* New MSE energy collective? Math done, now fingers crossed . . .*

Chin

I want cheap energy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cardew

Chin wrote: »

I want cheap energy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then move to India or China!

bobstheboy

Hengus wrote: »

They are getting desperate.

Many thanks for all your very informative posts. After due consideration and research, l have switch from BG to Bulb. They look professional and prices are good. Also got my £50 credit so happy.

SG27

I think I am going to go with bulb. With the £50 referral credit it works out top for me.

For those switching now, would it not be better to wait until as late as possible to switch as we are inevitably moving to a higher price? So spend more time at the lower tariff with BG before moving?

bobstheboy

SG27 wrote: »

I think I am going to go with bulb. With the £50 referral credit it works out top for me.

For those switching now, would it not be better to wait until as late as possible to switch as we are inevitably moving to a higher price? So spend more time at the lower tariff with BG before moving?

My transfer date is 12th Sep, so yes you could wait a couple of weeks. If you need a referral buddie PM me !!!!

SG27

The one thing that concerns me with bulb is the referral scheme. They are paying £50 to sign up new memebers and you can sign up as many members as you can. The bulb rep on another thread said some customers had been repaid thousands in referral fees! This seem too much like a multi level marketing to me which normally ends up with the end user paying too much.

So Im wondering are bulb going suddenly wack their prices up to pay for all these referral fees if so how much notice do they need to give? Enough time to switch again?

hybernia

Goes without saying, what works for one person won't necessarily work for another.

When I started this thread, it was about my uncertainty over whether to wait for another MSE collective fix. Or not. Now that so many have contributed so much useful information, I've stopped hesitating. And I've switched.

Not only do I not intend to fund Centrica's shareholders with unjustified wealth, I don't intend to contribute to the cost of psychiatric care for British Gas's CEO and senior management team.

In view of the information given on this thread, I concentrated on just three suppliers. Any more than that would do my head in. I took the projections and annual consumption levels provided to me by British Greed in its email and re-checked them against our bills. The BG figures more or less accorded with reality.

I looked at Bulb. Zog. And EDF's new "Blue + Price Protection" fixed dual fuel tariff to October 2018. I also re-did the math as far as British Greed is concerned. The results were (note: these stats relate only to our household, in our location, based on our consumption):

Annual consumption, gas: 19,593 kWh. Annual consumption, electricity: 3,587 kWh.

Cost for one year, current British Gas / MSE Collective Fix, ends October 3rd next: £996.34.

Cost for one year, British Gas standard tariff from October 3rd next: 3rd next: £1,459.20. That's £462.80 more than is being paid now.

Cost for one year, EDF Blue fixed tariff to October 2018:£1,167.20. That's £292 cheaper than British Greed.

Cost for one year, Bulb Energy Vari-Fair tariff*: £1,1450.78. That's £318 cheaper than British Greed.

Cost for one year, Zog Energy gas* + Bulb Energy, electricity: £1,138.77. That's £320.43 cheaper than British Greed.

Notes: (i) Zog only supplies gas; (2) Bulb only offered me its 'Vari-Fair' tariff.

Decision time:

No point in my even bothering with Bulb. I want a Fixed Price contract term. Not variable. Bulb may be able to maintain its current price levels. Then again, it may not. And especially when it seems to be giving money away like confetti. So: forget Bulb.

No point in going any further with the Zog / Bulb idea. Zog is fixed price. Bulb isn't.

Absolutely no point in going anywhere near British Greed except, perhaps, on visits to the locked psychiatric ward in which its management is now located.

Chosen: EDF Blue + fixed rate tariff. . . and for two reasons:

* This tariff is EXIT FREE. EDF will not charge any customers a fee for leaving early;

* This tariff is on £60 cashback at Top Cashback.

I switched, using the Top Cashback link. The net amount, therefore, going from me to EDFR over the next 12 months is £1,107.20 -- that's £352.00 cheaper than what British Greed thinks I'm stupid enough to pay it.

Word of warning: if you're not comfortable with cashback intermediaries, then don't use Top Cashback (or any similar enterprise.)

