Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

Premier_2

linni wrote: »

I am with Ebico for gas 3.59 kwh (approx 7500kwh per year) and Brit Gas Essentials for electricity 14.193 & 9.348 kwh (3075kwh per year), quarterly online billing. I am looking for the cheapest but cant use the comparison websites because they dont compare the essentials tariff. I would like to know who is the cheapest. Can anyone tell me what is the quickest way to work out the comparisons? I am sure I saw it somewhere but cant find it.

The comparison sites do not show social tariffs as they are not available to all.

If you want to compare your electricity tariff against others that are universally available, just pick any tariff and input the annual consumption figures in kwh. Ignore the savings figure, as that will obviously be wrong, but look at the actual annual cost the comparison site says it will be and compare this to your actual annual cost on the BG Essentials tariff.

If you want to compare against suppliers social tariffs, you'll need to phone each comapany individually to enquire. Social tariffs are not generally published as not everyone is eligible. Eligibility criteria also varies from company to company.

Premier_2

bobbybee2 wrote: »

Appologies if someoe has already asked this, but what's to stop people continuely changing provider and bagging £30 for each change? (i.e. several times per year)...

Usually nothing.

As well as the issues you mentioned, note that some switching sites only pay cashback once per household.

Of course switching to a supplier for £30 (equivilent to £180 per year in your suggested example of multiple switching) may be false economy if the supplier you switch to is more expensive.

linni

I am not too bothered about social tarrifs (I get DLA) but I thought I read somewhere to estimate the cost, you could times the kwh by 38 or something, because it takes me ages to work it all out properly for all the different companies as well as the two different tariffs for some of them and then discounts for dual fuel etc..

harryhound

Premier wrote: »

Usually nothing.

As well as the issues you mentioned, note that some switching sites only pay cashback once per household.

Of course switching to a supplier for £30 (equivilent to £180 per year in your suggested example of multiple switching) may be false economy if the supplier you switch to is more expensive.

or if you spend hours on the email/phone because the two firms screw up the transfer.

Premier_2

linni wrote: »

I am not too bothered about social tarrifs (I get DLA) but I thought I read somewhere to estimate the cost, you could times the kwh by 38 or something, because it takes me ages to work it all out properly for all the different companies as well as the two different tariffs for some of them and then discounts for dual fuel etc..

To roughly calculate the kWh (which is the unit the companies charge at) from a gas meter you need to multiply the units recorded by about 32.5 for an imperial meter or about 11.5 for a metric meter.

Electricity is easy because the meter records kWh.

Then obviously you need to mutiply the kWh by the price per kWh the supplier charges.

... but it's not usually as simple as that. There may be 2 tier pricing (e.g. instead of a standing charge) and there may be other discounts allowable e.g. payment by DD, prompt payment, etc. Ebico is the only company where you can simply multiply the kWh used by the unit price to get an accurate figure. That is partly why the comparison sites exist, as they will take into account all the hidden costs & discounts the other suppliers try to confuse you with.

gratefulone

Premier wrote: »

.....Ebico is the only company where you can simply multiply the kWh used by the unit price to get an accurate figure. That is partly why the comparison sites exist, as they will take into account all the hidden costs & discounts the other suppliers try to confuse you with.

Have been on the comparison sites and Ebico equidual comes up cheapest all the time for me (currently with Eon on price protection v16 dual fuel tariff). Is Ebico a good company to deal with? Customer service ratings do not seem to give any useful information through the comparison sites. Would be interested to learn of fellow MSE'ers experiences with Ebico. Thanks

onthecase

Could anyone help please?

My son is to move into a brand new 2 bed flat, all electric.

As he's not been a previous customer of anyone, how does he know who would be cheapest and how do you do it online if you're not switching?

Thanks!

Premier_2

gratefulone wrote: »

Have been on the comparison sites and Ebico equidual comes up cheapest all the time for me (currently with Eon on price protection v16 dual fuel tariff). Is Ebico a good company to deal with? Customer service ratings do not seem to give any useful information through the comparison sites. Would be interested to learn of fellow MSE'ers experiences with Ebico. Thanks

Ebico customer service is usually provided by Scottish & Southern (SSE), Ebico's licenced supply partner. SSE are generally considered one of it not the best out of the big six for customer service. (see the comments on the price comparison sites for SSE)

What's more, you have a second line of attack should a problem not be resolved. i.e. contact Ebico directly. There is even an official company representative of Ebico (Lauren) who regularly posts on this forum now.

Cookiepops

Im with Scottish power and my bills are ridiculous. So, I did a search on a few different sites and top ones for me are all with Eon or npower.

What are these companies like and should I switch? I'll be saving at most £170 per year.

Thanks!!

linni

Thank you Premier that is what I was looking for.