Need some help starting off

Kitty777

Hello everyone

Yesterday I got my letter from SSE to say my fixed term tariff is going to end on Feb 28th.

The only thing is I have no clue what to do now. I feel I should switch to get a better deal but don't know how to begin looking. How do I know what is a good deal? And is switching easy?

Thank you

JJ_Egan

Start with MSE Cheap Energy Club .
Put your usage or use the averages on the page .Remember its unit costs that count . Annual usage or direct debits are no more than estimates .
Decide your suppliers .Sign up and you get a few emails over the next few weeks until a final you are switched .
During this time supply meter readings to your current supplier .

footyguy

Kitty777 wrote: »

Hello everyone

Yesterday I got my letter from SSE to say my fixed term tariff is going to end on Feb 28th.

The only thing is I have no clue what to do now. I feel I should switch to get a better deal but don't know how to begin looking. How do I know what is a good deal? And is switching easy?

Thank you

How did you decide to take the SSE fixed term tariff in the first place? Why can you not do the same exercise today?

However, following the advise in this MSE article would probably be best
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

footyguy

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Start with MSE Cheap Energy Club .
Put your usage or use the averages on the page .Remember its unit costs that count . Annual usage or direct debits are no more than estimates .
Decide your suppliers .Sign up and you get a few emails over the next few weeks until a final you are switched .
During this time supply meter readings to your current supplier .

I think what you mean is to obtain the best results, you should input your anticipated annual usage in kWh.

Whatever approach is taken, it is annual costs as thrown up by the comparison site that is important. Comparison sites make this easy by listing offers in increasing annual cost, cheapest first (at least by default)

JJ_Egan

What i mean is if you cannot use your previous years usage to be aware that the averages are just that an estimate .

Multiple posters on MSE will complain about DD etc rising during the contract .

As to the OP asking re time scale i started my last switch 20/12/16 . Electric will switch tomorrow 14/1/17 Gas date unknown as of yet .Just had gas switch tomorrow .

Thats switch number 14 for gas/ electric .

System

JJ_Egan wrote: »

What i mean is if you cannot use your previous years usage to be aware that the averages are just that an estimate .

Multiple posters on MSE will complain about DD etc rising during the contract .

As to the OP asking re time scale i started my last switch 20/12/16 . Electric will switch tomorrow 14/1/17 Gas date unknown as of yet .Just had gas switch tomorrow .

Thats switch number 14 for gas/ electric .

Slightly off topic but if there were 4.8M switches in 2016, how much double counting is going on? I made 6 switches in 2016 (assuming electricity and gas count as 2 switches).

JJ_Egan

I count a switch as one move be that dual or single .
But that 4.8m figure is low anyway just shows how many dont switch .

MattTheMoneyGuru

I recall switching my energy every time, at least over the last few years. Much like car insurance I have found, to get the best price, you need to move around.

I used comparison sites and an estimated annual usage. Compare the results against the rate you will be paying once your current rate finishes.

System

JJ_Egan wrote: »

I count a switch as one move be that dual or single .
But that 4.8m figure is low anyway just shows how many dont switch .

I fear that Energy UK is using the increased switching figures a bit like a drunken man uses a lamp-post: for support not illumination. It would seem that 25% of domestic energy users are generating last year's 4.8M switches. One has to ask, if the other 75% saw the value of switching, would the industry actually cope?

Kitty777

Thanks for your inputs

We chose the first one almost just out of panic because we were moving in together for the first time..decided there may be some money to save now