British Gas Collective Fix December 2016

b33r

hieveryone wrote: »

Thanks b33r,

Can you tell me why it looks like I have to go through a credit search/setting up an account again though on the cheap energy club page? It seems to want a lot of information just to switch tariff, plus there are two lots of £30 early exit fees listed, although I am already with BG.

Thanks again

Not sure if a credit search is done, MSE Dan might be able to answer that. I have noddle and clearscore credit reports and didn't spot anything on this months though so I don't think they do. It'll have to collect your data again as it's the same form used for someone moving from a different supplier as someone already with BG however if you are already with BG they will just update your current account.

There would be a £30 early exit fee if you were to leave this new tariff before Dec 2016 (although they usually don't enforce it if it's up to about 50 days before that you leave). I didn't look if the tariff you are on has an exit fee however if you are already with BG (or sainsburys energy) then you will not have to pay it even if there was one.

hieveryone

rgk wrote: »

The fact that this Forum exists and has had over 200 posts in under a month surely gives the reason why people are still wary of switching energy suppliers! OK, not all of the posts are about switching problems, but a lot of them are, and some of the posters having problems are existing BG customers or are switching from Sainsbury's, effectively the same company.
I have just made the switch to this, this will be my 4th switch and am keeping my fingers crossed! My last switch via CEC didn't go well, despite the assurances made previously, so lets hope things are better this time.

It's just so complicated! There must be a better way surely to bill and pay for energy usage, it just seems the whole system is utter madness. I've decided just to do the switch and see what happens. I'm currently up at £90 a month, but have a large credit in gas, so if I can get monthly payments down without the risk of running up a huge debit then I'll be happy.

schiff

A few suggestions:

The DD people pay every month in many cases bears no relationship to the true cost. So if you are paying £100 per month it doesn't necessarily mean that the actual billed cost of your fuel is £1200 per annum. It could be a lot more, it could be a lot less. Many people thinking of switching work from their monthly DD and this is not reliable and can give an incorrect result.

So, find as many previous bills as you can and extract from them the date of any true meter readings, not estimates. List them in chronological order. If you have readings that are approximately 12 months apart, then you have a fairly accurate figure for your annual consumption. Even better if you have more than one set of compared figures.

It's December 1st today. Why not read your meters on the 1st of every month and keep a spreadsheet record - two minutes work each month.

And, keep a record of any true meter readings since December 1st 2014 and keep diary notes at each anniversary in 2015 of those true meter readings, read your meters, and that gives you a regular view of your annual consumption figures as 2015 progresses.

That will leave on top of everything and you will be able to compare at all times!

b33r

rgk wrote: »

The fact that this Forum exists and has had over 200 posts in under a month surely gives the reason why people are still wary of switching energy suppliers! OK, not all of the posts are about switching problems, but a lot of them are, and some of the posters having problems are existing BG customers or are switching from Sainsbury's, effectively the same company.
I have just made the switch to this, this will be my 4th switch and am keeping my fingers crossed! My last switch via CEC didn't go well, despite the assurances made previously, so lets hope things are better this time.

I've only done 2 switches which have both gone fine (Other -> Sainsburys -> BG (so far!)) but can see how easy it is for complications to arise. The conspiracy theorists might say some of it is deliberately bad to stop people leaving and saving money however I'm certain the Energy providers would strongly deny that!

It is a heck of a lot easier than it used to be though from what I've heard and as long as you've got your meter readings with a bit of maths you can easily calculate your own bills and check it's accurate.

I have my "threshold" set around £30 for a year. A saving of less than that probably wouldn't really be worth the time involved in switching and sorting out any problems that could arise. Any more than that and I would say it's pretty likely to be worth it.

hieveryone

schiff wrote: »

A few suggestions:

The DD people pay every month in many cases bears no relationship to the true cost. So if you are paying £100 per month it doesn't necessarily mean that the actual billed cost of your fuel is £1200 per annum. It could be a lot more, it could be a lot less. Many people thinking of switching work from their monthly DD and this is not reliable and can give an incorrect result.

So, find as many previous bills as you can and extract from them the date of any true meter readings, not estimates. List them in chronological order. If you have readings that are approximately 12 months apart, then you have a fairly accurate figure for your annual consumption. Even better if you have more than one set of compared figures.

It's December 1st today. Why not read your meters on the 1st of every month and keep a spreadsheet record - two minutes work each month.

And, keep a record of any true meter readings since December 1st 2014 and keep diary notes at each anniversary in 2015 of those true meter readings, read your meters, and that gives you a regular view of your annual consumption figures as 2015 progresses.

That will leave on top of everything and you will be able to compare at all times!

Great idea, thank you. We have only been in this house since June this year, and have doubled our house size so we are still trying to work out the difference in our consumption, but I like this idea. Thanks again.

schiff

hieveryone wrote: »

Great idea, thank you. We have only been in this house since June this year, and have doubled our house size so we are still trying to work out the difference in our consumption, but I like this idea. Thanks again.

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it will be some time before you get a 'balanced' figure, partly because you are starting the record at a time when bills get bigger, plus the fact that the size of the house has altered. You may have to use estimates for the latter.

You will have the accurate figures for when you moved in and that will help.

hieveryone

schiff wrote: »

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it will be some time before you get a 'balanced' figure, partly because you are starting the record at a time when bills get bigger, plus the fact that the size of the house has altered. You may have to use estimates for the latter.

You will have the accurate figures for when you moved in and that will help.

Ok, confused me now! (it's not difficult!) :rotfl:

I can only access the quarterly readings online - it doesn't show monthly usage? If I start as I mean to go on that's something at least.

schiff

hieveryone wrote: »

Ok, confused me now! (it's not difficult!) :rotfl:

I can only access the quarterly readings online - it doesn't show monthly usage? If I start as I mean to go on that's something at least.

Really all you need are the readings from day one when you moved into the house. You will have those from the original sign-up I imagine; if not, ask your supplier for them.

YKay

British_Gas_Rep_Matt wrote: »

Hi That Bloke, I hope the move's going well as I know how hectic a time it can be and I'll be happy to help you sign up to the new deal, please just email talktous@britishgas.co.uk, including MSE Forums in the subject line. Cheers, Matt

Hi Matt

I now have both - gas & electric changed to direct debit monthly payments. I have been trying to access the registration page all night and I am unable to find it. I checked in at 9pm on the 1st Dec and it said there was 12 hours remaining, I presumed this was correct on was on until tomorrow around 9am (ish) .

Can you please help me as I do not want to miss this offer and have changed to direct debit just because of this.

Thanks.

buddyslack

Just tried to do this switch, used the link in email, entered my details, currently on fix and reward july 2016, dual fuel, paying monthly direct debit.
Then under the "here is your exact price for the British Gas 12 month fix" it says its only available for dual fuel and monthly direct debit payment, and asks me to change my payment/fuel filters on this page with a link to see this tariff
My details are already as dual fuel and monthly direct debit, any ideas what I can do?

*edit*
nevermind, its showing up now after I refreshed page