / 3.6 = your useage in KWHr

or roughly

your reading * 11 = your useage in KWHr

rob290482

thanks roger56 that has cleared it up a bit now. still i have got a trabslator now to do the units to kWh for me. but thanks for explaining it properly to me

Cardew

roger56 wrote:

Yes, they do come up as the cheapest and I particularly like their fair pricing policy even though I can pay monthly DD. I don't see why anyone should pay more per unit for essentials just because they live on a tight budget. (On Uswitch they don't come up as an option initially because they are rated 2 star for service, you need to select the show all suppliers option). I phoned their enquiry line and the lady was very helpful.
I'm currently changing over and can recommend them. Electricity is nearly sorted, had two postal updates to keep me informed. Gas is in also progressing but a bit slower.

Nearly forgot, follow this link for an explanation on meter readings:
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/homeenergy/aboutyourbill/readyourmeter.asp?section=smallbusiness

Hope that helps

Roger,
Although I agree with most of your post, I think your recommendation would carry more weight when you have been with them for a period.

iannewbery

I have to say i have had Equipower and Equigas for some time now and i have had no problems with them. Souther electric who administer the accounts on their behalf have been great and above all i have saved money. I pay my account each week online via their web site and well......

charlie12

Hi Ian,

When you pay via their website, can you pay by debit/credit card? The Southern Electric website says that you can but I just want to be sure. If I go for the monthly DD option, do I also get the flexibility of paying by credit/debit card too? i.e. Can I "top up" the account during the month so that the monthly DD amount to pay becomes less?

Also - I assume you pay Southern Electric rather than Ebico themselves?

Thanks

p3gg

charlie12 wrote:

Also - I assume you pay Southern Electric rather than Ebico themselves?

Our gas switches over to Equigas in a few days time. I've just checked the bank account, and I see the direct debit has now been set up, and it's Southern Electric that's named as the beneficiary. Ever since applying all we've had from Ebico is one single e-mail; all the other communications have been from Southern Electric.


rob290482, I'm sorry but I don't understand why you want a prepayment meter. The thing about Equipower/Equigas is that every customer pays the same per unit, whatever the billing/payment method. Do you really want to saddle your house with a prepayment meter that you would then probably have to pay again to have taken out and replaced with a regular meter in the future when you come to sell?.. Or am I being a bit slow on the uptake tonight?