Goodbye BG Collective Fix Feb 2017

sazandy25

Think i'm going to go for Avro 'Simple & Savvy' for duel fuel, saving on equivalent British Gas Standard prices & NO exit fees (if a better deal does come along), also fixed for 12 months if nothing better comes along.

Customer feedback looks Ok, well better than COOP/Iresa which is only £20/£40 more a year & poor feedback. Thinking £20/£40 per year for no/less hassle is well worth it.

Nationwide8

When I do a tariff check on BG the best they can offer is "Home energy capped Feb 2018" at £496 yr ( £20 exit fee) Strangely enough the "standard" tariff comes out at the same price...so the only *gain* is protection against price rises with the "capped Feb 2018" tariff.

Best tariffs from energy club..
Iresa at £383 ...no exit fee
Avro at £409 .. no exit fee.

So maybe time to switch as it dosen't look like the energy club will come up with anything before 28 th Feb,have been with BG for years so have never switched....is it easy to switch ??

sazandy25

switching is easy enough, never had any horror stories, but only ever moved from one of the big 6 to one of the big 6, eg British Gas to Scottish Power. A little dubious with Avro, but reviews look good (better than Co op), anyone had any experience with Avro?

Nationwide8

Hmmm just realised my tariff check from BG was based on higher gas,elec,levels than I use...correct ones would give me a spend of approx £420 after duel fuel discount on that Capped Feb 2018 tariff ( £20 exit fee )

Also checked consumption figures at energy club...changed those as have gone down in 2016 compared to 2015.
Scottish Power now comes out at £354 but rubbish approval rating and £60 exit fee.
Avro £385 no exit fee,better approval rating
Iresa £360 no exit fee,approval rating not as good as Avro.

They don't make it easy to find the best deal...

Don't understand why BG tariff checks are not based on the gas/ electric you have ACTUALLY used in the year before, not some arbitrary consumption figure they are predicting you will use in the year ahead....actual "have used"figure would be easier Yes ??

*Waiting before I jump ship in hope of another Collective deal* …………

phillw

jeanieweanie wrote: »

When I asked about the smart meters I was told they wont work with another supplier!! Wonder if this their way of keeping customers?

It's because DCC keep delaying their network rollout. Anyone with an existing meter (SMETS1) may have to wait for 2020 until it can be smart with every supplier, but it should work as a normal meter no matter who you switch to.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2016/10/smart-meter-update-which-exclusive-453480/

SMETS2 meters are coming soon, for the last five years.

I don't know what happens if you live in an area without cell phone coverage, as that is how they send the data back.

dave52

Nationwide8 wrote: »

When I do a tariff check on BG the best they can offer is "Home energy capped Feb 2018" at £496 yr ( £20 exit fee) Strangely enough the "standard" tariff comes out at the same price...so the only *gain* is protection against price rises with the "capped Feb 2018" tariff.

Those with a smart meter get offered the same Home energy capped Feb 2018 at same rate as standard tariff but also get offered

HomeEnergy FreeTime (Sunday) Mar 2018 or Saturday

Free electricity every Sunday 9am-5pm until March 2018.

How much you save is up to you - our online interactive tool shows your savings.

Fixed tariff so if our prices rise, yours will stay the same.
Professionally installed smart meters at no extra charge.
£20 exit fees per fuel if you leave us before the tariff ends.
£15 Dual Fuel discount.

still not great but that is the offer they are trying to tempt people with at the moment

Nationwide8

dave52 wrote: »

Those with a smart meter get offered the same Home energy capped Feb 2018 at same rate as standard tariff but also get offered

I don't have a smart meter ???

Free electricity every Sunday 9am-5pm until March 2018.

still not great but that is the offer they are trying to tempt people with at the moment

I don't have that tariff offer with a free electric
Sundays..I have fixed until March 2019,£20 approx more a year £80 exit fee.£40 each Gas and Elec..2yrs is a long time to be tied in.

System

phillw wrote: »

I don't know what happens if you live in an area without cell phone coverage, as that is how they send the data back.

They work on a 'pass the parcel' principle as all smart meters will be connected to a Wide Area Network. Your meter will talk to another meter close by and so on until the WAN finds a connection back to the DCC.

Wide Area Network

The Wide Area Network or WAN is the name given to the communications network between the meters and the company responsible for collecting the data and passing it on to other businesses such as suppliers; this company will usually be the DCC (Data Communications Company) which the government has set up especially for this role. Depending on the Communications Service Provider, which varies by areas of the UK, the technology can change depending on what works best in a local area. Sometimes your meter will communicate directly with DCC and sometimes it will talk through the meters around you to reach a particular meter which has direct communications with DCC. This form of communications looks like a mesh when you draw out the possible links between meters and is therefore known as a Mesh network.

dave52

Nationwide8 wrote: »

I don't have a smart meter ???



That costs a lot more than the standard rate..or the Feb 2018 capped

Not sure why you say that.

All 3 have EXACTLY the same Standing Charge and and kilowatt rate charges for me

The HomeEnergy FreeTime (Sun) Mar 2018 projection for me is actually £58 less than the Standard or the HomeEnergy Capped Feb 2018

The Sunday/Saturday Freetime both come top of British Gas's projections for me.

Although all offers are much higher than I am paying now and I am not recommending the Freetime offer.

Nationwide8

dave52 wrote: »

The HomeEnergy FreeTime (Sun) Mar 2018 projection for me is actually £58 less than the Standard or the HomeEnergy Capped Feb 2018

Although all offers are much higher than I am paying now and I am not recommending the Freetime offer.

I don't have the FreeTime offer on any of BG tariff offers,I have
Capped Feb 2018
Standard ( which is the same projected price as capped Feb 2018 )
Tariff up to March 2019 as described above,no free time offer,£20 approx extra a year and duel fuel exit fee of £80

Dosen't leave me with any great incentive to stay with BG unless I just take a hit going back on standard tariff with no exit fee for a while and see if a better collective deal ? MSE or tariff appears later..