Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

victor2

mnewton wrote: »

...please remember when all the providers are quoting £1230 or £1240 or £1300 a year it does not include the standing charge...

You've wasted your evening. All comparison sites do include the standing charge where applicable. The figures would be meaningless otherwise.
Put your own tariff and actual annual usage in kWh into a comparison site. The figure for your own actual annual cost will be surprisingly accurate - and it includes EDF's standing charge.

However, as some other posters have pointed out elsewhere, look into taking your supplies individually if you really want to cut costs, rather than a dual fuel tariff. It can actually work out cheaper, if you're prepared to have two separate accounts to deal with.

Dewpoint

It's all very well MSE advocating new "efficient" central heating boilers, but the experience of many people is that they are now so sophisticated and complex that servicing charges are high and reliability is low.
I have a gas boiler that was installed with the house in 1984. It consists of a gas valve, a cast-iron combustion chamber, a pilot light and a thermocouple. It needed a replacement gas valve about 10 years ago and since then it has worked faultlessly. There is little or nothing to service, little to go wrong.

DragonQ

Dewpoint wrote: »

It's all very well MSE advocating new "efficient" central heating boilers, but the experience of many people is that they are now so sophisticated and complex that servicing charges are high and reliability is low.
I have a gas boiler that was installed with the house in 1984. It consists of a gas valve, a cast-iron combustion chamber, a pilot light and a thermocouple. It needed a replacement gas valve about 10 years and since then it has worked faultlessly. There is little or nothing to service, little to go wrong.

The same is true about cars. Would this stop you buying a new car?

momist

Dewpoint wrote: »

It's all very well MSE advocating new "efficient" central heating boilers, but the experience of many people is that they are now so sophisticated and complex that servicing charges are high and reliability is low.
I have a gas boiler that was installed with the house in 1984. It consists of a gas valve, a cast-iron combustion chamber, a pilot light and a thermocouple. It needed a replacement gas valve about 10 years and since then it has worked faultlessly. There is little or nothing to service, little to go wrong.

+1.

Mine dates from the late 1960's, and was converted to natural gas in the 70's. It's worked without problems since then as far as I can tell. I had to replace the flame failure thermocouple once though, a standard part from B&Q.

I have read (from a less than reliable source though) that most condensing boilers used for old heating systems never reach their increased efficiency anyway, as to do so the heating must run at a lower temperature than normal, and have a >20C degree drop on the return, which would not be achievable on my system without completely re-plumbing the whole house. So, more than ten years to pay back, and many unknown repair bills during that time? I don't think so. Lets see how much longer it lasts as it is.

Nada666

mnewton wrote: »

I spent a whole evening comparing various gas & electricity suppliers with dual fuel tariffs.... the cheapest per kwh for gas and leccy is First Utility but the catch? their standing charge prices for both elec and gas are much higher therefore pushing up the overall price(and they dont give discount)...please remember when all the providers are quoting £1230 or £1240 or £1300 a year it does not include the standing charge which can significantly push up your overall cost. the best overall provider is EDF the gas kwh is a penny higher than most but the standing charge is 25p a day(£91.25 a year) and the leccy is 18p a day(£65.70 a year).......and you get dual fuel and direct debit discounts....... have used them for 3 years and no problems at all.. customer service 10/10..... :T

You wasted a whole evening. You do not choose a tariff by selecting the one with the lowest price per kWh. Providers and comparison sites do include standing charges in quotes. You do not restricty yourself to looking for only dual fuel tariffs. First Utility tariffs can be cheaper than EDF tariffs for many (if not most) customers. And their (FU's) current standing charges are certainly not particularly high (they are lower than the typical charge - these may vary by region, though.)

You are correct that standing charges do vary wildly and you should take note of them - some suppliers will demand more than £300 for dual standing charges on some tariffs (Co-op, npower). Others only £40 (npower) (npower appear in both? Don't ask.)

It does not take 'a whole evening' to check prices. It takes less than two minutes, five minutes if you want to dig more closely at the results.

Your marks out of ten for reader service... 3/10 .... (and you're only getting two of those marks because we have to be nice to new posters.)

Nada666

WarrenBunny wrote: »

I've applied to change suppliers this evening. now I'm worried that I've done the right thing because I've elected to switch from B Gas who have increased their tarrif to E.On who hasn't. HELP!

Most of the cheaper Eon tariffs are one year fixes. Did you overlook all those and move to the most expensive variable tariff? They also have some two year fixes.

Dewpoint

DragonQ wrote: »

The same is true about cars. Would this stop you buying a new car?

Cars are generally a bad investment, especially if you buy new. Heating (in the UK anyway) is essential. I prefer to buy a reliable one in the first place and run it until it expires or becomes unreliable. I don't change it every time a new model is released even if it offers slightly more fuel efficiency, has more bells & whistles etc. - false economy, and it ends up costing you much more than you save.

roubiliac

Frankie56 wrote: »

I signed up to switch from nPower standard tariff to their Fixed April 2015 about a month ago. I received an email shortly after thanking me for changing and it would all be set up soon. A fortnight later, my online account was still showing the standard tariff so I emailed them. Just received a reply confirming I am still on the standard tariff and they have no record that I asked to change. Have forwarded the confirmation email I received so hope they do sort it.

In October I signed up on line to the 2017 fix


I too got a confirmation email


I subsequently got a further email apologising for the delay and that to be assured it would all be back dated


Today I got the email you've had, telling me it never happened.


Incandescent with rage I've copied all my correspondence to them and telling them, as far as I'm concerned that's a confirmed contract and I will take further action if they do not confirm and back date my new tariff.

Doc_N

Dewpoint wrote: »

It's all very well MSE advocating new "efficient" central heating boilers, but the experience of many people is that they are now so sophisticated and complex that servicing charges are high and reliability is low.
I have a gas boiler that was installed with the house in 1984. It consists of a gas valve, a cast-iron combustion chamber, a pilot light and a thermocouple. It needed a replacement gas valve about 10 years ago and since then it has worked faultlessly. There is little or nothing to service, little to go wrong.

With direct experience of both, I'd totally agree with you. Our old boiler rarely needed any attention at all, and if it did it was just a few pounds for a replacement thermocouple.

The new one, however, a Worcester Bosch (the most reliable, according to Which?) has needed three repairs in just 5 years. Each of those repairs involved failed electronic parts costing around £200 each + labour. If that's typical of Worcester Bosch, goodness only knows what the less reliable boilers are like!

momist

DragonQ wrote: »

The same is true about cars. Would this stop you buying a new car?

Actually, I've bought new cars twice in my life. The first was actually nearly a year old, and ex demonstration, but I was the first registered owner. That lasted me over thirteen years. The second I bought four+ years ago, and I expect it to last me at least another ten as it's a diesel and I do far fewer miles these days. That was new, as I had to wait several weeks for it to be completed at the factory in France. However, it was an out-going model at a totally brilliant price to be cleared. I had no choice of colour.

GPO telephone equipment had a "design life" of twenty five years. Depending on where you live, some of these components are still operating more than 50 years later. Well designed wooden furniture easily outstrips that lifetime, my dining chairs were built by a country bodger over 100 years ago. What a tragedy for the planet that this principal was abandoned, and now our condensing gas boilers last no longer than the chipboard and flame retardant sofa you buy now and pay later, and again later, and again later, and again later, and again later.