PLEASE HELP? How easy is it to switch?

zuliano

First let me tell you my situation. In especially last year I have been overwhelmed by illness that has hit my mum which includes a heart attack and dementia. I have szero experience of all the stuff about bills and 'switching' etc but am trying my best. But am fearful because I don't wish to bring even more problems for my mum.

So, what I am asking is about this: I am a member and have helped sign petitions in the past by en email group called '38 Degrees' and they are suggesting that along with some others to defy the rip-off big energy firms by sitching to a more conscious energy firm where my mum would save over £300. It sounds great, but they seem to make out I just need to click something and fill in a form and hey presto that is it. It all sounds too good to be true so am needing outside help with this, I dont want to do this and go out of the frying pan into the fire via ignorance. In this world it IS hard to know who to trust. Here is a copy of the email from the 38 Degrees I have just received:

Check out this amazing map of thousands of 38 Degrees members like you switching away from their rip-off energy companies.

Our partners, the Big Deal, have negotiated an incredible deal on our behalf - it’s the cheapest energy tariff on the market right now. 38 Degrees members are switching and saving on average £314 a year on their energy bills. [1]

Julian, do you want to keep giving more money than you should to companies that treat you badly and overcharge you? In just a few easy minutes you could get a new deal from a better, cheaper, friendlier energy company.

Imagine the board room meetings of the big energy companies on Monday: “We lost how many customers over the weekend?” Join the thousands switching this Saturday, click below to be part of it:

[then I am offered three options to click]:

YES I AM READY TO SWITCH NOW.
I'M INTERESTED, COULD YOU REMIND ME LATER.
NO-IT'S NOT FOR ME


Moving your money like this is powerful - it’s something practical you can do to create the world you want to see. And it saves you real money at the same time – think between £265 and £357 every year depending on what tariff you choose. Everybody wins. Well, everyone except the Big Six energy companies - like British Gas and Npower - who’ve been ripping us off for years. Now there’s something to make you smile every time you boil the kettle!

The experts at the Big Deal have put together a range of companies to choose from, so you can pick the smaller energy supplier that works for you.

It takes about ten minutes to fill in your details, choose the best option for you and lock in your deal - then the rest is taken care of. And if you can't switch right now, just ask for a reminder text
at a time that suits you. It’s that easy.


Thanks for being involved,

Rachel, Megan, Maddy & the 38 Degrees team


PS: Every time one of us switches, 38 Degrees gets £12.50 to put straight back into the campaigns we care about. For this campaign, 38 Degrees has partnered with The Big Deal - they’re a for-profit business with expertise in collective energy switching and a track record of campaigning in this area. They will also take a £12.50 share of the commission generated by each switch. To read more about the Big Deal and their relationship with 38 Degrees, please click here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/eon-scandal


NOTES:
[1] The average saving each of us is making is £314 on the deal with Places for People, and £231 on the clean deal with LoCO2.

So what do people here think about this offer?

CashStrapped

They appear to be a political action group. If you support their causes, then it is up to you as to whether you switch through them. They have just teamed up with a a company that does a switching service. The savings they quote are irrelevant. They are just examples of what you may save. It all depends on your annual KWH consumption.

There are many other switching sites. This site has it's own switching service.

Read this for more comprehensive info.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Look for the sentence that says "For more help switching energy via comparison sites click here". That will give you a list of all the available switching sites.

I often use energyhelpline.com If you use the links on the site, you can get a portion of the cashback depending on who you switch to.

When you compare, ensure you use annual KWH use for the most accurate result.

You can even try more than one site and see what comes up. Once you are happy with the result. Select the one you want and fill out a brief form. It will take 2-4 weeks to complete the switch.

JJ_Egan

Read as fakers or ranters to me .
Cannot switch without signing up to this group and likewise no quote from Good Energy .
However finding the Good Energy tariff shows they are just as bad as the big 6 .Unit rates and standing charges can be bettered and you don't need to go to the big 6 .

System

IMHO, 38 Degrees lost its way years ago. Be that as it may.

Comparison sites can be frightening to people who are unfamiliar with the mechanics of switching. As said above, the process of switching is nothing more than a form filling exercise.

That said, if you believe that £300 per year can be saved then my first port of call would be the current energy supplier. Which supplier is your Mum with, and what tariff is she on? A simple call to the present supplier might result in an immediate saving with no form filling or switching.

teddysmum

Some charity websites, connected with a health condition, make offers of 'special' insurance deals for people with this condition, but their quotations are not necessarily lower than what can be obtained elsewhere.

Methusela

Hi Zuliano,
How easy is switching ? The answer is that it is extremely easy. But if you have no previous experience you need to be aware of some important issues that form an essential part of ensuring a successful switch.

First, don’t believe all of the tremendous savings you will see quoted in advertisements, on websites and in your case the figures from 38 degrees. Remember that people who have large bills are likely to achieve large savings but if your mum lives alone she will probably have fairly small bills and so can’t expect the same savings as a high energy household when switching.

Second, does your mum have a bank account that will allow her to pay by monthly direct debit? All the best deals nowadays require payment that way and it will cost more for any other payment method such as quarterly billing. The cheapest deals only provide bills on line, rather than by post so you might want to think about whether you can look after this aspect of mum’s energy deal, as I’m guessing that it will be way beyond her own ability. To avoid future problems you will also need to get your mum to advise her suppliers (both old and new) that she is happy for you to look after the account on her behalf.

Third, make sure you have a fairly good idea of how much energy your mum is using over a twelve month period. Without accurate information about her consumption the supplier will use “average” figures which may be completely wrong for her. Knowledge of the kilowatt hours she uses for gas and electricity will allow you to work out how much her monthly direct debit should be. This will help avoid the common problem of the supplier setting the direct debit too low, which looks nice to start with but quickly leads to large outstanding balances and equally large and unwanted increases in the direct debit payments.

And finally, you need to work out how you can get regular readings from your mum’s meters after the switch has taken place, so that these can be entered on line, to ensure errors don’t build up, leading to problems later.

As a starting point, can you confirm whether your mum’s old bills for the past twelve months are available? If so, then post on here how many units she uses for gas and electricity and how much per unit she is currently paying. This would allow a very quick estimate as to how much she might potentially save, without the hassle of diving straight in to a price comparison site or signing up for a collective switch with possibly unknown consequences.

Above all, don’t be rushed. When it comes to switching it’s better to be a tortoise than a hare.