British Gas All Online Jan 2019

MarkOughton

Hi, Just at the point of changing tariff so I've used the Cheap Energy Club to see what is available. I'm being offered something called British Gas All Online Jan 2019 which seems to be perfect for my current needs but I can find no reference to it on the British Gas website. Has anyone seen anything about this?

Many thanks for any help, first time poster, long time lurker!

Mark

System

MarkOughton wrote: »

Hi, Just at the point of changing tariff so I've used the Cheap Energy Club to see what is available. I'm being offered something called British Gas All Online Jan 2019 which seems to be perfect for my current needs but I can find no reference to it on the British Gas website. Has anyone seen anything about this?

Many thanks for any help, first time poster, long time lurker!

Mark

Wow - you must have a shed load of money to spare. I agree that the tariff does appear on CEC and it is not on BG's website. To put my comments in context, I pay c.£660 per year for electricity and gas (2500kWhs/year for electricity and 10000kWhs/year for gas). Switching to this tariff would increase my yearly cost to £880 per year but I would get £25 back for my trouble.

If this is because you have a BG smart meter; I have to ask whether paying £220 per year more is worth it for the cost of not having to read your meter?

Neil_Jones

That tariff would add £220 to my bill too. I can't see how this can be "perfect" for anybody's needs, its quite expensive - in fact on my list First Utility comes £140 cheaper that that BG tariff with the same end date...

MarkOughton

Yep, on a smart meter and looking to move house in the very near future. My experience of moving suppliers is that they assume, from your postcode, your likely consumption. They then make you pay more in the interim until you can prove your usage. Since my house is by far the smallest in this postal area, I don't want to get landed with increased bills and then have to try and reclaim after a house move, particularly as our energy consumption is way lower than average anyway, roughly 10-15% less than similar homes.

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MarkOughton

I should also say that this tariff is within £20 of the best large supplier,EON, but with £20 less exit fees.

System

MarkOughton wrote: »

Yep, on a smart meter and looking to move house in the very near future. My experience of moving suppliers is that they assume, from your postcode, your likely consumption. They then make you pay more in the interim until you can prove your usage. Since my house is by far the smallest in this postal area, I don't want to get landed with increased bills and then have to try and reclaim after a house move, particularly as our energy consumption is way lower than average anyway, roughly 10-15% less than similar homes.

.

Wrong - i’m afraid. The price of energy does indeed vary with usage and postcode. However, when a supplier estimates your usage it uses what are known as the Annual Quantity for gas and Estimated Annual Consumption for electricity. Usage is updated periodically based on actual meter readings for each property - adjusted for seasonal weather variations. Data - going back over 70 years in some cases - is held for each property on a database.

DD amounts are only an estimate. Provided you give the supplier frequent actual meter readings then having a smart meter will not make a jot of difference. Moreover if your annual cost is £840 per year rather than £660, then expect to pay a £70 per month as opposed to £55 per month. Does it matter? The answer is ‘no’. Money paid by DD is only money paid into a piggy bank from which charges for energy used are deducted. You WILL get all your credit back.

MarkOughton

I'm sure that's the way it's supposed to work but the reality is different. My brother has just received his annual, "you're not paying enough for gas, it's going up by 30%" letter. They assume he heats by gas and put his DD up to cope with the increase in usage over winter. Since he heats with electric, aside from a little extra hot water, everything stays the same for gas. Every year they send the same letter, every year they have to refund him in the spring. If the system operated as you say, surely they would see that his DD was just fine. He also has smart meters by the way.

I'm well used to monthly meter readings, I've only ever done it that way as I pay for exactly what I use. I prefer to put my savings into a interest bearing savings account. I'm just looking to for a tariff that enables me to keep my options open and thought this sounded like a good bet.

I have to say that before the bandwagon started rolling, I was able to choose many more tariffs, that suited my particular needs, than I can now. I'm pretty sure the supposed competition we now enjoy is rather less competitive than we are led to believe.

System

MarkOughton wrote: »

I'm sure that's the way it's supposed to work but the reality is different. My brother has just received his annual, "you're not paying enough for gas, it's going up by 30%" letter. They assume he heats by gas and put his DD up to cope with the increase in usage over winter. Since he heats with electric, aside from a little extra hot water, everything stays the same for gas. Every year they send the same letter, every year they have to refund him in the spring. If the system operated as you say, surely they would see that his DD was just fine. He also has smart meters by the way.

I'm well used to monthly meter readings, I've only ever done it that way as I pay for exactly what I use. I prefer to put my savings into a interest bearing savings account. I'm just looking to for a tariff that enables me to keep my options open and thought this sounded like a good bet.

I have to say that before the bandwagon started rolling, I was able to choose many more tariffs, that suited my particular needs, than I can now. I'm pretty sure the supposed competition we now enjoy is rather less competitive than we are led to believe.

That I cannot give an opinion on without seeing all the detail. What has it got to do with paying 33% more for energy than you need to? My original point was that you were looking to switch to a very expensive tariff and I am still not sure why? When I switch, which I do frequently, I give my chosen supplier MY estimate of further annual usage. If the total projected cost is £600, then I expect the DD to set at £50 per month. That said, I do know that some suppliers do increase the payment for Winter switches to avoid a large customer debt. This is always covered in the terms and conditions. The annual cost though stands at £600 if usage matches the projection.

MarkOughton

I've checked the CEC once more and, if I'm prepared to use a supplier with no feedback because it's too small, It will cost me an estimated £57 a month at best. If I stay with BG on this tariff, it will cost me an estimated £64 a month for my usage. Plus I get £25 cash back with BG. I'm just not going to get the kind of savings that you say on my usage.

GazLecky

It’s not something I usually do but I just had to join the forum to comment.

Mark asked a simple (Well I thought it was) question about a new British Gas tariff and in true forum style comments come flooding in that doesn’t answer the question but goes off at a tangent. The thread then avalanches in a totally different direction to the original question.

The guy posted here for an answer to a specific question! If users don’t know the answer maybe they should keep their thoughts to themselves in the hope that they might learn something useful.

Rant over.

Does anyone actually know the answer to Mark’s question?

System

GazLecky wrote: »

It’s not something I usually do but I just had to join the forum to comment.

Mark asked a simple (Well I thought it was) question about a new British Gas tariff and in true forum style comments come flooding in that doesn’t answer the question but goes off at a tangent. The thread then avalanches in a totally different direction to the original question.

The guy posted here for an answer to a specific question! If users don’t know the answer maybe they should keep their thoughts to themselves in the hope that they might learn something useful.

Rant over.

Does anyone actually know the answer to Mark’s question?

Welcome to the forum. You are of course fully entitled to your opinion; however, this site is all about consumers saving money. The clue is in the forum title. What I, and another poster, have been trying to point out is that the tariff that OP is looking at is considerably more expensive than the cheapest deals on the market.

The answer to the OP's original question is very simple: ring British Gas and ask.

Edit: To put the above into context, the BG Offer for my usage and postcode shows:

Gas S/c 24.99p Unit 3.644p

Electricity s/c 24.99p Unit 13.851p

My present tariffs (both of which are still on the market) are:

Gas S/c 12.6p Unit 2.975p

Electricity S/c 16p Unit 10.805