Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback

tweeter

Hi peeps,

I live in London and have a direct debit with EDF. I was thinking about moving to their online account. I really don't trust my judgement in switching to another provider as I'm too laid back for my own good - has anyone done this with EDF and got a reasonable result or is it always better to up sticks and switch. Thanks for any replies.

NonGeographicalMan

stphnstevey wrote: »

Is it me or do all the Quidco ones now have a tie in penalty if you switch??

They nearly all have a penalty for leaving early now if they pay any decent cashback for moving to them but Scottish Power's Online something or over 7 pays £110 cashback to join them on dual fuel through https://www.topcashback.co.uk and the penalty for leaving them before the end of the first year is only £55. So they seem to be buying out the penalties charged by other companies for leaving them early.

Bark01

I'm thinking of swapping to Npower SOl v.17 dual fuel in Seeboard as it will save me £60 a year in fuel bills.

Anyone know of a better cashback deal than £40 offered on quidco?

NonGeographicalMan

tweeter wrote: »

I really don't trust my judgement in switching to another provider as I'm too laid back for my own good - has anyone done this with EDF and got a reasonable result or is it always better to up sticks and switch.

As EDF Energy (who took over London Electricity) is the default regional supplier in London you are always going to get a bad deal by remaining with them.

If you identify the cheapest supplier by using https://www.energylinx.co.uk, https://www.uswitch.com, https://www.saveonyourbills.co.uk, https://www.whichswitch.co.uk and/or https://www.energyhelpline.com and then carry out the switch to the company identified as being cheapest from the https://www.topcashback.co.uk website and not through these comparison sites directly (having first cleared the cache and the cookies in your web browser to make sure the energy comparison website does not earn the cashback) you should be able to save quite a bit of money and get a good cashback payment.

I assume you have some unreasonable fear that your electricity or gas will be cutoff by changing supplier or something. This never happens with gas or electricity as disconnecting a supply is a completely different job from changing the record of where a particular gas or electricity meter read is sent. It is only by changing broadband supplier to TalkTalk that people can and sometimes do seem to get their phone and their broadband cuttoff during the switchover process as in that case real physical changes in the connection of your phone line at the phone exchange are made and some believe that the BT Openreach employees who carry out the work on behalf of TalkTalk deliberately sabotage TalkTalk customers and/or don't hurry to correct errors as fast as they should. Gas and electricity doesn't work this way as nothing physically changes in your supply when you change the company that bills you for the gas or electricity.

NonGeographicalMan

Bark01 wrote: »

Anyone know of a better cashback deal than £40 offered on quidco?

No I don't but you might want to factor in to your calculation that https://www.topcashback.co.uk pay £110 on a dual fuel switch to Scottish Power's Online Energy v7 tariff.

Premier_2

Unless you are deliberately trying to save money by continually switching, I wouldn't base any decision on who to switch to based on a possible cashback

Think of any such cashback as an added bonus if it does actually turn up. Go with the supplier that guarantees to offer the best price for you (that you are happy with)

NonGeographicalMan

Premier wrote: »

Go with the supplier that guarantees to offer the best price for you (that you are happy with)

The thing is that whoever is cheapest today when you switch usually isn't any more in a few weeks time so to my mind a large cashback is now also an important factor.

Whilst cashback from https://www.quidco.com and https://www.topcashback.co.uk is not guaranteed to be paid so long as you clear your cookies and start the transaction from their websites you do normally always get the cashback in the end, even though you may sometimes have to raise a manual query to get paid. I find both these websites are now pretty good about following through on any manual claims that have to be raised about cashback that is not paid at the first instance.

Bark01

Premier wrote: »

Unless you are deliberately trying to save money by continually switching, I wouldn't base any decision on who to switch to based on a possible cashback

Think of any such cashback as an added bonus if it does actually turn up. Go with the supplier that guarantees to offer the best price for you (that you are happy with)

That is what i'm doing, Scottish power is £30 more expensive Npower is £65 cheaper than current tariff. So going with scottish power and their higher cashback I would be marginally better off, but i'd prefer to have the saving on my units, so was thiking of going to Npower.


Only other thing i'm considering is that the scottish power cancellation fee is applied until summer 2010 and Npowers is applied until spring 2011. So thinking that maybe I should go with scottish power until the summer then switch again.

tweeter

NonGeographicalMan

Thanks for your detailed reply - I will take the plunge as soon as I can get off my chaise longue.

grumpynotoldman

Bark01 wrote: »

That is what i'm doing, Scottish power is £30 more expensive Npower is £65 cheaper than current tariff. So going with scottish power and their higher cashback I would be marginally better off, but i'd prefer to have the saving on my units, so was thiking of going to Npower.


Only other thing i'm considering is that the scottish power cancellation fee is applied until summer 2010 and Npowers is applied until spring 2011. So thinking that maybe I should go with scottish power until the summer then switch again.

I too contacted Scottish Power direct after the 3 comparisons / switch sites all said which tariff was best : SP Online energy saver dual fuel 7 .
Signed up and Direct debit was reduced from £158 per month to £100 per month.
Result!
Locked in (penalty of £30) til Dec 1st 2010.
Forgot that I'd get a cashback if I signed up via the comparisions / switch sites though!
OOOpps !
Can U be too greedy?
I think not!
Had been meaning to do this since September... cost of delay £174.

Told SP phoneline staff that providers should advise customers of rate changes! They said "it's on our website" . I said "You need to tell me direct, send me an email!"
I guess they rely on everyone staying on the tariff that overcharges to bolster their profits.
Have put extra insulation in the loft, on one internal wall and draughtproofed and refurbed 4 sash windows ( 5 more to do) so should consume less gas for heating, although my main expense is electric for all our computers and Telly's. Average consumption of PC is 450 watts and laptop is much cheaper if you run off battery and then recharge.
Have invested in a couple of remote switches for the telly related gadgets like DVD and Video, and the only thing now on standby is the modem and router!