Changing Energy Supplier - Advice

dickibobboy

We are currently looking into changing energy supplier.

Currently we are on a standard plan for Gas/Electric with Scottish power and have been on that for a number of years due to the lazyness of not changing in this time. Our DD changes about and is roughly £150/£160 a month which seems high when we mention it to other people.

I'm not sure how to show what we use in order for anyone to have a look.


I have roughly added up a years worth of consumption from the numbers above onto Uswitch and it has come back with a few 'savings' each year.

The current cheapest is showing up as 'Bulb' which estimates the DD at £117 a month but with a 20% increase between October to March.

The next seems a little better with Sainsburys at £118 per month at a fixed rate.

Does this seem reasonable or are there other places i should be looking at before committing to one of the above?

Thanks for any help.

footyguy

You are making things far too difficult for yourself.

Contact your supplier and ask for your anticipated annual consumption in kWh for gas & electricity.
Bung those into a comparison site and look for the cheapest deal based on annual cost.
Look at seperate suppliers too, as that often saves even more than a dual fuel tariff.

The above figures appear to be based at least in part on estimates, and those estimates would indicate you are using almost twice the average for both gas & electricity, hence why some may find what you current pay quite high.
Also you are currently on the supplier's highest tariff at present.

An average user on a suppliers highest tariff (standard, variable) with one of the Big 6 can expect to save about £300-£350 by following the above advice.

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

boatman

Its probably correct, but that is quite a bit of gas, twice the average. I would say the electric is relatively normal, but on the higher side.

dickibobboy

All done thanks for the help above.

Gone through the MSE checker and gone with Sainsburys at the fixed rate.

Unsure about the Gas usage it is rather high from people in similar houses.

House is an old 3 bed, 6 radiators with a with a few of the rooms being average size but with high ceilings. Boiler powered shower / full gas oven and hob, no gas fire.

Heating is on an similar amount of time of what friends have theirs on for in varying houses, oven is the same and apart from the boiler shower that's used probably twice a day for 10 minutes each is the only difference in appliances.

JohnnyGG

Hi, this my first time on a forum, so I`ll give it a go.

I have today just switched my energy supplier to a small company called Bulb through
the Cheap Energy Club, they seemed very helpful on the phone, so we shall see how smooth
the transfer goes, I will try to keep you all informed about what happens.

macman

Comparing your usage to a similar property is fairly meaningless, because the insulation in yours could be much better (or worse), and, more importantly, your consumption is primarily determined by how many hours a day you run the heating, and what temperature you set it to.
A 1C increase on your room 'stat can result in a 10% increase in your usage.