Best energy provider for low usage?

supermassive

So I know British Gas are very expensive for standing charges if nothing else. I was hoping to switch but the entire thing boggles my mind - even using price comparisons.

I used to be in the industry, but it's like forgetting a language!

I use 113kwh of Electricity and the same of gas each month. Last bill From British Gas from 28th April - 28th July was over £100, which I thought was a bit steep considering a few years ago when I was with EDF for prepay I was paying £25 per month if I was going to have the heating on!

The huge annual figures that pop up on price comparisons scare the bejesus out of me...

footyguy

supermassive wrote: »

So I know British Gas are very expensive for standing charges if nothing else. I was hoping to switch but the entire thing boggles my mind - even using price comparisons.

I used to be in the industry, but it's like forgetting a language!

I use 113kwh of Electricity and the same of gas each month. Last bill From British Gas from 28th April - 28th July was over £100, which I thought was a bit steep considering a few years ago when I was with EDF for prepay I was paying £25 per month if I was going to have the heating on!

The huge annual figures that pop up on price comparisons scare the bejesus out of me...

Start here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

sevenhills

supermassive wrote: »

I use 113kwh of Electricity and the same of gas each month. Last bill From British Gas from 28th April - 28th July was over £100, which I thought was a bit steep considering a few years ago when I was with EDF for prepay I was paying £25 per month if I was going to have the heating on!...

3 months of electricity/gas working out at £33 per month seems ok to me, I pay £35 per month.
I dont think British Gas is the cheapest, I was with GB Energy a few months back, they went bust.

Norman_Castle

supermassive wrote: »

I use 113kwh of Electricity and the same of gas each month.

Forget monthly usage, use annual consumption on the search sites. Forget low standing charge, its the overall cost that matters.

LMS123

Hi. I'm just starting the annual trawl to change my supplier.
It seems to me, or am I wrong, that the daily standing charges have been hiked up to keep the unit charge lower.
This won't benefit me as a relatively low user. We're constantly told to "switch off" to keep bills lower but that doesn't help if the daily standing charge is high.
I've looked at a few comparison sites and it seems the only ones with a lower standing charge (and hence a higher unit charge) are the smaller companies, which I'm a bit wary of (why?).
N Power seems to come out top of the pile on comparison sites with my overall projected total so I'm tempted to go with them even though the unit price is low and the standing charge high.
Has anybody used a company that benefits the lower user?

System

LMS123 wrote: »

Hi. I'm just starting the annual trawl to change my supplier.
It seems to me, or am I wrong, that the daily standing charges have been hiked up to keep the unit charge lower.
This won't benefit me as a relatively low user. We're constantly told to "switch off" to keep bills lower but that doesn't help if the daily standing charge is high.
I've looked at a few comparison sites and it seems the only ones with a lower standing charge (and hence a higher unit charge) are the smaller companies, which I'm a bit wary of (why?).
N Power seems to come out top of the pile on comparison sites with my overall projected total so I'm tempted to go with them even though the unit price is low and the standing charge high.
Has anybody used a company that benefits the lower user?

Look for suppliers like Ebico, Solarplicity or Green Energy that offer tariffs with no standing charge. However, the quid pro quo is that they will charge you a high unit price. The cost of getting the electricity to your property has to be recovered from you in some way. The same is true of all the other costs associated with energy such as the social and environmental costs. Low users have to pay for these as well. Only 40p of every £1 on your bill covers the wholesale cost of the electricity that you consume. Whether or not a zero standing charge deal will be the cheapest deal for you depends on your annual projected usage in kWhs/year. From your post, I can see that you are doing the right things.

Ilona

I think people's perceptions of what a low user is can vary greatly. The op states they used 113 kWh of electricity per month, over three months April to July. I used 216 kWg total for the same period, at a cost of £32.81. I pay no standing charge.

Money that leaks away in dribs and drabs, is not noticed, like if you have a coffee every day, it mounts up over the months. If you are lax at turning off electrical appliances when they are not needed, or if you are not mindful of the differences in how much electricity each appliance uses, then you won't notice electricity trickling away down the drain so to speak.

My usage will go up in the autumn and winter, so I will be keeping a close eye on it and submitting regular readings. Each time I flick a switch, I ask myself, can I afford this?

Ilona

firefox1956

I have just moved from First Utility to Solarplicity for the very reason of standing charges.
I am a low user of both gas & electricity.
Annual gas usage around 6400 kwh
Annual electric usage around 1100 kwh
HTH

System

firefox1956 wrote: »

I have just moved from First Utility to Solarplicity for the very reason of standing charges.
I am a low user of both gas & electricity.
Annual gas usage around 6400 kwh
Annual electric usage around 1100 kwh
HTH

Presumably, you took notice of the warning against Solarplicity in the Cheap Energy Club:

WARNING: Recently we've received lots of reports of users experiencing problems when switching to Solarplicity. Switches are taking longer than usual to be processed and it's struggling to provide updates to those who have applied to switch.

[Deleted User]

@firefox1956
I'm a low gas user (6900kWh per year) but ZOG with its standing charge is still cheaper than Solarplicity for me. If you use slightly more gas, due to say a bad winter, you will soon find that Solarplicity is not the best option.
Don't just use last years usage figures blindly, add a bit on to see what happens when you use more especially on the heating side as some years in the past I have used more. Thankfully the last 4 years have had mild winters here so usage has been consistent.

firefox1956

Hengus wrote: »

Presumably, you took notice of the warning against Solarplicity in the Cheap Energy Club:

WARNING: Recently we've received lots of reports of users experiencing problems when switching to Solarplicity. Switches are taking longer than usual to be processed and it's struggling to provide updates to those who have applied to switch.

Read the warning before I decided to switch & as with all things 'internet' used my common sense.....................

My switch for both electric & gas have both taken place within 21 days as promised with absolutely no hassle whatsoever.