How should I go about changing and fixing gas and electricity?

racing_blue

We currently use:

Gas 40000 kWh per year, currently costing £1291 per year
Electricity 5000kWh per year, currently costing £592 per year

This was a good deal originally but I'm aware that there are now cheaper options out there. How do I find the best one for me?

1. I want cheap.
2. I want to fix rates for as long as possible.
3. I really don't care about customer service. Set up a DD then forget.
4. But I do care about continuity of supply!

Questions
- Do I just go with the cheapest recommendation on a price comparison website (saves approx £300 per year)
- What are the longest fixes available? I have found 19 months, are there longer?
- Is it possible/ advisable to have gas and electricity supplied by different companies, if it works out cheaper?
- what are the risks in going with a small unknown provider?

Thanks for any tips - I'll feed back the end result

System

If you want to fix the rate for as long as possible, then you will pay more than you need to. Energy prices are pretty static at the moment and gas may fall a little bit more. I personally use 2 separate suppliers. My gas is on a one year fix with a £30 exit fee but my electricity is on a variable rate ( which just happens to be this particular supplier's cheapest tariff). They have to tell me if they want to put up my electricity cost.

Just run a dual fuel and then separate comparisons to see which works out best for you.

FWiW, with your gas consumption, I would also look at replacing my boiler with a Flow CHP boiler. With your gas usage, you could save £00s of per year on your electricity bill as the boiler generates whilst it heats.

http://www.flowenergy.uk.com

I should have added that the risks of going with small suppliers is marginally more risky than going with one of the Big 6. I am with Zog and GBEnergy and I rate them highly for clear billing etc. Their websites are basic and you do have to provide meter readings.

JJ_Egan

Supply is not going to stop .

As said long term fixes cost a lot more and previous fixes would have missed last years gas price drop .

racing_blue

Thanks both, that was helpful.

I went to 2 price comparison sites. I don't trust them. I understand what a kiloWatthour is, all I want it a list - no, they need your life history!

But they seemed to agree that in my area the cheapest supplier for gas was Extra Energy. Never heard of them & was not reassured by feedback on this site.

Only 5% (£50) more expensive was a large familiar company offering gas @ 2.25p per kWh fixed until April 2017. I went straight to that company's website & did the deed.

Then I repeated the process for electricity. Here the differences were smaller. I found a 1 year fix @ 10% less than I'm paying at the moment, but again with a compant I have never heard of Avro Energy. Then I found a 2 year fix for exactly the same as my current rate, with a familiar name, so went with that.

Projected cost of 40,000 kWh gas = £984 an 5,000k Wh electricity = £598. A saving of £301 over the year, which is £25 per month.

The flow boiler is something I'll look into in anticpation of our existing one breaking some time & also want to look into better zoning & possibly some sort of smart control of space and water heating. I live in a large 18th century building which was not built with energy efficiency in mind!

System

Comparison sites are required to follow the OFGEM Code of Confidence so they are accurate. Often the perceived difference is annual cost is down to the fact that supplier's sites give prices without VAT, whereas comparison sites do the calculation for you.

You may not have heard of Avro Energy as it is a newly-licenced supplier.

If you are interested in zoning, then look no further than Honeywell Evohome. I have had it for two winters now, and my gas usage has fallen by 15 to 20%. The real advantage is that we now have heat where we want it and when want it.

zaax

That's a lot of gas, maybe spend some money on insulation.

https://www.ukpower.co.uk/home_energy/average-energy-bill#large-details

[Deleted User]

Ukpower.co.uk do not require much info other than your post code/ usage/current supplier which you can make up if needed . Post code needs to be accurate. Your email is nt stipulated. Its very quick to use to compare but I would usually use the cheap energy club for the actual switch and hopefully some cashback. I trust them both personally but not the inflated savings. I can work my savings out myself better.

racing_blue

zaax wrote: »

That's a lot of gas, maybe spend some money on insulation.

Indeed, but I reckon zoning is probably the best way forward. Rubble walls, single glazed sash windows and many chimneys, it's always going to leak heat.

Or maybe I just need to man up and put on another jumper - people managed here 18th & 19th centuries without central heating, even as the Thames froze over for weeks at a time. Not sure the kids or wife will buy that though!

Ukpower - that's more like it- thanks

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

40000 is insane - how big is the property?

racing_blue

It is 450m2. In 2011 its energy performance rating was: Current 38,F ; Potential 45,E. EPC put estimated energy use is 379 kWh/m2 per year. That's 170,000kWh, of which heating 150,000 kWh (madness!). So I was kind of relieved to find out that we were using less than a third of that, although yes it is still a lot & I'd like to reduce further.

I suspect the main issue is that the central heating is divided into 4 zones which each have a 7 day timer, but no thermostats. There are thermostatic valves on some radiators. But essentially, our heating is either "on" or "off" which seems inefficient.

Thanks for the suggestion of Honeywell Evohome- will look at that.

footyguy

racing_blue wrote: »

...
I went to 2 price comparison sites. I don't trust them. I understand what a kiloWatthour is, all I want it a list - no, they need your life history!...

Why don't you trust them? :huh:
Only use ones approved by Ofgem (this site wouldn't suggest a comparison site that wasn't)
If you have used 2 comparison sites and got the same answer, it's probably the correct answer.
All comparison sites do is provide you a list of suppliers & tariffs, usually in cost order (cheapest first)

Some comparison sites only ask the bare minimum
i.e.
(a) postcode (they need this as costs often vary regionally... and most people wouldn't know their supply region)
(b) your annual usage in kWh per fuel
(c) Whether or not you have E7 (and if so, the amount used at each rate, often as a simple ratio)
(d) Existing supplier & tariff - this is so they can compare to existing cost and would be required anyway if you then plan to switch via the site.
If you don't want to provide this, then don't. You'll still get a list of suppliers & tariffs in order, cheapest first, but ignore any suggested savings.

A few sites (e.g. CEC/MSM) ask for your full address, but that isn't actually necessary for a comparison (but will be if you decide to go ahead and switch via the site). If that causes you a problem, don't use them - there are plenty more approved comparison sites to choose from that don't require your full address at the comparison stage.

There are a lot of new suppliers coming to market. It's exactly the same gas or electicity, no matter who you buy from.
But if you want to stick to suppliers you have heard of, and prefer to be one of their millions of 'sticky' customers, rather than perhaps one of only a few thousand a smaller supplier needs to attend to, then simply go down the list and stop at the first supplier you recognise.
A few small suppliers are actually just white labels supplied by the big 6 anyway.

Most MSE'ers on this board are probably not served by a big 6 supplier, unless they happen to have snapped up a special 'collective switch' tariff that was probably only offered via a comparison site anyway (i.e. you could not get that tariff by going direct)