Bulb Energy Reviews: Give your feedback on the energy supplier

Frugal_Foxy

I save £100 pa on E7, using abt 35/40% night - do all appliance stuff (I take the risk!) and dehumidifiers at night (stone walls can get damp in you don't keep on top of it).

I know if you asked, you would be told that Economy 7 is no good as they don't want you to have it but they have to offer it due to Gov regs/law. My brother was an electrician and his customers told him this all the time and he knew it was bad and biased advice.


In fact, E7 is 1am to 8am - so most people will have done all of their morning stuff and left the house by then... no brainer.

MoneySavingTart

I do just the same with the DD. I give monthly reading in the summer and drag the slider down to the minimum to avoid making any lump sum payment and then funnily enough forget to send in readings during the heating season. I'm always in debt to them just by varying degrees until they crack and send a meter reader round and then the game starts again.

I don't know how easy it will be to manipulate the GNE DD amounts.

MST

Frugal_Foxy

How long notice will you give to SP? Not sure when to start the process.

(I've not moved provider for a few years due to family health issues and can't remember what I did last time!)

MoneySavingTart

Frugal_Foxy wrote: »

How long notice will you give to SP? Not sure when to start the process.

(I've not moved provider for a few years due to family health issues and can't remember what I did last time!)

The new provider does everything. You apply to them, and give them meter readings later on when they ask for them. If you are in debt to the current supplier then they will come up with a final bill when they get the meter reads from the new supplier. Scottish power won't do anything based on readings you give them. Also if you cancel your DD with Scottish power then they are likely to put you on the standard tariff from the last bill until you transfer so there is little choice but to have two DD's open at the same time.

You might have to give meter numbers too - these are quoted on the bills and the face of the meter.

You possibly got an email from scottish power recently advising your tariff is coming to an end. In that they said something about keeping you on the old tariff for up to 21 day after the end January providing a switch is going through. This suggests to me that you can leave initiating a switch until the last few days of January and still not go onto the ripoff standard rate.
The only gamble to me is that if you leave it too late to switch, the nice new tariff offer you are wanting could disappear.

hth

MST

Frugal_Foxy

Thanks MST... I was thinking the same re changing towards end of Jan! And thanks for the tip re not cancelling my DD too soon - I'm a bit prone to cancelling them asap and it usually works, however I will take care on this one.

I'm gonna call SP tomorrow to check that I'm not penalised if I start the leaving process early... if I can.

MoneySavingTart

Frugal_Foxy wrote: »

Thanks MST... I was thinking the same re changing towards end of Jan! And thanks for the tip re not cancelling my DD too soon - I'm a bit prone to cancelling them asap and it usually works, however I will take care on this one.

I'm gonna call SP tomorrow to check that I'm not penalised if I start the leaving process early... if I can.

The "penalty" is that if the switch over goes through quickly, you will be paying the new higher rate a bit earlier than you absolutely needed to.

You could always use your love of spreadsheets to forward predict your meter readings at the end of the month and use those for the switch over claiming some form of numerical dyslexia if they send a meter reader out and your figures get queried but I would never suggest such a practice.:rotfl:

MST

Frugal_Foxy

Brilliant!!! Yes, my s/sheets do predict my usage... I'm soo sad!

Meter readers can't get to my meter without me being here... haven't seen one for about 4 years )

Frugal_Foxy

Oooh, I've just read that if we use the £50 referral links on here, that we may not get such a good deal. Know anything about that? My deal came via comparethemrkt.

MoneySavingTart

I don't know which referral links you are talking of but for GNE, the tariff I'm looking at is "GNE Cosy Christmas 18 Month Fix" and AFAIK is only available via comparison sites such as martin's Energy Saving Club.
So far I have not located detail tariff information on the GNE website to check this.

MoneySavingTart

I can only suggest you check the tariffs very carefully.
Via Energy Saving Club my annual costfor 18 month fix is predicted to be £849 after cashback
The nearest I can find on their website is GNE Family Green 18 Month Fixed V22 which will cost £959

Caveat emptor!