EBICo - as good as it seems?

penrhyn

computerwoman wrote: »

no I checked uswitch are £12 with quidco...:Dgo through quidco for uswitch then go to ebico or use the link martin has given on the main page and get £40 of wine...

Tried to do what you said but the £12 was for switches completed completely on line, and switching on line to Ebico from uswitch appears to be unavailable, have you done it yourself?

Cardew

benjdr wrote: »

Yes, indeed I know they are not perfect, but i thought it would give me a rough idea anyway.
If you can point me towards a breakdown of how the averages are used up by season/month, I'll modify the spreadsheet accordingly.

Benjdr,

The point I was making is that it is not possible to have a 'one size fits all' spreadsheet for every area, or indeed an individual within that area.

For instance some people turn off their Gas CH completely in the summer months and rely on electricity to heat water. Bear in mind that the cost of pilot lights on some gas boilers is quite high.

Even the algorithims in the sophisticated comparison website programs cannot cope with variable discounts or uneven consumption throughout the year, when this entails not using all the tier 1 allocation.

However as stated above, the important point(as your graphs demonstrate) is that you really need to have very low consumption to make Ebico financially viable.

A final thought is that Ebico's accounts are handled by Southern; who have the same excellent reputation for service on their own accounts.

When Ebico's prices were more competitive, I wondered why Southern would handle accounts for a company that undercut them on price - it didn't seem to make commercial sense. Now Southern are generally cheaper for most people it is not a problem.

Terrylw1

Cardew wrote: »

Benjdr,

The point I was making is that it is not possible to have a 'one size fits all' spreadsheet for every area, or indeed an individual within that area.

For instance some people turn off their Gas CH completely in the summer months and rely on electricity to heat water. Bear in mind that the cost of pilot lights on some gas boilers is quite high.

Even the algorithims in the sophisticated comparison website programs cannot cope with variable discounts or uneven consumption throughout the year, when this entails not using all the tier 1 allocation.

However as stated above, the important point(as your graphs demonstrate) is that you really need to have very low consumption to make Ebico financially viable.

A final thought is that Ebico's accounts are handled by Southern; who have the same excellent reputation for service on their own accounts.

When Ebico's prices were more competitive, I wondered why Southern would handle accounts for a company that undercut them on price - it didn't seem to make commercial sense. Now Southern are generally cheaper for most people it is not a problem.

I agree with Cardew. It's not impossible to build more accurate comparison tools however the business has to justify the expense.

I have been involved in similiar operational speccing exercises for Supplier's requirements for some areas of data management and it all ends up costing so much that no one wants to sponsor it due to the amount of variables.

However, it is very possible to build your own calc that manages your comparisons.

You will soon know if Ebico is worse than another when you start building up a consumption history of your meter through the seasons. Since you can swap every 28 days currently, there is nothing stopping you opting for a cheaper one for your main tier 1 usage for winter and then switching to a lower user one in summer if it fits your consumption profile.

It's certainly worth doing comparisons though to track your seasonal usage and not be blind when it comes to making an accurate decision, unlike many consumers.

Good luck

[Deleted User]

the EBICO ball is rolling and I have had my friendly, welcome e mail. It should all be completed in 4-6 weeks. All I have to do now is provide final figures to SP and EBICO when asked for

Its nice to see that ebico gas is cheaper at 2.55/kwh compared to SP (s wales) at 2.848/kwh as I`ll be using more gas during the winter

I should be using the same amount of electricity and will pay approx £6 more for that but will save at least that on my gas usage

It`s hopeless trying to find a list of tariffs via the SP site. Another good reason to go. I used to be able to find the tarrifs but I`m wondering if they have been buried deeper in preparation for new rises in early 2008

dori2o

benjdr wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies everyone.
Here are some of the calculations I did last night:

Firstly, a price comparison between SWALEC (Southern) Price Fix 2008 and Ebico based on the average usage for a UK household. (This won't be my usage. I just wanted a good number)


(CLICK FOR BIG)

I then wanted to find out at what point Ebico would become cheaper than southern, so I did decremental calculations of 10% of the initial UK averages.


