should i switch?

[Deleted User]

The BG collective has £30 exit fee on each fuel if you choose to switch before the full year is out.You could move over to Sainsburys Energy within the year with no exit fee if they came up with a better deal. I was on Sainsburys Feb 2016 fix so I dont have to pay the £60 .All other suppliers you would be paying £60 to leave. All these one year fixes can be a bit of a gamble with tariffs going up or down. This BG deal will take some beating though. I m very happy with my tariff.Its cheaper than last years Sainsburys fix.

modsandmockers

wallofbeans wrote: »

I've only just switched to the 'Price Promise' tariff but there's no exit fee so that's not an issue.

I only seem to have two bills from last year, is that right? And I'm not sure where to find exactly how much energy I used?

Each bill should tell you the start and finish date of the period of time which it covers and also a start and finish meter reading for each fuel. You need to check that there are no gaps in either the dates or the meter readings - if gaps exist, then you could try to get copies of the missing bills.

Some of the meter readings may be marked as 'Estimated'. That shouldn't be a problem so long as your 12-month period begins and ends with an 'Actual' reading. Whichever supplier you are with, it's always worth submitting your own meter readings at regular intervals (monthly would be good) and keeping your own record of numbers and dates. Estimated meter readings are a frequent cause of problems for the customer.

On your bills, you will find (probably in the same section as the meter readings) that the meter readings have been converted into kiloWatthours (kWh). Electricity meters measure kWh directly, and the number does not change. Gas meter readings go through a conversion process, and the details should be printed somewhere on the bill - it will probably make your toes curl up and your eyes glaze over, but don't worry - the conversion has already been done, and the bill will tell you the result (in kWh's).

wallofbeans

modsandmockers wrote: »

Each bill should tell you the start and finish date of the period of time which it covers and also a start and finish meter reading for each fuel. You need to check that there are no gaps in either the dates or the meter readings - if gaps exist, then you could try to get copies of the missing bills.

Some of the meter readings may be marked as 'Estimated'. That shouldn't be a problem so long as your 12-month period begins and ends with an 'Actual' reading. Whichever supplier you are with, it's always worth submitting your own meter readings at regular intervals (monthly would be good) and keeping your own record of numbers and dates. Estimated meter readings are a frequent cause of problems for the customer.

On your bills, you will find (probably in the same section as the meter readings) that the meter readings have been converted into kiloWatthours (kWh). Electricity meters measure kWh directly, and the number does not change. Gas meter readings go through a conversion process, and the details should be printed somewhere on the bill - it will probably make your toes curl up and your eyes glaze over, but don't worry - the conversion has already been done, and the bill will tell you the result (in kWh's).

Got it.

The first bill has two sections, covering between 12 May 2014 and the 23rd June 2015. So that's more than a year, which is odd.

The second bill covers from 24th June 2015 to 30th Sept 2015.

Im not sure how I'll figure out the last years totals from that... I'm sure they are making it as confusing as possible on purpose!

MSE_Dan_L

Hi Wallofbeans

Lots of good advice on this thread - thanks everyone.

A couple of points which I don't think have been covered (sorry if I've missed this!)...

- The exit fee is only chargeable if you move suppliers. You mention that you were thinking of moving house, in this case the exit fee wouldn't be charged.
- This tariff is portable, so you could move into your new property, switch from the previous occupant's supplier to British Gas and recommence the collective tariff (if you wished).

I hope that helps.

wallofbeans

MSE_Dan_L wrote: »

Hi Wallofbeans

Lots of good advice on this thread - thanks everyone.

A couple of points which I don't think have been covered (sorry if I've missed this!)...

- The exit fee is only chargeable if you move suppliers. You mention that you were thinking of moving house, in this case the exit fee wouldn't be charged.
- This tariff is portable, so you could move into your new property, switch from the previous occupant's supplier to British Gas and recommence the collective tariff (if you wished).

I hope that helps.

I thought that might be a possibility but thanks for clarifying.

wallofbeans

I just spoke with EDF who are giving me a refund on £210 of my £458.23 credit balance. We decided to leave some credit to keep my monthly direct debit down. But there was also a £12.00 government rebate that was non-refundable and I didn't quite understand..?

modsandmockers

wallofbeans wrote: »

Got it.

The first bill has two sections, covering between 12 May 2014 and the 23rd June 2015. So that's more than a year, which is odd.

The second bill covers from 24th June 2015 to 30th Sept 2015.

Im not sure how I'll figure out the last years totals from that... I'm sure they are making it as confusing as possible on purpose!

wallofbeans wrote: »

I just spoke with EDF who are giving me a refund on £210 of my £458.23 credit balance. We decided to leave some credit to keep my monthly direct debit down. But there was also a £12.00 government rebate that was non-refundable and I didn't quite understand..?

wob - keep going - you're gradually getting there!

So long as your usage patterns haven't changed, then the first bill is probably near enough to a year for you to regard it as a useful estimate of your annual consumption (you can always round it down a little bit). But, as before, that's only true if the bill begins and ends with 'Actual' meter readings.

The £12 rebate will stay as part of your credit balance because the suppliers are not allowed to convert it into cash. The rebate should show on your account history with EDF.

wallofbeans

modsandmockers wrote: »

wob - keep going - you're gradually getting there!

So long as your usage patterns haven't changed, then the first bill is probably near enough to a year for you to regard it as a useful estimate of your annual consumption (you can always round it down a little bit). But, as before, that's only true if the bill begins and ends with 'Actual' meter readings.

The £12 rebate will stay as part of your credit balance because the suppliers are not allowed to convert it into cash. The rebate should show on your account history with EDF.

Ah. Well it doesn't - 12th May 2014-5th Feb 2015 are 'estimated' and so is the 6th Feb. The 23rd June 2015 says 'our read' for electricity and 'your read' for gas.

victor2

wallofbeans wrote: »

Ah. Well it doesn't - 12th May 2014-5th Feb 2015 are 'estimated' and so is the 6th Feb. The 23rd June 2015 says 'our read' for electricity and 'your read' for gas.

Estimated readings can throw your calculation of annual usage out. Do you have an "our read" or "your read" between May 2014 and Feb 2015? If you do, it could be fairly close to a year ago.
You really want a gap between actual readings of close to 12 months to get a good idea of real annual usage. Due to seasonal variances, you can't deduce it from other readings at different times of the year.

modsandmockers

wallofbeans wrote: »

Ah. Well it doesn't - 12th May 2014-5th Feb 2015 are 'estimated' and so is the 6th Feb. The 23rd June 2015 says 'our read' for electricity and 'your read' for gas.

Probably, your best bet now is to 'go with the flow' until 23rd June next year at which point you will have 'Actual' readings for a 12-month period (I'm not sure why there is a difference between the two 23rd June readings, but it sounds as though they are both 'Actual' rather than 'Estimated').

The good news for you is that you are significantly in credit. Lots of people in a similar position to yourself suddenly discover a massive debt which the energy supplier didn't bother to warn them about.