Comparison sites.

DanRoMan

Hi all!
Are there any comparison sites that use the existing tariff rather than the variable rate one for comparison purposes?

I did a search recently as my current fixed deal is about to end and found that they all tell me they can save me money to the tunes of hundreds, when in effect all are more expensive!
When I drilled-down on it and spoke to an "advisor" i was enlighten that they all look at the variable rate I would be going onto if I didn't switch!
Is this a bit of a con? It is in my books, as it shows a saving when in effect you: 1- wouldn't be saving that much anyway; and 2- it is based on a rate I wouldn't be entertaining at any stage, being a savvy switching tart!

Is there any "honest" comparison site out there?

System

DanRoMan wrote: »

Hi all!
Are there any comparison sites that use the existing tariff rather than the variable rate one for comparison purposes?

I did a search recently as my current fixed deal is about to end and found that they all tell me they can save me money to the tunes of hundreds, when in effect all are more expensive!
When I drilled-down on it and spoke to an "advisor" i was enlighten that they all look at the variable rate I would be going onto if I didn't switch!
Is this a bit of a con? It is in my books, as it shows a saving when in effect you: 1- wouldn't be saving that much anyway; and 2- it is based on a rate I wouldn't be entertaining at any stage, being a savvy switching tart!

Is there any "honest" comparison site out there?

Hi - welcome to the forum. All comparison sites have Ofgem accreditation and they have to calculate costs/savings in a prescribed way. The prescribed way can loosely be called ‘the inflated savings methodology’ and it is completely honest for the 70% of consumers still on a SVT and for consumers on fixed tariffs with more than 12 months left to run. You clearly have identified what the issue is for consumers on fixed tariffs with less than 12 months to run.

Let me offer an immediate solution. If you sign up to MSE Cheap Energy Club it shows the Ofgem method AND a more useful ‘this is what you have paid for 12 months on your present tariff’ followed by a table of projected 12 month costs for all the available tariffs on the market today.

PS Suppliers ARE also required to use the Ofgem method under the Could you Pay Less? banner on your energy statements.

Bigphil1474

OP, I think moneysupermarket also has an option to compare against your current tariff but it's not by default. I could be wrong though as I'm currently trawling them all to get a new deal myself.
To be honest, I wouldn't worry about it - whichever method you use, all you need to know is the cost to you. If you use the comparison against what you would pay, they'll all say you save loads. If you compare against what you've been paying, they'll probably all say they'll cost you more, and be sorted in order of who would cost the least more.
For the first comparison, the one that saves the most that you are happy with, is probably the same tariff that will cost you the least most on the second method. Ignore what you might save, and just think of it as a comparison of the available tariffs, rather than a 'quote' for what you'd pay.