Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

mmillie

I am changing from e.on to first utility at the moment, and the price comparison sites say I can save about £150 a year by doing that. While looking in to the details though, first utility's costs on the comparison site include a 12.5% annual discount for being on Dual Fuel, and a £20/year discount for submitting at least one reading per quarter, both of which are paid at the end of the year.

That means that if I decide to switch again in 12 months time, I'll have paid the prices advertised on the comparison sites. But, if I switch in 364 days time, I'll not get the 12.5% discount- about £200, and I'll not get my £20 for submitting my own readings, meaning that it will actually cost me £70 more than my current provider.

I only specifically mention first utility because they are the ones I am currently switching to. If you look, you will see that they are not the only ones to do this trick. E.on offer a 17.5% annual discount, npower offer a £105/year discount, and so on. It seems to be endemic.

I think that this article should be updated to point out that you may be worse off switching if you are not switching close to the anniversary of signing up with your provider - in fact if you switch every time Martin puts up a "Switch Now" notice, you will potentially never qualify for the advertised prices, and end up costing yourself a whole lot more than if you stuck with your original provider and qualified for their annual discounts.

Personally, I'd like to see the comparison sites include a field for when you last changed provider so that that missed discount can be taken in to account in the comparison - but of course that's not in the interests of the comparison sites who just want you to switch, or in the interests of the fuel companies who want you to miss out on the discount, so it's not very likely to happen is it?

Martin

NonGeographicalMan

mmillie wrote: »

I only specifically mention first utility because they are the ones I am currently switching to. If you look, you will see that they are not the only ones to do this trick. E.on offer a 17.5% annual discount, npower offer a £105/year discount, and so on. It seems to be endemic.

Eon actually pro-rata the discount across the year and pay it to you for every day you are with them, even if you leave after only 2 months, or at least that is what they do on their Save Online tariff. I don't about their fixed rate tariffs.

By contrast Npower and First Utility do only apply the discount once a year at the end of the year so if you leave any other time than at the end of month 12, month 24 etc you lose out heavily.

Given the high cashbacks paid by Eon and Scottish Power at present via https://www.topcashback.co.uk (£62 and £90 respectively) for switching to them on Dual Fuel I am beginning to wonder if I could keep shuttling between the two of them every six weeks and pick up another £600 or so in cashback a year. Although I expect somewhere there should be a rule that you shouldn't have been a customer before any time in the last 12 months. However click thru cashback websites are quite simple animals and are not always that clever so may be cashback every time you switch really is possible?

mmillie

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Eon actually pro-rata the discount across the year and pay it to you for every day you are with them, even if you leave after only 2 months, or at least that is what they do on their Save Online tariff. I don't about their fixed rate tariffs.

By contrast Npower and First Utility do only apply the discount once a year at the end of the year so if you leave any other time than at the end of month 12, month 24 etc you lose out heavily.

That's a good tip. Thanks for that. I might just stay with e.on instead of switching to first utility, and forego the slightly cheaper possible charges for the flexibility to leave any time without loosing all of my discount.

I still think that there should be a warning about this in the article.

Martin

KimYeovil

If you leave E-on after only two months you will receive a discount of zero on all your consumption. E-on do take the discounts off each bill as you go along but they do not give you any discounts on your final bill.

Atlantic also have an annual-only discount. (But the annual discounts are not exactly "hidden").

Unfortunately Scottish Power do seem to give any number of cashbacks to serial switchers. It is a deeply corrupt practice. I have received free gas and electricity over a fifteen month period plus a three figure sum of cash on top of that.

NonGeographicalMan

KimYeovil wrote: »

Unfortunately Scottish Power do seem to give any number of cashbacks to serial switchers. It is a deeply corrupt practice. I have received free gas and electricity over a fifteen month period plus a three figure sum of cash on top of that.

Yet all Scottish Power would offer me not to leave them was a free case of Virgin wine worth only £40 at most and not everbody is a wine drinker or drinks at all. But when I asked about switching to their cheaper Online 6 tariff instead of the Online 4 tariff they had just made a legacy more expensive tariff they wanted to lock me in to staying with them for 12 months, as an existing customer of over 30 months standing.:eek::mad:

Scottish Power now seem to have penalty fees for new customers for leaving in under 12 months. I presume this is a way of stopping the serial switchers as they are too incompetent to be able to spot previous customers returning to them a few months later (hardly difficult for them do do given the unique gas meter and electricity supply numbers). But I personally still think penalty fees for leaving and discounts only payable once a year should be banned as they are a distortion to the marketplace. The same is also true of cashbacks for joining a company.

