Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

bristolleedsfan

Sarge786 said:

Hi all, new here, not sure I'm posting in correct place but a question,  I've just ordered a fully electric car  what is the best energy company and tariff to be on for this?  I am prepared to switch both gas and electricity over. Also I do use electricity most of the daytime too.

I know its bad as I've been with British Gas for gas and EDF (London Electricity in the old days) for past 38 years on their standard tariffs ...eek!

Many thanks 

https://octopus.energy/go/

https://octopus.energy/agile/

Both are Smart Meter Electricity Tariffs, Gas would go on a 12 Month fixed rate tariff, unless you fancied  https://octopus.energy/tracker/  for Gas

Consumerist

Sarge786 said:

Hi all, new here, not sure I'm posting in correct place but a question,  I've just ordered a fully electric car  what is the best energy company and tariff to be on for this?  I am prepared to switch both gas and electricity over. Also I do use electricity most of the daytime too.

Your best bet, to start with, is probably to visit one or more energy comparison sites to see which supplier(s) are cheapest for your region based on your annual consumption.

Use your bills from the recent past to find your estimated annual gas and electricity usage in kWh and enter those numbers into the comparison tool.

A good start might be to visit <Citizens Advice energy comparison tool> to get a good overview of tariffs available.

You could also try <MSE's Cheap Energy Club> which will also  give you a heads up about any suppliers which are giving cause for concern.

Talldave

Consumerist said:

Sarge786 said:

Hi all, new here, not sure I'm posting in correct place but a question,  I've just ordered a fully electric car  what is the best energy company and tariff to be on for this?  I am prepared to switch both gas and electricity over. Also I do use electricity most of the daytime too.

Your best bet, to start with, is probably to visit one or more energy comparison sites to see which supplier(s) are cheapest for your region based on your annual consumption.

Use your bills from the recent past to find your estimated annual gas and electricity usage in kWh and enter those numbers into the comparison tool.

The arrival of an electric car completely blows that approach out of the water?

Sarge786

If it helps I'm in London,  My electricity use is 4718kwh annum (before New EV car comes), and Gas 5370kwh per annum based on past year.

Sarge786

I've not come across anything about tarriffs favouring EV's on the energy club.

Stompa

There may be some useful info here:

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/transport/electric-cars-and-vehicles/electricity-tariffs-electric-vehicles

Consumerist

Talldave said:

The arrival of an electric car completely blows that approach out of the water?

Well, not completely, I would think.

Your annual gas usage shouldn't be affected by charging an EV.

The increase in electricity usage will depend on how much you use the car and, at this point, you won't have much idea.

The best you can probably do for the moment is take a guess of the increased electricity usage and refine the guess in future years. It's not much different to the dilemma faced by people who have recently moved into a new property.

In any event, you are likely to be able to save a couple of hundred pounds per annum by switching supplier. If you get it a bit wrong this year, you'll be able to do better next year.

murphydavid

I believe that on average; if always charging at home; the cost of electric is likely to be £8.50 for every 200 miles you drive.
So if you do say 10,000 miles per year which is what I average in my petrol car it will cost you in the region of £36 per month. (hope my maths are good)
Maybe a bit more if you use the air con or heater a lot.
So if you want to do a comparison add that to your current bill.
As an aside the government collects tax at a rate of about 55p per litre of liquid fuel. That amounts to a lot of revenue. If electric cars really take off as Diesel did some time ago its only logical to assume they will need to recoup consequential losses. It will be interesting to see how they do that and still take it preferentially from motorists with refueling becoming inexorably linked to home energy.
Note I say I believe because there is so much hype from people with various agendas that its hard to determine the truth at the moment. IMO we need a critical mass of electric car owners before we can be sure.

Gerry1

murphydavid said:

I believe that on average; if always charging at home; the cost of electric (sic) is likely to be £8.50 for every 200 miles you drive.

D'oh !  Lots of clangers there.  Just as petrol cars have MPG figures that vary (clue: a Smart car won't be the same as a Humvee), a typical figure for an EV might be 3.5 miles/kWh but obviously that may not apply in the OP's case.

If your EV returns 3.5 miles/kWh and you pay 8p/kWh to charge it, 200 miles would cost £4.57, not £8.50.

But the real howler is to advise doing a comparison and then adding on a ££ amount based on an arbitrary miles/kWh figure and an arbitrary cost per kWh ! That really defeats the whole point of doing a comparison.

murphydavid said:

So if you do say 10,000 miles per year which is what I average in my petrol car it will cost you in the region of £36 per month. (hope my maths are good)

No, your maths are waaaay out.   At 3.5 miles/kWh and 8p/kWh it would be about £229 per year or £19 per month.

murphydavid said:

As an aside the government collects tax at a rate of about 55p per litre of liquid fuel.

Wrong again.  There's 20% VAT on the basic price of petrol, plus Fuel Duty of 57.95 pence per litre, but there's also VAT on top of the Fuel Duty.  So if the pump price is 117.9p, the base price was only about 40p.

Consumerist

murphydavid said:

. . . If electric cars really take off as Diesel did some time ago its only logical to assume they will need to recoup consequential losses. It will be interesting to see how they do that and still take it preferentially from motorists with refueling becoming inexorably linked to home energy.

An interesting point. It seems to me that VED (road tax) is likely to be used in the long run. The system is already in place so will be easy to extend.