Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

PhylPho

pauljoecoe wrote: »

I've just moved from the online standard tariff of Scottish Power to thier fixed online until Jan 2013. (I was on a different tariff up until Oct but that had run out.)

I just thought I'd share my experience of trying to find the best deal.

I tried virtually every price comparison site but invariably got different responses form each. Even though I was putting in the exact same details and used the my annual Kwh as I thought this would be the most accurate method. . . .

We've had the same experience, as no doubt many thousands of consumers have also had: the comparison sites are definitely NOT to be depended on, doesn't matter which one is used.

Like you, we came off our SP deal at the end of October but we're leaving SP because we're fed up with it, not least this seemingly variable-at-will 1st tier / 2nd tier unit allowance. The abolition of the standing charge was hailed by the industry (after British Gas took the lead) as a cue for cheaper energy bills but the exact opposite has happened because suppliers have been able to play ducks and drakes with first so-many-hours this and then, so-many-hours after. We look at some of our Scottish Power bills for a quarter and they're absolutely impenetrable.

We're moving to nPower because the Go Fix 8 has a daily standing charge we can instantly compute over the fixed-term projected period of usage and a single tier unit rate we can also instantly compute over the period of usage (i.e., from now until February 2013.)

Significantly though -- because the comparison sites fail utterly to say just what the unit rate is for any supplier, and then don't even include all the suppliers available anyway -- we've had to wait for nPower's own letter to drop on our doormat, spelling out just what the costs actually are.

Working out our projected usage on the basis of the total gas and electricity used in the previous 12 months, we've found the comparison site calculations to be entirely wrong -- even though we input the same annual totals, or where required, the quarterly total (arrived at not on the basis of the last bill, which was for summer and is hardly representative of energy usage, but simply by dividing the annual by 4 to establish average consumption) into the required fields.

We also looked at Ovo, tempted as much by its customer care reputation as its simplicity, i.e., no two-tier pricing; fixed rate; single unit / single standing charge. But even Ovo was out by around £40 on its emailed quote to us.

Moral: unless you do the math yourself, don't trust anyone else to do it for you.

It's about time comparison sites were compelled to state just what the unit charges are in each supplier offer because that's what consumers are trying to find out in the first place: is it, or is it not, cheaper than what I'm buying now?

The energy supply industry in the UK -- at least where the majors are concerned, and seemingly, with the backing of the comparison sites that feed off them -- is a smoke and mirrors operation based on the notion that the last thing any consumer should ever know anything about is what it's going to cost.

No surprise, then, that you still haven't discovered if there are better deals out there or not. It seems you need to make the online application first before you get any meaningful information, and then when you have the paperwork in front of you, have 7 days to decide whether to accept or reject.

No other industry operates in this wilfully obscure fashion, nor would this one if a £multi-million publicly funded regulator got off its fat impotent !!!!! and sorted it out.

pauljoecoe

Very well put PhylPho. Unfortunately I don't have the will to locate the unit prices and then do all the maths so I have gone for an option that know at least to be better than the present - even if it isn't the best out there. Having moved a number of times in the past I am guessing the savings aren't going to be massive anyway.

With the advantage of the web the system should be so much simpler. I totally agree that the industry seems to purposely make it difficult for consumers to understand.

PhylPho

I've pretty much written off the energy supply industry in the UK as trying to get instant and unambiguous pricing information from it is impossible. Industry suppliers know what they intend to charge a customer, but the customer rally shouldn 't be such a nuisance as to want to find out beforehand.

But my biggest gripe is with the comparison sites, because they're all tacit accomplices.

Put it like this: were you and I wondering about whether to replace our existing family car wth another, then the comparison site would provide immediate details as to Road Tax band, engine size, and how many doors. It may even provide the manufacturer's own (often unreliable) mpg consumption stats.

However. . . were the motor car comparison site to be run on the same lines as the energy supply comparison site, then all you'd get is a "saving" in bold colored type. . . and that's it.

Road Tax / emission band? Oh dear no, can't say. Number of doors? Er, um, no idea. Is the damn thing a hatchback or estate or saloon? Whoopsadaisy, we can't tell you that, either.

Ludicrous.

HeimRoller

Cant believe I have left it so long! Every so often I consider switching, but then think it is probably too much hassle. Bit the bullet last month. Moved from B Gas to E-On for dual.
Using my last year consumption it indicated that by staying at BG it would cost me nearly £1900 over the next 12 months, same usage on e-on is forecast to be just over £1440, so the savings are over £450 for the year. Thank you MSE for inspiring me to switch! Off topic, just changed home insurance and saved £400 for the year for the same excess and increased contents cover (needed to increase it anyway)!