Regarding Eon and not paying you the discount if you leave part way through a quarter I didn't realise that but this is obviously much less of a deterrent than not paying you the discount for the whole year if you leave in month 10 or 11. So far as Ovo Energy are concerned I think they just have small penalty fees for leaving early but do not penalise you in terms of the price you pay for the actual gas and electricity up to the date you leave. I have always avoided Npower because of their many sneaky penalties and higher charges for leaving them under one year. I presume Fist Utility fall in to the same camp. Atlantic Energy never seem to be cheap in this area (SEEBOARD) on duel fuel but in any case have nasty penalties if you don't leave exactly at the end of your first anniversary with them or just after the anniversary in subsequent years.

joe134

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Yet all Scottish Power would offer me not to leave them was a free case of Virgin wine worth only £40 at most and not everbody is a wine drinker or drinks at all. But when I asked about switching to their cheaper Online 6 tariff instead of the Online 4 tariff they had just made a legacy more expensive tariff they wanted to lock me in to staying with them for 12 months, as an existing customer of over 30 months standing.:eek::mad:

Scottish Power now seem to have penalty fees for new customers for leaving in under 12 months. I presume this is a way of stopping the serial switchers as they are too incompetent to be able to spot previous customers returning to them a few months later (hardly difficult for them do do given the unique gas meter and electricity supply numbers). But I personally still think penalty fees for leaving and discounts only payable once a year should be banned as they are a distortion to the marketplace. The same is also true of cashbacks for joining a company.

Regarding Eon and not paying you the discount if you leave part way through a quarter I didn't realise that but this is obviously much less of a deterrent than not paying you the discount for the whole year if you leave in month 10 or 11. So far as Ovo Energy are concerned I think they just have small penalty fees for leaving early but do not penalise you in terms of the price you pay for the actual gas and electricity up to the date you leave. I have always avoided Npower because of their many sneaky penalties and higher charges for leaving them under one year. I presume Fist Utility fall in to the same camp. Atlantic Energy never seem to be cheap in this area (SEEBOARD) on duel fuel but in any case have nasty penalties if you don't leave exactly at the end of your first anniversary with them or just after the anniversary in subsequent years.

Hi, they won,t even offer me a bottle of wine. Just been 30 minutes on the phone to see if they would give me an incentive to stay, been with them years, answer, NO. Change if you want.How can they offer up to £90 cashback to "tarts" and ignore their loyal customers.I read somewhere that part of their new offer is for loyalty, they do not know the meaning of the word.My decision now is, is it edf,ovo,or First utility. The customer reviews leave a lot to be desired, not a consistant good one amongst them. ovo hasn,t been tested yet, might opt for them as prices are predicted to rise.I a not a "tart", that,s why theirs no loyalty bonus, the big boys encourage the "tarts", I don,t blame them for taking advantage of it.Instead of Craig defending SP, he should be relaying our disgust to SP.however , that,s my chunter over, only the choice to make now

NonGeographicalMan

joe134 wrote: »

Hi, they won,t even offer me a bottle of wine. Just been 30 minutes on the phone to see if they would give me an incentive to stay, been with them years, answer, NO. Change if you want.

The email from Scottish Power (or the Spaniards Iberdrola as we should in fact know them) begging you to reconsider and stay with them and offering you a free case of Virgin plonk for doing so is only sent after you have already given an instruction to one of their rivals that you wish to switch your supply over to them.

Any mugs who just stay loyally stay with Scottish Power and don't consider moving at all can clearly just be treated with total contempt by having their energy prices put up on to a more expensive tariff and not offered anything at all.:eek::mad:

Obviously these senior directors see the world the way they themselves behave by assuming that jumping ship every year or two is the norm and that loyally staying with the same company for years indicates total complacency.

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Original Message

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Subject: Don't Go! We really do value you as a customer
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:30:38 +0100
From: ScottishPower <mail.cujamqiwpwirqih@campaign.scottishpower-online.co.uk>

September 2009


Don't Go!

We really do value you as a customer

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]As an added incentive to stay with us, you'll receive a FREE case of Virgin Wine

[/FONT]
Apply today to claim your free case of wine

Call our dedicated sales
team now and we
will welcome you back

0800 840 2971
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]APPLY TODAY[/FONT]
UNSUBSCRIBE
The registered office of ScottishPower Energy Retail Ltd is: 1 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow, G2 8SP.
Registered in Scotland No. 190287, Vat No. GB 659 3720 08
ScottishPower Energy Retail Ltd is regulated by OFGEM.

joe134

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

The email from Scottish Power (or the Spaniards Iberdrola as we should in fact know them) begging you to reconsider and stay with them and offering you a free case of Virgin plonk for doing so is only sent after you have already given an instruction to one of their rivals that you wish to switch your supply over to them.

Any mugs who just stay loyally stay with Scottish Power and don't consider moving at all can clearly just be treated with total contempt by having their energy prices put up on to a more expensive tariff and not offered anything at all.:eek::mad:

Obviously these senior directors see the world the way they themselves behave by assuming that jumping ship every year or two is the norm and that loyally staying with the same company for year indicates total complacency.

Well as I am a Guiness drinker who used to have a wine shop it looks like their offer will be wasted on me when I take the plunge sometime this week and leave.You have to give them a chance at least, more than they areprepared to give us;Looks like joining the "tarts"

dcispv

Npower annoy me, I'm £280 in credit and they still want to put my DD up! insane! After 30 mins on phone they agreed to only put my DD up by £20! I told them i am moving provider!

NonGeographicalMan

dcispv wrote: »

Npower annoy me, I'm £280 in credit and they still want to put my DD up! insane! After 30 mins on phone they agreed to only put my DD up by £20! I told them i am moving provider!

I had to complain to the Chief Executive of Scottish Power a few months back to stop them increasing my direct debit from £65 to £80 per month when I was already heavily in credit by £300. The call centre advisers wouldn't accept their computer could be wrong or let me change the direct debit to another value.

Now that I am leaving them for Eon I should get a refund of around £250.:j