Saved £15pm on Gas and Lecky

CoolClaire

I saw Avro Energy on Cheap Energy Club listed as the best quote for switching our utility provider, saving us £13 per month. So I contacted them and started the switching process. Five days into our cooling off period our old provider Scottish Power's retention department rang and offered us an even better deal - £15 off per month! So I cancelled our application to Avro Energy. I never thought Scottish Power could better the deal and had not thought of ringing them like our mobile phone providers to see if the "Retention Department" would give us a better deal to try to keep us. But they rang us! We've saved £177.12 over the year!

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. I do not want to rain on your good news but you may have unwittingly cancelled a good deal. What you pay each month is a meaningless comparison. The only true comparison has to be based on kWhs of gas and electricity usage per year. For example, I estimate that we will consume 10000kWhs of gas and 3000kWhs of electricity per year. When I run this comparison it shows that the cheapest SP deal will cost me £46 per year MORE than Avro Energy.

Remember, suppliers are not allowed to offer deals. If they attempt to do so, then they will breach the terms of their supply licences. Each supplier is required to publish 4 tariffs and the only discounts allowed are for Dual Fuel and Online billing.

It is also worth remembering that the supplier has the right to increase your monthly payment if it determines that you are using more energy than it anticipated. Personally, I would check what you have been told by running a further comparison based on kWhs not £s.

molerat

They cannot offer you a tariff that is not in their core range. Have you done a proper comparison using annual kWh and checked that tariff is actually as cheap as the Avro one. Currently SP do not have a competitive tariff and reducing your monthly payment may not actually be reducing your bill. Check again using one of the comparison sites, this could be another sneaky SP trick.

JJ_Egan

As above i am just comparing for myself .
Standing charge for SP is more expensive and unit rate gas only is slightly cheaper on SP .

[Deleted User]

I ve just run through a dual fuel average user through ukpower.co.uk and Scot Powers April 2017 fix is £2 dearer then Avros variable and is currently the cheapest big 6 dual fuel fix. A few of the minor suppliers are beating it by £20 a year, so its not a bad deal if they have switched you to that tariff . South Yorkshire post code was used.

cattie

I always think it's such a great pity that more customers of energy companies don't realize that it's the cost of kWhs of the gas & electricity they use that actually defines any true savings that will possibly be made.

I recently tried to talk one of my neighbours into shopping around for a cheaper deal after she told me that they pay around £96 month on a DD in a property same size as my own. I pay around £40 month at the moment & do usually shop around when an existing deal is coming to an end.

Instead all she did was phone her current supplier to ask about possibly looking for something less costly & they told her they could reduce her DD by £15 per month.

As far as I know, they are on exactly the same tariffs as before. So of course there will be no reduction in their actual bills & at the end of the accounting year there will probably be a shortfall to make up. She is very happy with her 'saving' & tells me all it took was a simple phone call.

JJ_Egan

As above .
Total confusion for many who read ESTIMATED as the real total amount and DD as covering total usage .

System

A further point for the OP to mull over if we haven't already ruined her day. As you are already with your supplier and have agreed a new deal, then their is no 'cooling off' period. If you now think - based on the above - that you were mistakenly led into accepting a deal, then you should complain now and ask for the right to switch without incurring an exit fee.

teddysmum

A 'saving' of £15 a month , where this means the DD is £15 less,could actually disguise a greater cost (ie standing charge and unit rates are higher)


If the reduced DD amount does not cover the usage to the next bill, the DD will be inflated to recoup any shortfall.

Cardew

Contact any comparison network or Utility company and tell them you are paying £xxx a month by DD(and you don't know your kWh consumption) and it is CERTAIN that you will be offered a tariff with a lower DD.


All of these sales staff are on commission - say no more!