Advice for a first timer..

Daisy112968

I have just switched suppliers, having always been with British Gas (was not on the collective deal).... Receiving the letter from BG, informing me of the price increase & stopping the dual duel discount, prompted me to switch.

I did comparisons, firstly for dual fuel, then separately. The cheapest deals were with suppliers I'd never heard of, & had bad customer feedback (or were being looked into by Ofgem etc)

In the end, I went with Bulb for electricity & Zog for gas. I had never heard of either, but was very impressed with their feedback & prices. Bulb was not the cheapest, but cheaper than BG (I did use a referral & received £50 credit to my account)... This is a variable tariff, with no exit fee.
With Zog, I decided on their Saturn tariff, with no exit fee.

The switches took 3 weeks, absolutely no problems. Been with them a few days now & everything is great (so far, lol)

So, as someone who has never switched gas & electricity, it has been a good experience. Personally, I wouldn't move to a supplier that has known issues.
I didn't feel worried about moving to Bulb & Zog. If I were to experience any difficulties, I can leave without any penalties.

Cardew

Daisy112968 wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't move to a supplier that has known issues.
I didn't feel worried about moving to Bulb & Zog. If I were to experience any difficulties, I can leave without any penalties.

Welcome to the forum.

The problem with the smaller companies is that it is simply not known if they 'have issues'.

Many simply do not have the structure and experienced staff to handle any problems. So over the years there have been dozens of small companies that have ceased trading. Most are simply taken over by the Big 6. Even large firms like Virgin, Tesco, Sainsbury who entered the Energy market, stopped trading as a separate entity.

It often is not that easy to 'leave without difficulty'. Posters have reported being chased for outstanding amounts that they dispute owing, or failing to get rebates.

macman

Despite your concerns, it is the Big 6 who still form the Bottom 6 in every annual consumer survey, such as Which? I have had good service from EOn, bad service from SP, good service from Ovo, and terrible service from Iresa-so it's not that simple.

firsttimeever

Thank you all for your advice and this weekend I will be switching. However: this is my situation. I am with SSE and currently a fixed rate deal is around £ 1550. It would appear I am a high gas user. So back to the comparison sites ..

The smaller companies can offer me around £1200 fixed ( I want fixed). The best of the 'big uns' is EDF and EON around £1300. There is a local west country company called Bristol energy which comes out around £1200 ish. I was willing and ready to sign up to EDF because they seemed established and experienced but the reviews seem terrible. So I looked at the reviews on Bristol energy from another site but it was not good .

I am at a loss . I just want an experienced sensible company ( not the cheapest) to sign up too. The one coming up on other sites is EON at around £1300. Also if I fixed for a year will it avoid any problems with DD ?.

Am I asking too much or is this the reality ??
Many thanks

Neil_Jones

Bristol Energy is owned by Bristol City Council FYI.

If you're a high gas user have you checked whether its cheaper to take gas from one company and electricity from somebody else? Check Zog Energy out for gas if you haven't done so already - https://www.zogenergy.com/ - they're middle of the road/slightly budget price wise but they do get great reviews and it frees you up to take electricity from any other provider, as Zog currently don't do leccy.

AndyPK

I think all suppliers have "bad reviews".

If there was a terrible supplier, there would probably be alot of information on this board about it .

I'm a higher gas user than you, and am with EDF. Seam ok so far.
Had to wait a few weeks till after everything was setup to move to quarterly, but that's not unusual.