Electricity and Gas comparison

orangesnaps

Hi, I'm trying to get an up to date comparison for our gas and electricity through the Cheap Energy club but the amount in what we are paying for is wrong. All the details are correct for our gas and electricity but it is still showing as £100, we're not paying £100 a month though, we're currently paying £172 a month and have managed to lower the direct debit to £138 starting next month. Our average monthly usage is around £75-110(and £110 is during the winter months and that's really pushing it)
We were initially charged £55 monthly but it wasn't enough to build credit for the colder months thus we were in debit during our recent quarterly bill. They never gave the option to increase the direct debit after we got our first quarterly bill even though it was in debit by a couple of pounds. I submit meter readings monthly so we get billed as accurately as possible.

MSE_Dan_L

Hi Orangesnaps

I'm sorry to hear you're having a few problems. The most common causes of this type of problem are:

a) You've made a mistake selecting your tariff. Suppliers often have similarly named but differently priced tariffs - this can make a big difference to your estimated costs.

b) You've used the estimator tool rather than entering your usage which is more accurate.

c) You've entered your usage in KWH, but this doesn't match your direct debit. If this is the case it is worth remembering that your direct debit is just an estimate of your annual usage. But by entering your actual consumption in kwh, we're providing you with an accurate comparison of how much your current tariff (and the others on the market), cost based on the unit and standing charges.

I hope this helps.

orangesnaps

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I've got our latest bill with me when I entered the details and regularly update the information once we have the current bill.

a.) The tariff is correct, I've double checked it to make sure that it is the right one.

b.) I used the information provided on the bill, that's used to compare my tariff with other tariffs.

c.) I reckon that they should have been charging £80-100 direct debit per month which would have covered us for the winter months as well and not be in this situation which is a first for us as we were always in credit with previous energy providers.

System

A lot of the problems are related to when to transfer your supply. An Autumn/Winter transfer will invariably result in a debit balance. Some suppliers are happy to go with this on the basis that consumption will fall from Spring onwards. Some of the smaller suppliers do not have the cashflow to allow this to happen.

A couple of things to bear in mind. A DD payment is only a payment made on account from which future energy use charges are deducted. It follows that if you signed up for a gas tariff with 10000kWhs/year of usage at an annual cost of £360, you will only pay £360 for that energy IF you use only 10000kWhs. Secondly, suppliers will review your estimated annual usage each time that you submit a meter reading. This Winter has been colder than usual, so it is possible that your estimated annual usage has increased (check your latest statement) so your DD payment has been increased accordingly. Finally, some suppliers seem to be adopting the policy of a rolling 12 months cost projection. What this means is that when they re-assess your DD they are doing it on the basis of 6 months usage on your present tariff and 6 months usage on their standard variable tariff. It follows that if you switch in 6 months time, your account will have a credit balance.

None of the above has anything to do with a price comparison website.

orangesnaps

We transferred suppliers around May and the switch happened in June. We were lured by the lowest direct debit amount offered and cash back as well. Prior to switching to Eon we were with Sainsbury's energy, they offered £100 Sainsbury's voucher but as they were raising their rates we decided to switch. Our direct debit went down from £80 (Sainsbury's) to £55 (Eon), lesson learned for us to not be mislead with how low the direct debit amount is. They have now increased it from £55 to a whopping £172 per month to clear our bill from Oct. - Jan which was £323 in debit.
The first quarterly bill that we got after I sent a meter reading, the account was in debit by around £30 or so but they said the direct debit amount didn't need any changing but by winter time it was too late to build credit and they could then jacked it up by more than twice the original amount.

I didn't say it has anything to do with a price comparison website, I was looking for help on how to reflect the cost that we were currently being charged per month so we can accurately compare it with other providers as our deal ends on June but we're hoping to switch by end of April or May as that is when they cannot charge us an exit fee.

System

orangesnaps wrote: »

We transferred suppliers around May and the switch happened in June. We were lured by the lowest direct debit amount offered and cash back as well. Prior to switching to Eon we were with Sainsbury's energy, they offered £100 Sainsbury's voucher but as they were raising their rates we decided to switch. Our direct debit went down from £80 (Sainsbury's) to £55 (Eon), lesson learned for us to not be mislead with how low the direct debit amount is. They have now increased it from £55 to a whopping £172 per month to clear our bill from Oct. - Jan which was £323 in debit.
The first quarterly bill that we got after I sent a meter reading, the account was in debit by around £30 or so but they said the direct debit amount didn't need any changing but by winter time it was too late to build credit and they could then jacked it up by more than twice the original amount.

I didn't say it has anything to do with a price comparison website, I was looking for help on how to reflect the cost that we were currently being charged per month so we can accurately compare it with other providers as our deal ends on June but we're hoping to switch by end of April or May as that is when they cannot charge us an exit fee.

Forget about monthly payments. It is not a sound basis for choosing a supplier. To work out the cheapest overall deal annual cost, you must base your comparison on projected usage in kWhs/year for both gas and electricity. For example, I use 10000kWhs/year for gas and 2500kWhs/year for electricity. Enter these projections in to a price comparison website, like MSE Cheap Energy Club, and it will show you all the tariffs available with the cheapest at the top of the list. If you use MSE CEC, it will also show you an annual cost; however, where there is cash back your monthly DD payment will be based on the annual cost/12. Cashback comes about 3 months later.

PS MSE Cheap Energy Club is a price comparison website (MoneySuperMarket.com)

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

orangesnaps wrote: »

We transferred suppliers around May and the switch happened in June. We were lured by the lowest direct debit amount offered and cash back as well. Prior to switching to Eon we were with Sainsbury's energy, they offered £100 Sainsbury's voucher but as they were raising their rates we decided to switch. Our direct debit went down from £80 (Sainsbury's) to £55 (Eon), lesson learned for us to not be mislead with how low the direct debit amount is. They have now increased it from £55 to a whopping £172 per month to clear our bill from Oct. - Jan which was £323 in debit.
The first quarterly bill that we got after I sent a meter reading, the account was in debit by around £30 or so but they said the direct debit amount didn't need any changing but by winter time it was too late to build credit and they could then jacked it up by more than twice the original amount.

I didn't say it has anything to do with a price comparison website, I was looking for help on how to reflect the cost that we were currently being charged per month so we can accurately compare it with other providers as our deal ends on June but we're hoping to switch by end of April or May as that is when they cannot charge us an exit fee.

Hello orangesnaps and just a quick heads up.

I've recently replied to a post you added to the thread below on a similar topic.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73999398#Comment_73999398

Hope it's of interest.

Malc

PS/ If you wanted to pay off all or part of the outstanding balance, we'll be happy to review your arrangement. Thanks.