Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

Gerry1

Agreed, I've previously said that Neon Reef is a sister company of UP who have dismal ratings.  The point I was making is that the CEC doesn't show all suppliers (despite its claims) and it hides some results if you're with the same supplier, so it doesn't always alert you to a better deal.  It's no longer quite the fearless consumer champion it claims to be.

I'm not too worried if Neon Reef go bust, it's happened before with GB Energy and I wasn't left out of pocket.  However, I agree that having umpteen companies going bust isn't good overall because the tab is picked up by all the other companies, to the detriment of customers who are still with their legacy supplier from Gas Board days or who find themselves taken over by a SoLR with eye watering prices.

If Ofgem were any good we wouldn't have any of this nonsense...

accorian

Gerry1 said:

• All you needed to dig out were the meter readings from 12 months ago: you should be taking monthly readings anyway, so you don't even need to dig out the bills.  In any case the annual consumption figures on the bill are often estimated and way, way out; far better to see exactly what you used in the last 12 months.
• Not a good idea to rely on the CEC. It misses out cheap suppliers such as Neon Reef, and it hides cheaper Avro tariffs if you are already with Avro; sadly, it can no longer be trusted.  Far better to use several, including Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?' because they show all suppliers and don't default to suppliers that pay them commission.
• Not a good idea to avoid smaller suppliers.  They have to have better deals than the big boys, and many of their tariffs don't have exit fees.
• Not a good idea to use a supplier who pays referral fees.  Who do you think pays that £100? YOU do !

I'm sorry, I fail to see the sense in what you're saying. Who/what on earth is Neon Reef? And why should I trust it? Who else does? How many, and for how long have they been doing so? The energy market is littered with the corpses of small suppliers of little  provenance (or even, none at all) and only minimal financial resources. If others want to take the risk of signing up with them, fair enough. But it's hardly a  course of action to be sensibly recommended..

"Smaller suppliers have to have better deals than the big boys": have you thought that through? Smaller suppliers, lacking the customer base and resources of "the big boys", cannot in practice have the better deals. All they can do is make wild and unsubstantiated offers before collapsing amidst a sea of complaints about mis-billings or no billings at all; we've seen it time and time again here on MSE over the years.

As to your observation about supplier referral fees: er, the customer pays for everything in every sector, it's how businesses survive. All Bulb has done is, as I said, decide not to allocate a ton of money each year to an advertising and marketing budget but to put a significant proportion of that spend into direct customer acquisition, relying thereafter on its ability to offer a great service so as to ensure customer retention.

If you want to know how substantial an advertising spend can be, check out the rate cards of national print media and commercial TV advertising. You'll soon see that £100s of £0000s can be spent quickly and easily, money which-- if you were absolutely sure of the quality of your product -- you could have directly invested in consolidating your existing customer base and expanding it. Referrer payments and new business payments work pretty well for businesses like Bulb and, as another example, Nationwide; the only folks who lose out are the giant ad agencies and Press and TV media sellers.

JJ_Egan

Good to see you are well on top of cheaper fuel .

Gerry1

accorian said:

"Smaller suppliers have to have better deals than the big boys": have you thought that through? Smaller suppliers, lacking the customer base and resources of "the big boys", cannot in practice have the better deals.

Yes, I've definitely thought it through.

Smaller Suppliers: Gulf gas £736.66 plus Neon Reef electricity £303.71, total £1040.37

Big Boys: Bulb gas £926.04 plus Bulb electricity £395.39, total £1321.43

I'd say that saving £310.63 was definitely the better deal !  But each to their own...

Rosa_Damascena

Gerry1 said:

accorian said:

"Smaller suppliers have to have better deals than the big boys": have you thought that through? Smaller suppliers, lacking the customer base and resources of "the big boys", cannot in practice have the better deals.

Yes, I've definitely thought it through.

Smaller Suppliers: Gulf gas £736.66 plus Neon Reef electricity £303.71, total £1040.37

Big Boys: Bulb gas £926.04 plus Bulb electricity £395.39, total £1321.43

I'd say that saving £310.63 was definitely the better deal !  But each to their own...

