Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

creddish

Perry525 wrote: »

However well insulated a building is, it still looses heat at a steady rate during cold weather.
You can understand that heating a building overnight, and hoping the heat will remain through the next day and into the evening, is asking for more than a typical UK building can do.


The thing about electrical resistance heating is, that you get 100% of the heat you are paying for, exactly where you want it to be. There are no transport losses. With the aid of two thermostats and a cheap timer, you can keep a room comfortably warm. (Providing the room is insulated to a reasonable standard.) Keeping in mind, the room size, how well insulated it is, how much heat you are adding. A typical room, 4 x 4 x 2.4m with a typical window can be heated with 2kw fire.


Some 50 years ago, I kept a one bedroom flat in Teddington, Middx comfortably warm using two 500 watt bowl fires, placed in the center of the room, they were on 24/7 over two years and kept the flat at 22[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C. On, meaning they were switched on all the time, but of course they were only actually hot for a small amount of the time, being controlled by the thermostats. With electric heating, there is no heat loss up the chimney, or heat loss transporting heat via pipes, or by exhaust gasses, you simply get the heat where you need it, when you need it. Probably a quartz radiant heater or two will solve your problem.[/FONT]

But as per kWH electricity costs more than twice the cost of gas doesn't this cancel out any benefit from the 100% conversion efficiency of electricity?


Colin

victor2

This is rapidly heading into the age-old discussion of "is it cheaper to leave the heating on all the time, rather than just when you want to warm up"!
Just search this forum for the many threads on that topic...;)

Perry525

Our first Christmas was shared between our parents homes.


On our return home our flat it was cold, and it took three days and two nights to warm up again to a comfortable 22[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C[/FONT]. At that point, I decided to never turn the heating off again. Regardless of where we have lived, the heating has been switched on the day we arrived and turned off the day we left.


The issue is entirely one of comfort and quality of life.


One understands that ,the wider the difference between the temperatures indoors and out, the greater the heat loss per hour, however, topping up a half degree drop only takes a few minutes. After you have allowed a home to get cold, it takes a long time and a great deal of expensive heat for the walls, floors, ceilings, furniture and fittings to reach a comfortable temperature again.


I can see no reason why I should ever feel cold indoors.


Yesterday, is a good example, it reached 16.1[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C outdoors, indoors with the help of the sun, it got up to 35.2[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C and remained above 22[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C until 1.10am Sunday. Our heating didn't come on between 8.05am Saturday to 6.30am Sunday. At this moment it is 22.4[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]°[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C on the coffee table beside me.[/FONT]

vickstar66

I am £180 in debt to British Gas but my fixed tarrif is due to expire, is it still worth switching suppliers?

victor2

vickstar66 wrote: »

I am £180 in debt to British Gas but my fixed tarrif is due to expire, is it still worth switching suppliers?

You'll have to clear the debt when you switch. If you can do that and start afresh with a new supplier, then you probably will find a cheaper one through a comparison site.

footyguy

vickstar66 wrote: »

I am £180 in debt to British Gas but my fixed tarrif is due to expire, is it still worth switching suppliers?

Are you really in debt?

Are you not on a pay monthly by DD tariff? If so, unlikley you are in debt to the existing supplier

You are only in debt if the supplier has billed you 28 days or more ago and you haven't paid that bill
(If you pay monthly, you only usually get a statement, not a bill or a demand for payment)

More info here
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_energy_supply_e/problems_switching_energy_suppliers/you_cant_switch_energy_supplier_because_of_a_debt.htm

creddish

Users who are currently on the Scottish Power Online Fixed Price Energy March 2015 tariff can make savings by transferring to the Scottish Power Online Fixed Price Energy July 2015 tariff. The savings are relatively small, about £30 pa on a current annual bill of £1700 in my case. However, there is the potential benefit of no exit charges on the July 2015 tariff whereas the March 2015 tariff has a £50 Exit Fee to switch to another supplier (the Exit Fee does not apply to transfers within Scottish Power charge). There is also the advantage of an extra 4 months on the July 2015 tariff.


The transfer can be done during a 5 min phone call using the number 0800 027 0072. I did mine today.

Colin

Edit: Have your current meter readings handy when you call.

0148tman

hi I have been using the energy saving club for a while now and have just noticed when you get a quote from them there are a couple of things that people may want to look a bit closer at

1. when you get a quote do they take into account the difference in the standing charges?

As i compared my mums, who is with ms energy it does not run out for 5 months so there is a penalty. i looked at the choices carefully and the top one, first utility is cheaper on their energy prices but their daily standing charge is a lot higher so there does not seem to be much of a difference.

2. also i noticed the savings quoted are based on the fact that if you are on a cheap tariff now and the tariff runs out in, say a month, that you are not going to swap as soon as that tariff runs out. So it then basis its calculations on you then going onto the company's standard tariff -
Hence 1 month @ cheap rates + 11 months @ high rates compared to 12 months @ cheap rates.

Which is clearly shown but could easily be missed.
Surely it should compare 12 months at your present rates and 12 months on the quoted rates and give a warning that if you don't swap before your present rate changes you may end up on the company's basic rate.

Consumerist

There have been reports of "teething troubles" with CEC recently so best advice is to go to an Ofgem-accredited comparison site for the comparison then switch via CEC if you prefer it.

footyguy

0148tman wrote: »

hi I have been using the energy saving club for a while now and have just noticed when you get a quote from them there are a couple of things that people may want to look a bit closer at

1. when you get a quote do they take into account the difference in the standing charges?

As i compared my mums, who is with ms energy it does not run out for 5 months so there is a penalty. i looked at the choices carefully and the top one, first utility is cheaper on their energy prices but their daily standing charge is a lot higher so there does not seem to be much of a difference.

2. also i noticed the savings quoted are based on the fact that if you are on a cheap tariff now and the tariff runs out in, say a month, that you are not going to swap as soon as that tariff runs out. So it then basis its calculations on you then going onto the company's standard tariff -
Hence 1 month @ cheap rates + 11 months @ high rates compared to 12 months @ cheap rates.

Which is clearly shown but could easily be missed.
Surely it should compare 12 months at your present rates and 12 months on the quoted rates and give a warning that if you don't swap before your present rate changes you may end up on the company's basic rate.

In answer to the question posed in the thread title - yes of course!

Standing charges are not the same as early exit charges. I doubt early exit charges are taken into account in the output given to you ... they are not in any comparison site I am aware of.

In regards to weighted results (which takes into account the fact you cannot stay on the same tariff as you are currently on) and standard results (which assumes you can stay on the same tariff, even though that is impossible), then you can probably understand the pro's and con's of both approaches.

I know energyhelpline allows you to choose the result you want to see.
I don't know whether or not the CEC does give you a choice of output.

Of course, whichever output you choose, it does not affect the annual cost of the proposed tariffs ... just the savings it's indicates.