Cheap Energy Club incorrect?

FreakShow!

Hopefully I'm being an idiot and missing something, but I'm just about to come to the end of my energy deal. I dutifully logged into the Cheap Energy Club and did a new comparison.

My cheapest fixed deal will be Lumo App Only Fixed v17, saving me £92/yr. Tariff is:
Gas Unit Rate: 3.570p/kWh
Gas Standing Charge: 26.523p/day
Electricity Unit Race: 15.740p/kWh
Electricity Standing Charge: 32.981p/day

My second cheapest is Utility Point UP Energy Saver, saving me £81/yr. Tariff is:
Gas Unit Rate: 3.425p/kWh
Gas Standing Charge 11.850p/day
Electricity Unit Rate: 11.811p/kWh
Electricity Standing Charge: 16.055p/day

Now, I've only done it on these two, but surely, it's clear to see that the Utility point Tariff is cheaper, not the Lumo one? Neither have cash back affecting the price.

My Gas usage is 5500kWh and my Electricity is 413kWh.

This works out as:
Lumo Gas: (3.570 * 5500) + (26.523 * 365) = 19636 + 9680.895 = £293.17
Lumo Elec: (15.740 * 413) + (32.981 * 365) = 6500.62 + 12038.07 = £185.39
Total Lumo Cost: £478.56

UP Gas: (3.425 * 5500) + (11.850 * 365) = 18837.5 + 4325.25 = £231.63
UP Elec: (11.811 * 413) + (16.055 * 365) = 4877.94 + 5860.08 = £107.38
Total Utility Point Cost: £339.01

So £140 difference between my "cheapest" deal and my next cheapest. What's happening?

skybluearmyontour

413kWh Electric? Is that correct?

grumpycrab

FreakShow! wrote: »

...So £140 difference between my "cheapest" deal and my next cheapest. What's happening?

Perhaps a bug? Can we see a screenshot of the MSE page?

FreakShow!

I think I've figured it out. The Lumo one has a £75 discount for those with Smart Meters, which is automatically applied to the cost shown. I'm not sure where the other £10 is lost, but I'll happily put that down to rounding errors in my maths.

Only problem is that I don't have smart meters. I'm not interested in having one fitted, unless it's the SMETS2 version. I switch almost every year, so v1 would be useless to me. Plus, there's not much incentive for them to fit my meter quickly, as that'd be ~£150 a year they'd be losing from me.

Jabba_flabba

FreakShow! wrote: »

Only problem is that I don't have smart meters. I'm not interested in having one fitted, unless it's the SMETS2 version. I switch almost every year, so v1 would be useless to me. Plus, there's not much incentive for them to fit my meter quickly, as that'd be ~£150 a year they'd be losing from me.

According to https://utilityweek.co.uk/beis-confirms-installation-deadline-extension-smets1/, energy suppliers should be installing SMETS2 meters now:

In January the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) pushed the 13 July end date back to 5 October 2018. It will now increase this by a further two months to 5 December 2018.

BEIS announced the additional extension today (4 October) following a consultation into the proposal, which was launched in early July.

Thomas_Edison

All energy suppliers have to offer all their members smart meters by 2020.

Definitely right to wait for Smets 2 though, they have just started being rolled out enmasse.

I think I saw somewhere that Lumo aim to get one installed within 6 weeks of you joining them, may be wrong on that though.

gt94sss2

Jabba_flabba wrote: »

According to https://utilityweek.co.uk/beis-confirms-installation-deadline-extension-smets1/, energy suppliers should be installing SMETS2 meters now:

The deadline has moved again, for some suppliers at least:

Suppliers can continue to install these SMETS1 meters until 5 December 2018. This is the ‘end date’ for SMETS1 installations, although energy regulator Ofgem is allowing 12 suppliers to continue installing them beyond this deadline, until 15 March 2019, to help them transfer smoothly to installing SMETS2 meters. This includes British Gas, Eon, First Utility, Npower, Ovo, Scottish Power and Utility Warehouse.

Jabba_flabba

FreakShow! wrote: »

I think I've figured it out. The Lumo one has a £75 discount for those with Smart Meters, which is automatically applied to the cost shown. I'm not sure where the other £10 is lost, but I'll happily put that down to rounding errors in my maths.

I'm also seeing Lumo at the top of the Energy Club search results, when its standing charges and unit rates are pricier than the deals offered below it. And it seems there isn't a way to discount the Discounts when it comes to the ordering of the deals (which is by Saving, descending).

When it comes to Cashback and the ordering, it is possible to ignore cashback using the 'Order results by'→'Prices Excluding Cashback' radio button at the top-left side.

According to the Energy Club Help, one-off discounts shouldn't be included in the comparison:

Do you include discounts in the comparisons?
Recurring discounts and those paid automatically, such as direct debit discounts, are included in the calculations. One-off discounts, incentives paid after 12 months and discounts which rely on you doing something (including giving meter readings) aren't included in the comparison.

Source:
https://help.cheapenergyclub.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000333207-Do-you-include-discounts-in-the-comparisons-

I wonder if the site maintainers are aware of this apparent exception? I can imagine a lot of disgruntled already-on-a-smart-meter customers signing up to Lumo via Energy Club, oblivious to the fact that they wouldn't attain the saving Energy Club claims they would.