Just be aware that Bulb Vari-fair prices are going up in April. Does the CEC take this into account?

bristolleedsfan

accorian said:

Gerry1 said:

• All you needed to dig out were the meter readings from 12 months ago: you should be taking monthly readings anyway, so you don't even need to dig out the bills.  In any case the annual consumption figures on the bill are often estimated and way, way out; far better to see exactly what you used in the last 12 months.
• Not a good idea to rely on the CEC. It misses out cheap suppliers such as Neon Reef, and it hides cheaper Avro tariffs if you are already with Avro; sadly, it can no longer be trusted.  Far better to use several, including Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?' because they show all suppliers and don't default to suppliers that pay them commission.
• Not a good idea to avoid smaller suppliers.  They have to have better deals than the big boys, and many of their tariffs don't have exit fees.
• Not a good idea to use a supplier who pays referral fees.  Who do you think pays that £100? YOU do !

I'm sorry, I fail to see the sense in what you're saying. Who/what on earth is Neon Reef? And why should I trust it? Who else does? How many, and for how long have they been doing so? The energy market is littered with the corpses of small suppliers of little  provenance (or even, none at all) and only minimal financial resources. If others want to take the risk of signing up with them, fair enough. But it's hardly a  course of action to be sensibly recommended..

"Smaller suppliers have to have better deals than the big boys": have you thought that through? Smaller suppliers, lacking the customer base and resources of "the big boys", cannot in practice have the better deals. All they can do is make wild and unsubstantiated offers before collapsing amidst a sea of complaints about mis-billings or no billings at all; we've seen it time and time again here on MSE over the years.

As to your observation about supplier referral fees: er, the customer pays for everything in every sector, it's how businesses survive. All Bulb has done is, as I said, decide not to allocate a ton of money each year to an advertising and marketing budget but to put a significant proportion of that spend into direct customer acquisition, relying thereafter on its ability to offer a great service so as to ensure customer retention.

If you want to know how substantial an advertising spend can be, check out the rate cards of national print media and commercial TV advertising. You'll soon see that £100s of £0000s can be spent quickly and easily, money which-- if you were absolutely sure of the quality of your product -- you could have directly invested in consolidating your existing customer base and expanding it. Referrer payments and new business payments work pretty well for businesses like Bulb and, as another example, Nationwide; the only folks who lose out are the giant ad agencies and Press and TV media sellers.

Bulb have been advertising on TV as well as prior to recent changes paying out £100 for single fuel switches via refer a friend as well as paying exit penalties

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=BULB+TV+ADVERTS

angelphish74

I’m already on a British Gas tariff with heating insurance that came with cash back via MSE CEC. Thinking of switching to their new tariff. Does anyone know

if BG waive exit fees if you’re staying with them but switching to a different tariff

if I would still get another round of cashback

if I would get another 12m of free heating insurance and if I’d need to cancel the original free heating insurance

thanks

manic

angelphish74 said:

I’m already on a British Gas tariff with heating insurance that came with cash back via MSE CEC. Thinking of switching to their new tariff. Does anyone know

if BG waive exit fees if you’re staying with them but switching to a different tariff

if I would still get another round of cashback

if I would get another 12m of free heating insurance and if I’d need to cancel the original free heating insurance

thanks

I would be interested to know this too. I have just gone through the energy club to switch to the new tariff, which was over £140 a year cheaper than the one that I was on.

JJ_Egan

Is that actual or just based upon an estimated direct debit ?

Generally that sort of saving is not true unless you have been paying over the odds .

manic

JJ_Egan said:

Is that actual or just based upon an estimated direct debit ?

Generally that sort of saving is not true unless you have been paying over the odds .

Sorry, a bit misleading, the new BG tariff is a saving of £140 (actual - worked out from the last 12 month usage) + £25 cashback. £200 was to switch to a small supplier, with no feedback, which would definitely attract the £60 exit fees. (I have edited my post to clear it up)
The questions that angelphish74 asked all remain to be answered.
If they don't waive the exit fees, and cashback isn't paid, then I'm still paying less than the tariff that I was on by £55