EON, Bristol Energy or Iresa?

Maureen43

Hi All

I'm on EON v.19 at the moment which expires at the start of Feb.

I've paid £684.24 with EON in the last year.

My choices are:

EON v.21 - £817.75
Bristol Energy - £740 (no exit fees)
Iresa 12 month fix - £681.06 (no exit fees - but did I read somewhere their prices don't include VAT? So might not be so competitive).

So, is it worth switching for relatively small savings (£136 over the year if you measure EON V.21 against IRESA) or would you stay put to see if there is another MSE collective?

I'm worried about switching then missing out on a new collective deal while the switch is still going through!

What would you do?

System

Maureen43 wrote: »

Hi All

I'm on EON v.19 at the moment which expires at the start of Feb.

I've paid £684.24 with EON in the last year.

My choices are:

EON v.21 - £817.75
Bristol Energy - £740 (no exit fees)
Iresa 12 month fix - £681.06 (no exit fees - but did I read somewhere their prices don't include VAT? So might not be so competitive).

So, is it worth switching for relatively small savings (£136 over the year if you measure EON V.21 against IRESA) or would you stay put to see if there is another MSE collective?

I'm worried about switching then missing out on a new collective deal while the switch is still going through!

What would you do?

Hi - what makes you think that any future collective deals will undercut the market? The last MSE collective was not offered as there were cheaper deals on MSE CEC.

If you have got a total figure and monthly price off the Iresa site then it includes VAT: it is only the standing charge and unit prices that are shown without VAT. If you decide to switch to Iresa (I am on supply with them at the moment) then bear in mind that they take no action during the 14 day cooling off period. The present supplier will only protect you from its SVR if they are informed of the switch by Iresa before the end of your present fixed term contract. So don't delay.

macman

If you think that a £136 saving for ten minutes work is 'relatively small', then I fear you may be on the wrong forum. That's the equivalent of £816 per hour. The Iresa annual prediction does include VAT, but even if it didn't, then 5% on £681.06 is £715.11-still the cheapest option by about £25.
BE might be an option for you, but why would you even consider E.On v21 at that price?

A.Penny.Saved

The Iresa webpage says that the given unit and standing charges do not include vat but their totals and monthly direct debit do include vat.

The prices are attractive but I wonder how long these are going to remain in business with the prices they are charging. They must cut costs somewhere so whether their customer service is going to be usable is something I have my doubts about.

I suppose that being a small company means that they do not have to do the things that the larger companies have to do such as insulating homes etc.

System

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

The Iresa webpage says that the given unit and standing charges do not include vat but their totals and monthly direct debit do include vat.

The prices are attractive but I wonder how long these are going to remain in business with the prices they are charging. They must cut costs somewhere so whether their customer service is going to be usable is something I have my doubts about.

I suppose that being a small company means that they do not have to do the things that the larger companies have to do such as insulating homes etc.

I am not sure what you are concerned about. Gas and electricity are the same whether you buy from BG or Iresa. If Iresa goes bust tomorrow, then Ofgem will appoint a Supplier of Last Resort and your supply will not be affected. I switched to Iresa a few days before GBEnergy went bust. Following Ofgem's insolvency levy on ALL energy customers, I got a £64 GB refund from the Coop yesterday.

macman

They are a very small company so have low overheads-as long as they don't try and grow too fast they will hopefully survive. There are quite a few new smaller providers who have less than 20K customers, which raises the question-what minimum customer base do you need to run such a company at a profit?Assuming 5% gross profit and a turnover of £1,000pa per customer, that would produce a GP of £1m pa with 20K customers (£50 per customer).
I suspect that the main problem is getting sufficient exposure to attract customers without resorting to expensive media advertising, and in the case of Iresa, they are also avoiding having to pay referral fees by declining to appear on comp sites.
Assuming that you have the initial finance in order to get to a feasible scale, survival should be possible.

jlfan

Maureen43 wrote: »

Hi All

I'm on EON v.19 at the moment which expires at the start of Feb.

I've paid £684.24 with EON in the last year.

My choices are:

EON v.21 - £817.75
Bristol Energy - £740 (no exit fees)
Iresa 12 month fix - £681.06 (no exit fees - but did I read somewhere their prices don't include VAT? So might not be so competitive).

So, is it worth switching for relatively small savings (£136 over the year if you measure EON V.21 against IRESA) or would you stay put to see if there is another MSE collective?

I'm worried about switching then missing out on a new collective deal while the switch is still going through!

What would you do?

Decided to move to Iresa. Was spending too much time thinking and overthinking and took the plunge.

In the 14 day cooling off period which is a blooming nuisance. I am cool. Just want to be out by 26th January, which should be fine.

Good luck with you deliberations. ( Application was painless by the way and quick).

Maureen43

Thanks for all your replies.

I've discovered that Iresa haven't subscribed to the warm home discount scheme. I qualify for this so have opted for Bristol Energy.

Not an easy decision but I know I can jump ship if I want as there are no exit fees.

pineapple

Maureen43 wrote: »

Hi All

I'm on EON v.19 at the moment which expires at the start of Feb.

I'm on this too. Dithering with my fingers on the switch button. I wish Eon would come up with something more competitive than the derisory alternatives offered.

Maureen43

I'm on Day 1 of the 14 day cooling off period.

In the unlikely event that a better deal comes up I can cancel this switch and start another!