(CLICK FOR BIG)

Ebico becomes cheaper if you use about less than 6120 kWh of gas p/a (1530 per quarter), and around about less than 1650 of elec p/a (412.5 per quarter).

As you can see, it is VERY marginal when Ebico becomes cheaper.

Feel free to check my maths. I rushed through it a bit.

If anyone wants me to do any other comparison between two providers, based on your usage, just ask.

Cheers
Ben

My readings are as follows.

From 06/11/2006 to 13/11/2007

Kwh: 9491
Ebico Cost- £242.10 (this is confirmed by my bills)

If I substitute the formula, then the cost for SWALEC comes out at, £227

Not much difference but way lower than your figures.

But I know who I am sticking with.

Cardew

dori2o wrote: »

My readings are as follows.

From 06/11/2006 to 13/11/2007

Kwh: 9491
Ebico Cost- £242.10 (this is confirmed by my bills)

If I substitute the formula, then the cost for SWALEC comes out at, £227

Not much difference but way lower than your figures.

But I know who I am sticking with.

That is pretty much in line with what has been stated above.

At 9,491kWh you use less than half the National average for gas and Ebico are only £15 more expensive.

For someone using the National Average of 20,500kWh Ebico are £75 more expensive.

dc

From my dealings, last year Ebico were much cheaper than Southern, and it would seem that Southern leaned on Ebico to stop the expected September reduction.

The timing of Ebico's "falling into line" ( to match Southerns price movement, unfortunately just after Southern's last reduction), has resulted in some Southern tariffs being more competetive than Ebico.
I think Atlantic is a Southern administered company, so also worth a look.

Ebico is great for the ppl who distrust DDs arranged by the utilites, prefer more control of their bank accounts, who like paying quarterly in arrears, prefer hassle free billsand like to know exactly how much a/all unit/s costs without resorting to a calculator.

melbury

I am totally confused. I have just done a comparison which states that if I switched to Southern Electric for both gas and electricity I could save £213 per year. However, when I check each one individually it is a saving of £81 for gas and £62 for electricity, which is £143. So where does the £70 difference come from on getting both from them?

As previously mentioned I have been with Ebico for over a year for both gas and electricity and would be considered quite a high user at about 34000 Kwh for gas and 4500 for electricity.

I suppose I just don't really trust these comparison sites, it always sounds too good to be true and from the posts on this site very few people seem to actually achieve these wonderful savings over a year.

So I think I will stay put with Ebico because at least you know where you are with them.

Ken68

For £143 I would move...don't forget the £30 cashbook too. Same excellent admin. Melbury, as Ebico.

Cardew

melbury wrote: »

I am totally confused. I have just done a comparison which states that if I switched to Southern Electric for both gas and electricity I could save £213 per year. However, when I check each one individually it is a saving of £81 for gas and £62 for electricity, which is £143. So where does the £70 difference come from on getting both from them?

As previously mentioned I have been with Ebico for over a year for both gas and electricity and would be considered quite a high user at about 34000 Kwh for gas and 4500 for electricity.

I suppose I just don't really trust these comparison sites, it always sounds too good to be true and from the posts on this site very few people seem to actually achieve these wonderful savings over a year.

So I think I will stay put with Ebico because at least you know where you are with them.

Melbury,

Surely that is because if you get dual fuel it puts you on a cheaper tariff.

Gas alone(which is the same price across UK for both companies) would give you a £149 saving on 34,000kWh when you take that as part of a dual fuel tariff.

It is not possible to give you an accurate figure for electricity as prices vary by region. However using the figures above for SWALEC area you would save an additional £77 for 4,500kWh as part of a dual fuel tariff.

That makes a total saving of £226 a year which is pretty close to the figure you got.