Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

boobbby

slaterio wrote: »

Hi

I am currently on the cheapest tariff available when I switched, that being EDF Blue+ Price Promise September 2013. Should I switch now as I will be transferred to Standard Variable tariff as of 30.09.13?

I phoned them up and moved to the EDF September 2014 which starts as the old one finishes. EDF 2015 looks a bit more expensive so gave that a miss. If somebody should come out cheaper then there is still no penalty for moving

Ted+

I'm a regular energy switcher and normally go for cash back offers. I've been told about a site moneybackswitch.com that gives money back but donates it to a local charity I can choose. I like the idea, has anyone tried it?

Wywth

New user? Advertising a comparison website? Smells a bit spammy to me.
[STRIKE]
It's not even accredited, apparently
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/domestic-consumers/switching-your-energy-supplier/confidence-code
[/STRIKE]
Anyway, they only give a maximum of £22 to charity.

You'd (or rather the charity of your choice) would be better off using the comparison sites recommended by MSE, or even the cashback sites, taking the better cashback on offer and then you can donate that. If you can use gift aid, the charity will get even more :money:

Edit: Actually it's just an affiliate site that uses the energylinx comparison site
Using the special MSE links you can get up to £34 cashback from energylinx and donate that to the charity entirely of your choice (as opposed to the limited options available from that other spammy site)
(or give the charity £22 and keep £12 for yourself)

Consumerist

Ted+ wrote: »

I'm a regular energy switcher and normally go for cash back offers. I've been told about a site that gives money back but donates it to a local charity I can choose. I like the idea, has anyone tried it?

I haven't tried it but it doesn't sound particularly attractive, anyway.

Consumerist

Wywth wrote: »

. . . Actually it's just an affiliate site that uses the energylinx comparison site
Using the special MSE links you can get up to £34 cashback from energylinx and donate that to the charity entirely of your choice (as opposed to the limited options available from that other spammy site)
(or give the charity £22 and keep £12 for yourself)

Quite agree.

And there will be no proof that your donation has been made by the site; you'll have to take their word for it. Otherwise it may be included in a block donation which may or may not represent the full "cashback" due.

liver-bird

Whenever I put my details into an energy comparison site - MSE, uswitch, etc - it says I can save up to £79 per year so it recommends I switch supplier.

However, it does not take into account the fact that Atlantic (my current supplier) gives you a refund of your monthly gas and electricity payments once per year, thereby cancelling out any saving.

I have now switched my Cheap Energy Club profile to only alert me when the saving is £100pa, but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this and if any sites actually take this into account?

I think I must therefore be on the cheapest deal, in effect, although it doesn't feel like it at times!

Wywth

liver-bird wrote: »

Whenever I put my details into an energy comparison site - MSE, uswitch, etc - it says I can save up to £79 per year so it recommends I switch supplier.

However, it does not take into account the fact that Atlantic (my current supplier) gives you a refund of your monthly gas and electricity payments once per year, thereby cancelling out any saving.

I have now switched my Cheap Energy Club profile to only alert me when the saving is £100pa, but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this and if any sites actually take this into account?

I think I must therefore be on the cheapest deal, in effect, although it doesn't feel like it at times!

Are you sure?

Moneysupermarket.com (which the CEC uses to get its data from) has a 8.33% discount built into the few Atlantic tariffs that still offer the 13th month loyalty bonus (not many do any more, and those that do are being withdrawn shortly as it doesn't conform to new guidelines)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4739863

Also I don't think you are probably on the cheapest tariff anyway if you are with Atlantic.

If you tell us your current atlantic tariff, your anticipated annual usage in kWh for gas & electricity, (and the percentage of low rate electricity used if on E7) and your supply region, then I'm sure someone will double-check for you

Consumerist

liver-bird wrote: »

Whenever I put my details into an energy comparison site - MSE, uswitch, etc - it says I can save up to £79 per year so it recommends I switch supplier.

However, it does not take into account the fact that Atlantic (my current supplier) gives you a refund of your monthly gas and electricity payments once per year, thereby cancelling out any saving.

All sites are supposed to include any monetary discounts included in tariffs. My advice would be to disregard any "savings" claimed by comparison sites and just compare the annual estimated costs across the market.

liver-bird

Wywth wrote: »

Are you sure?

Moneysupermarket.com (which the CEC uses to get its data from) has a 8.33% discount built into the few Atlantic tariffs that still offer the 13th month loyalty bonus (not many do any more, and those that do are being withdrawn shortly as it doesn't conform to new guidelines)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4739863

Also I don't think you are probably on the cheapest tariff anyway if you are with Atlantic.

If you tell us your current atlantic tariff, your anticipated annual usage in kWh for gas & electricity, (and the percentage of low rate electricity used if on E7) and your supply region, then I'm sure someone will double-check for you

I haven't had a letter from Atlantic saying that it'll end, though the link you provided was useful and I'll certainly look out for it. Thanks.

I tried the moneysupermarket one and my current stated cost comes up as £912 which is 12 x my monthly cost, so it doesn't seem to take it into account.

That's not to say there aren't still savings, I know!

At the moment I pay £43 pcm for gas and £33 for elec. I live in Merseyside. (No E7)

MS came up with the best saving from firt:utility (then M&S) so I might have to look into them a bit more! My loyalty refund is usually Nov/Dec so it might be better to do this after that but I'll see if it's mentioned on their site that it's ending.

Cheers

chris_aaaaa

Sorry to be lazy, there are a hundred pages and I cannot think of a good search term to see if this is answered here already.

Does the comparison tool on this, or any, site take account of the end of the current fix and subsequent switch to the standard rate tariff?

My Scottish power fix runs up to the end of the year and is the cheapest right now, but if I put in the standard Scottish power tariff no surprise there are lots of cheaper deals.

My guess is that 3 months on a good deal and 9 months on a penalty rate for a years comparison should be beaten by many of the offers, unless I got a really good deal (
Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014 (No Standing Charge)