Comparison sites including MSE LIE!!

EachPenny

Deleted_User wrote: »

Again, it's worth my while to pay a few quid extra to avoid the risk of breaking my neck trying to read the meter.

Of course, I wasn't disputing that the convenience of a smart meter is sometimes worth an additional cost. When they first came out I was attracted by the IHD, even though my meters are easy to read. But back then looking at the figures it worked out cheaper to buy my own monitor with the same functionality which could be used with any supplier, and could be borrowed by friends and family.

What I was trying to say is there may be specific circumstances where 'dumb' can be a positive thing.

molerat

StopIt wrote: »

This really.


Comparing to an SVR gives a baseline.


Yes, it assumes that if you're on a fix, that the comparison is between the remaining time on the current fix & SVR vs the new fix in total. But because many people let their fixes lapse, it's a better comparison. I am looking at 2 suppliers now and the cheaper TCR is £12 per year dearer for my consumption.


You should always compare the TCR rates anyway, rather than the "You pay x a year" stuff. That's based on your usage. Like broadband speeds, the "you can save up-to" is nice marketing, but is pure fluff. It's not a lie however and saying finding your TCR is "Painstaking" is beyond madness.


Once you put your details in a comparison site it'll have the TCR of every deal vs your own, which you should have handy anyway. hardly painstaking stuff and the fact that you've done more work than needed trying to calculate the kWh rate is a bit moot.

The TCR shown on many sites (and energy suppliers quotes) is a pointless comparison because they only show the OFGEM mandated average user TCR. MSE though do show your personal TCR based on your input use.

timtaroo

Thanks, StopIt that's great.

I'll go back to U Switch when I have time and get my TCR and do another comparison search which this time will compare it with the new tariff from my current supplier. Most interesting to see what that shows.
So just been to my supplier and what is the one thing they don't show - annual usage!! Only show monthly how useless and annoying is that? Had to phone them for it and then they gave me completely wrong information. Had to add it up month by month to get correct figure.

But hey I have now got my TCR for gas and electric!! Thanks for that StopIt.

So went through comparison process again and lo and behold they don't show the latest tariff of my current supplier that I have just moved to. Only the one I was on and others. Savings showing as £200 for the year but as I said already bogus. When I apply the TCRs I come out with being £10 better off. Yipee!

So I go back to my original claim that U Switch and even MSE don't show the latest and best tariff's from my current supplier and are therefore deceiving us to make an unnecessary switch.

Good intelligent dialogue StopIt. I like that. What do you say about my latest findings? Are there comparison sites that do show the latest and best tariff's of one's current supplier?

StopIt

molerat wrote: »

The TCR shown on many sites (and energy suppliers quotes) is a pointless comparison because they only show the OFGEM mandated average user TCR. MSE though do show your personal TCR based on your input use.

Hopefully the other sites will be clearly stating this as the MSE way is clearly better as it'll mean you can easily calculate your personal usage in £, which is what we all care about.

JJ_Egan

I have always wanted to know the costs of standing charge and units nothing else over 10 or more switches . I treat any comparison site as no more than a starting point . Consequently i am usually on the cheapest tariff at the time of switch.

timtaroo

More discoveries. I'm wrong!! U Switch do have my tariff but under Plan not Listed. Savings came out as £37 this time which doesn't stack up with my calculations but at least not too far off and I probably wouldn't switch for £3/month anyway.

Been a great journey of discovery and I've learnt a lot and now know how to find my TCR and latest rates of a current supplier.

Thanks StopIt. Now just stop it!!

brewerdave

timtaroo wrote: »

To Brewerdave

Only wrong compared to your specific results. Which site do you use? Maybe that one does show existing supplier products and compare but I've never had them come up using U Switch or in this MSE site.

What I forgot to say is I had another example of this 6 months ago in a property I rent out. That time it was also cheaper to stay with my current supplier so this is not a one off and all I can say is both times the sites were comparing other company's products with the variable rate of the company I was with so the results showed massive savings that were totally misleading.

...I used several different sites (as I always do prior to a switch) inc. USwitch and CEC (MSE) ...and the available EON tariffs (both fixed and variable) were shown on all of them, way down the lists..... and uniformly showing ~ £170 pa more than the deals I actually went for and more than £300pa worse than the EON collective that I had been on.:)
I NEVER believe the headline "savings" figure because of the flawed OFGEM methodology!!

System

brewerdave wrote: »

I NEVER believe the headline "savings" figure because of the flawed OFGEM methodology!!