Optimist

HeimRoller wrote: »

Cant believe I have left it so long! Every so often I consider switching, but then think it is probably too much hassle. Bit the bullet last month. Moved from B Gas to E-On for dual.
Using my last year consumption it indicated that by staying at BG it would cost me nearly £1900 over the next 12 months, same usage on e-on is forecast to be just over £1440, so the savings are over £450 for the year. Thank you MSE for inspiring me to switch! Off topic, just changed home insurance and saved £400 for the year for the same excess and increased contents cover (needed to increase it anyway)!

Hope you went through a cashback site EON are paying £51.50 for a dual duel transfer at the moment

onefootin

I dipped my toe in the water last year and signed up for an electricity tariff (not fixed price) with a penalty if I cancelled before 31/10/11. What I didn't realise was that if I stayed until that date I would then be hit with a further price increase on top of the other increases during the year. Having suffered a 19% increase in September I now have a further increase of between 10.38% & 20.94% on the September prices (based on the current tariffs from the same supplier). The cumulative effect is an increase of between 31% & 44% since the beginning of September!
I have used words such as devious, deceitful, underhand, untrustworthy, sly, crafty, cunning, furtive, surreptitious, sneaky, underhand, dubious, shifty, immoral, dishonest and corrupt to describe my thoughts on the company's pricing strategy and ethics.
When I switched tariffs with that supplier it took several weeks and a lot of hassle - reading some of the posts I'm not confident about changing to another supplier because the industry seems to be dominated by a load of shysters.

Beki88

Why is switching so confusing??

My mum moved from a 3 bed house (on Brit gas essentials) to a 1 bed bungalow who were with eon. Told we would be able to go straight back to british gas essentials. Tried to do this and told not available anymore :mad: and stuck on standard tariff.

Trying to switch now but each comparison site is telling me something different. One says 92 saving for one tariff yet another site says -51p (not a huge amount of loss but compared to saving 92??) for the same tariff.

One that I have seen is ebico are they any good? I don't get how their prices are so cheap without a standing charge.

Hope I have made sense I have spent the last few hours searching and my brain is fried now!

Susan1942

I too have to make a decision re changing my supplier or going on to another tariffe with my current one.
I am looking at what SSE have to offer as I have been on go direct 5 and this ends on 31st Dec. When I look at their tariffe there are a lot with a daily rate or some without a daily rate. FIXED I think.
Then when I look at some there is not a price for economy 7 which I have and it all seems to be so confusing. When I do a comparison site it brings out Scottish Power as the best for me but I don't really know how to check if their price is the best for me. I use 80% of economy 7 heating as I have no fire etc. My water heats at night also I am now more confused than ever and when I read some of these posts I find I am totally out of my depth here. Any advice should I take a tariffe with a daily charge or should I go for one with no daily charge but with a higher uniit price? HELP please!

Amilucky?

Beware if you are with one of the major energy suppliers and you are thinking of switching energy supply's if you have qualified for this years "Warm Home Discount" of £120 you may lose the discount if you switch to a smaller supplier

I was in the process of switching from British Gas to Ovo Energy but learned that I would lose the discount if I switched so have delayed the switch until April so as not to lose the discount

not sure about other suppliers but British Gas has a qualifying period

Customers must have been on supply of their electricity with British Gas from the 10th October 2011, and continue to be in supply of their electricity with British Gas when the payments are made between January and March 2012.

Heidspide

onefootin wrote: »

I dipped my toe in the water last year and signed up for an electricity tariff (not fixed price) with a penalty if I cancelled before 31/10/11. What I didn't realise was that if I stayed until that date I would then be hit with a further price increase on top of the other increases during the year. Having suffered a 19% increase in September I now have a further increase of between 10.38% & 20.94% on the September prices (based on the current tariffs from the same supplier). The cumulative effect is an increase of between 31% & 44% since the beginning of September!
I have used words such as devious, deceitful, underhand, untrustworthy, sly, crafty, cunning, furtive, surreptitious, sneaky, underhand, dubious, shifty, immoral, dishonest and corrupt to describe my thoughts on the company's pricing strategy and ethics.
When I switched tariffs with that supplier it took several weeks and a lot of hassle - reading some of the posts I'm not confident about changing to another supplier because the industry seems to be dominated by a load of shysters.

Something similar happened to me - I signed up to a variable tariff but for a fixed period (with a penalty if you leave early); it was just the cheapest at the time and it was with the same company I was with, so no hassles of switching etc. But then with the big price hikes in the Summer the company has since released many more discounted rates so I have overpaid on this tariff. I am tied in until the end of Feb 2012; after that I will not make the same mistake again.

I think this is an important thing to consider - in particular that Martin has highlighted the Scottish Power's 'online energy saver 17' in his email this week - this is variable and has a penalty to switch early, so be aware it may not stay the cheapest for long.