Spark Energy- 'Loyalty Tariff' didn't save us money!

Gerry1

You're still getting it hopelessly wrong !

mkaylah9 said:

Tonik were going to charge us Monthly Direct Debit amount: £43.36 so more than our current tariff but less than our previous.

Just forget the DD amounts, it's only a kitty, with no guarantee that it will pay the bills.  Flatmates paying £1 per week into a food kitty would soon get a big shock when it failed to pay the supermarket bill, and DDs for energy are no different.

mkaylah9 said:

Unit rate	elec:15.94p/kWh	gas:3.31p/kWh
Standing charge	elec: 20.16p/Day	gas:18.07p/Day

Those rates are absolutely dreadful.

mkaylah9 said:

However, Spark didn't charge us a unit rate for gas, only a standing charge.

They would have charged you a unit rate for gas if you had used any.

mkaylah9 said:

I know exactly what to look for.

Sorry, but you certainly don't.  Stop comparing £DDs, standing charges, kWh rates etc.  Just compare the annual costs based on actual meter readings, and ignore all claimed savings, projections etc.  It's not difficult.

mkaylah9 said:

I used the comparison tool on cheap energy club on here last time.

The CEC doesn't show the whole market, despite its claim to do so (e.g. it omits Neon Reef).  You need to include other sites such as Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  Don't forget to try both E7 and single rate: many suppliers will quote single rate for an E7 meter, so there's no need to replace it.

If you have E7, make sure the immersion heater is only switched on at cheap rate times and that the boost switch is always off.  Beware of any separate timer for the immersion heater because it can drift away from the E7 times, especially after a power cut.

macman

You say that gas is not 'plugged in'-meaning what?
If there are gas appliances available, then use them: gas is approx 250% cheaper than electricity.