Yes, the Ofgem methodology could be seen to be flawed; however, some form of mathematical assumption has to be made as what the customer might, or might not do, at the end of a fix. The only given is that if a customer does nothing, then future energy will be priced at the standard variable rate. Given that 70% of the population are still on standard variable tariffs, then the present 'flawed' methodology suits the Govt's purpose. Moreover, when Ofgem brought it in, it forced all suppliers to work to the same assumptions for their 'Could You Pay Less' calculations.

If a consumer has taken the first step and started switching that they should know if the next good deal on offer is a good one. Whether an individual uses pen or paper; a spreadsheet; compares TCRs or prays to the Gods to choose a supplier is, at the end of the day, a personal choice.

StopIt

timtaroo wrote: »

More discoveries. I'm wrong!! U Switch do have my tariff but under Plan not Listed. Savings came out as £37 this time which doesn't stack up with my calculations but at least not too far off and I probably wouldn't switch for £3/month anyway.

Been a great journey of discovery and I've learnt a lot and now know how to find my TCR and latest rates of a current supplier.

Thanks StopIt. Now just stop it!!

It's all part of the fun of saving money. If it was too easy everyone would do it and then nobody would save money!


Anyway, the correct response to my handle would be to tell me to Tidy Up, but I think only a small subset of Terry Wogan fans will know the reference now

mickburkejnr

I would like to add my experience with the MSE comparison site, which is still ongoing but hopefully I'll update as and when.

In February this year I switched from the Co-Op to Scottish Power, as when using the Energy Saving Club comparison site Scottish Power were cheaper per month. So I thought brilliant, I'll switch and put the savings towards my wedding.

Now for those who haven't used it, you input your average usage on Gas and Electric (if you're dual fuel, which I am) and it does a comparison. This is important to remember as we go on.

SP provided my energy from February this year and we are now in the merry month of May. I get an email from them a few days ago asking for a meter reading. No problem at all, I take the photo of the meters and put the reading in to Scottish Power's website. At this point I'm £80 in credit.

I hit submit, and all of a sudden it's like hell has opened up beneath me. I'm no longer £80 in credit, I'm £230 in debt and my monthly payments have gone from the quoted £21 a month to £48!

Well I'm not having that, so I call Scottish Power and I talk to a woman who, quite frankly, obviously wished she was anywhere but there talking to me even before I asked what's going on. I'm extremely polite, I run through what's just happened with her, and I wanted to know what's happened. She tells me after putting me on hold for a time (didn't even know I was on hold, thought she hung up for a while) that my usage had gone up.

It really hadn't, comparing it to the Co-Op where I was about £120 in credit. even at this point the previous year with regular meter readings given. She can see what I was on, what I'm on now, and I told her the original figure was what SP quoted me on the ESC website with my average use given (remember that). She told me that the quote was a standing charge. So if I use the gas and leccy, it's going to go up from that regardless.

Now, I'm still witholding judgement. I got my price from the Co-Op which didn't go up or down and I was in credit with (£36 a month), but now with my cheaper provider it's shot up to £48 a month with £230 in debit. So I tell her I want to know exactly what's going on with it, escalate my complaint, because I switched to an 18 month contract based on the quote provided. If I can't get the quote provided, well I feel cheated. She agrees, again wishing she was anywhere else but I'm more than certain it wasn't because I was asking questions.

While she puts me on hold again, I log on to ESC and I'm looking for the quote. I find it, along with the average use I had given. So when she comes back on the phone I tell her I've found my average usage which would've been given to SP to calculate the quote. I told her to make a note of it, she said she did. I won't know until a representative calls me within the next two days.

I finish with SP, I find an email for ESC and I explain to them what's going on and I ask them about how the quotes are generated and whether the information I provide is passed on to the energy provider in order to generate the quote correctly.

Still not judging anyone, but the response I got from ESC was poor. Completely ignored my question about how quotes are generated, just told me to provide more regular meter readings and my payments might come down. I've since written again, repeating what I asked, in order to find out what's going on.

In my position, from using the ESC site to get a comparison, I've provided my average usage. An easy thing to give especially as I bought the house a year ago and it was easy enough to work out what I used that year. The problem I have at the moment, aside from the rocketing in my monthly payments, is exactly how the quotes are generated or displayed.

So right now, I'm annoyed at both ESC and SP. ESC for the non-answer I received, SP for inflating costs. But at the moment it looks like the quote wasn't represented correctly, but again I won't know that for definate until I know how ESC generate these quotes.