I've taken this particular deal -- which will expire very soon -- because the cashback is coming *not* from the merchant but from Top Cashback itself. There's a difference. (See T&Cs of the cashback offer.)

Husband and I also know how to screen-shot each sequential full screen of a transaction process such that we have an imaged record of every stage -- including top-of-screen url information and bottom-of-screen time and date. We simply use prt sc on the keyboard and Microsoft Paint (in which to paste the captured image, and then save.)

Again, if you're not comfortable with this kind of self-protective techno process, then don't go with a cashback scheme.

Thanks, then, to all who contributed to this thread. We're off now for a little holiday!

PS: Oh. Just in case anyone mentions that British Gas is offering a new fixed tariff? Yes. I know. I have the projected savings in front of me if I go with it: £5.08 cheaper than standard tariff for gas in a year, £8.87 cheaper than standard tariff for electricity in a year.

That's a magnificent £13.95p saving on the new standard tariff.

Thanks, British Greed, but no thanks. I think I'll just stick with the £352 saving I'm making with EDF . . .

Cardew

hybernia wrote: »

Thanks, British Greed, but no thanks. I think I'll just stick with the £352 saving I'm making with EDF . . .

Agreed BG prices are a joke. However the 'bean counters' at BG have obviously calculated that losses from customers leaving, will be offset by those who remain on the Standard tariff.

It is still depressing that your EDF deal is 17% more expensive than your BG collective

Will_at_Bulb

SG27 wrote: »

The one thing that concerns me with bulb is the referral scheme. They are paying £50 to sign up new memebers and you can sign up as many members as you can. The bulb rep on another thread said some customers had been repaid thousands in referral fees! This seem too much like a multi level marketing to me which normally ends up with the end user paying too much.

So Im wondering are bulb going suddenly wack their prices up to pay for all these referral fees if so how much notice do they need to give? Enough time to switch again?

I appreciate how it can seem worrying, but this an inaccurate comparison to draw. It is normal marketing, but instead of paying an advertiser, we pay our members. Which we'd rather do. Paying our members for referring us is no different in our eyes to paying Money Saving Expert commission for sending customers our way. Many other energy companies have referral schemes too, including Eon, Ovo, Octopus, Ecotricity and many others. It's a standard marketing practice in most industries. We're just far more generous with it than other companies tend to be. We can be more generous with it because people are much less likely to leave Bulb than they are other energy companies because they like the way we do things.

The hallmarks of a multulevel marketing scheme is that participants have to buy stock and hold it, causing them to lose money when they can't sell it. This is nothing like Bulb. Instead, you become a Bulb member and if you like us enough to recommend us, we'll give you each £50.

The fact that we only have one tariff means that we will never whack up our prices either. We use the same tariff for acquisiton as we do for long term members. So if we increased our tariff, we'd become very uncompetitive for new joiners and would stop growing. And we intend to keep growing! We'll only ever increase our tariff when wholesale price increases force us to.

SG27

Will_at_Bulb wrote: »

I appreciate how it can seem worrying, but this an inaccurate comparison to draw. It is normal marketing, but instead of paying an advertiser, we pay our members. Which we'd rather do. Paying our members for referring us is no different in our eyes to paying Money Saving Expert commission for sending customers our way. Many other energy companies have referral schemes too, including Eon, Ovo, Octopus, Ecotricity and many others. It's a standard marketing practice in most industries. We're just far more generous with it than other companies tend to be. We can be more generous with it because people are much less likely to leave Bulb than they are other energy companies because they like the way we do things.

The hallmarks of a multulevel marketing scheme is that participants have to buy stock and hold it, causing them to lose money when they can't sell it. This is nothing like Bulb. Instead, you become a Bulb member and if you like us enough to recommend us, we'll give you each £50.

The fact that we only have one tariff means that we will never whack up our prices either. We use the same tariff for acquisiton as we do for long term members. So if we increased our tariff, we'd become very uncompetitive for new joiners and would stop growing. And we intend to keep growing! We'll only ever increase our tariff when wholesale price increases force us to.

Thanks for the reply!

When you do need/want to increase prices how much notice will be given, consifering this a variable tariff?