EDF Energy Online Collective Sep20

melbury

I have just bitten the bullet and switched to this, really to have the peace of mind of knowing exactly what I will be paying for the next 2 years. Overall it is going to cost me £200 per year more, but then of course prices have gone up quite a lot since I fixed more than a year ago, so I think it is a pretty good deal.

Anyone else been tempted?

System

melbury wrote: »

I have just bitten the bullet and switched to this, really to have the peace of mind of knowing exactly what I will be paying for the next 2 years. Overall it is going to cost me £200 per year more, but then of course prices have gone up quite a lot since I fixed more than a year ago, so I think it is a pretty good deal.

Anyone else been tempted?

No doubt you have done your sums and compared the 2 year and 1 year fixes? Remember, energy suppliers have a very good idea of what the cost of energy will be in 2 years time as they have already forward purchased.

I currently pay £750 per annum for gas and electricity. Let us assume that a 1 year fixed contract would cost me £100 a year more and a 2 year fixed contract £200 a year more for each of TWO years (which is what I think you are saying). It follows that if I was to go for a 1 year fix, the additional cost would be £100 or £850 for the year.

You say that the additional cost of your 2 year fix is £200 per year more. Put it another way, you are paying an additional £400. In the example above, my cost increase for Year 2 if I took out 2 one year fixes would have to be £300 just to break even.

So the maths work out like this:

Cost now £750

Cost for Year = £850 which is a 13.3% increase.

Break even Cost in Yr = £1150 which is a 35.3% increase.

It follows to my mind that anyone who pays £400 a year more to secure a 2 year fix must be a very high energy user.

PS: To keep it simple, I have not included any Year 2 cash back.

PPS: EDF is also not the cheapest supplier by a margin. We are moving in the next couple of weeks and a quick comparison shows that for 10000kWhs/year of gas and 4500kWhs/year of electricity the cheapest dual fuel deal is £980 a year. EDF's 2 year dual fuel fix shows up at £1298. £318 is a heck of a price to pay for a price protection insurance policy imho. I can reduce the annual cost even more by using separate suppliers.

molerat

IMO that sort of premium does not add up. I am currently signed up to a £30 pa extra for 2 years with no exit fee which was a no brainer, £200 is too much.

melbury

Thank you for your interesting replies, may I ask which suppliers you are with that are so reasonably priced.

I did do a few comparisons and this EDF collective was the cheapest option for me by quite a bit based on usage of 21000 for gas and 3300 electricity.

System

melbury wrote: »

Thank you for your interesting replies, may I ask which suppliers you are with that are so reasonably priced.

I did do a few comparisons and this EDF collective was the cheapest option for me by quite a bit based on usage of 21000 for gas and 3300 electricity.

I am with Octopus for electricity and Zog for gas. The costs that I gave in my post above were from the CEC website. It is also worth pointing out that collective switches have lost their competitive advantage over the past 18 months. Suppliers are now coming up with innovative ways of attracting new customers that do not result in them having to pay referral fees to price comparison websites. For example, Octopus will knock £50 off the annual cost if you use a referral link. Some suppliers use cash back sites like Topcashback.

What is your projected usage for gas and electricity in kWhs/year?

I know that we are all worry about increasing energy prices but bear in mind that the wholesale price of the energy that we buy now accounts for about 38p in every £ that we pay to our suppliers. If the wholesale price of gas doubled overnight, then the increase would be:

38/100 times 100 or 38%

The other 62p in the £ that we pay covers such things as social and welfare costs; smart meters; feed in tariffs; consumer levy, grid distribution/network costs and VAT. If the Government doubled these there would be a National outcry.

melbury

Hengus wrote: »

I am with Octopus for electricity and Zog for gas. The costs that I gave in my post above were from the CEC website. It is also worth pointing out that collective switches have lost their competitive advantage over the past 18 months. Suppliers are now coming up with innovative ways of attracting new customers that do not result in them having to pay referral fees to price comparison websites. For example, Octopus will knock £50 off the annual cost if you use a referral link. Some suppliers use cash back sites like Topcashback.

What is your projected usage for gas and electricity in kWhs/year?

I know that we are all worry about increasing energy prices but bear in mind that the wholesale price of the energy that we buy now accounts for about 38p in every £ that we pay to our suppliers. If the wholesale price of gas doubled overnight, then the increase would be:

38/100 times 100 or 38%

The other 62p in the £ that we pay covers such things as social and welfare costs; smart meters; feed in tariffs; consumer levy, grid distribution/network costs and VAT. If the Government doubled these there would be a National outcry.

Thanks for the information, I thought that collective switches were always cheaper.

I checked on the EDF website (who I am currently with anyway) and the price for a Sept 2020 fix on there is £158 more per annum than through the collective. I even had an online chat with one of their representatives and was told that to get that price I would have to go through the collective as they couldn't provide that direct.

BTW what is the CEC website?

mije1983

melbury wrote: »

BTW what is the CEC website?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

System

melbury wrote: »

Thanks for the information, I thought that collective switches were always cheaper.

I checked on the EDF website (who I am currently with anyway) and the price for a Sept 2020 fix on there is £158 more per annum than through the collective. I even had an online chat with one of their representatives and was told that to get that price I would have to go through the collective as they couldn't provide that direct.

BTW what is the CEC website?

Collective switches haven’t matched market leading prices now for 18 months. Suppliers have often struggled to take on 100Ks worth of customers and it has dawned on them that these customers rarely stay in the longer term. The cheapest suppliers do not offer third-party referral fees so tend not to play the collective switch game. I check my tariffs once a month; I have switched electricity suppliers 3 times in the past 8 months and made over £200 in cashback.

melbury

Hengus wrote: »

Collective switches haven’t matched market leading prices now for 18 months. Suppliers have often struggled to take on 100Ks worth of customers and it has dawned on them that these customers rarely stay in the longer term. The cheapest suppliers do not offer third-party referral fees so tend not to play the collective switch game. I check my tariffs once a month; I have switched electricity suppliers 3 times in the past 8 months and made over £200 in cashback.

Wow that is amazing, I take my hat off to you:T

Have to say that I just couldn't be doing with changing every few months. I have checked again and the price I am getting is no more expensive - in fact in most cases cheaper - than other companies for what is actually a 25 month fix.

Didn't get any cashback though:(

melbury

mije1983 wrote: »

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

Thanks, yes I have belonged to this since it began but haven't found any deals that were right for me.

Sosumi

Multi-year fixes do need to be considered carefully but sometimes they can out-perform one-year fixes to a surprising degree.

It all depends upon your region and your annual consumption.

For example and for me, at today’s prices, a three-year (well, 35 and a half months, ending on 30 June 2021, to be precise) dual-energy fix with ENGIE would cost £23 less, every year, than than a one-year dual-energy fix with Octopus Energy would cost for just the next twelve months.

(And, when it comes to factoring in customer service satisfaction. ENGIE, like EDF, has a five-star rating and Octopus Energy has a four-star rating.)