Elderly Parents getting Ripped Off

xlnc99

Talldave said:

xlnc99 said:

Thanks - AVRO have given me around 13.65 for electricity and 2.4 for Gas. Is this good? Should i have gone elsewhere? Gerry1 said:

The gas price is an improvement, although you could get cheaper but you've thrown so many other criteria into the mix that all our recommendations are rejected. 

Isn't the electricity price more than they're paying now? (It's not clear whether you're including VAT). If that's the case, why are you switching electricity?? Sorry if I sound incredulous but this is a money saving forum!!

As you have probably seen from the posts after AVRO is cheaper for leccy and gas. Gas a huge drop from 3.151 to 2.4. Leccy from 13.73 to 13.65 which is not a massive drop but still cheaper. As mentioned in previous comments this was the cheapest based on all the factors, i searched so many websites and spent hours on it. The company cheaper then this was outfox with some really really cheap tariffs but as advised from everyone here i stayed away from them. There was another 1 or 2 but the forum advised to stay away as they may cause issues and problems

Gerry1

xlnc99 said:

I understand the total annual costs. For example my total annual cost for leccy eg 10,000 kwh and gas 5.000 kwh. The total is 15,000kwh. This bit is understood by me.

15000kWh is not a cost.  You can't add gas and electricity kWhs together because the costs are vastly different.

It's as daft as saying that the cost of a bottle of champagne and a bottle of milk is 2 pints.

You certainly don't understand that bit at all.

Talldave

A couple of years ago, the place I was renting was freezing and used 54,000kWh of gas per year. I  paid a 42p standing charge to get gas at around 2p per kWh (most gas tariffs were 3.5p at the time.

Can you see that that tariff would have been insane for a low gas user with just a gas cooker using 1kW per day? They would be better off on a tariff with 7p standing charge and gas at 20p per kWh.

That's what we mean by looking at the total cost. And comparison sites do it for you. Try it. Put 30,000kWh gas consumption in and look at the best results.  Put 1500kWh gas consumption in and see how a totally different set of results comes up. Different tariffs are better for low or high users, one single tariff cannot be cheapest for high and low users.

Adding gas and electric kWh figures together is illogical and achieves nothing.

bsms1147

@xlnc99 As I said on page 16, use 5500kwh electricity and 30000kwh gas as the consumption figures. No you don't know what will be used in a year until you look back in retrospect, but you can use data that is already known - such as previous years use - and assume that the upcoming year will be roughly the same.

Do not add these together to run a comparison this way. This is not an annual use of 5500 + 30000 = 35500 units.

As has been said multiple times I find it hard to believe that you cannot get separate quotes using separate supplies with people you are happy to trust for less than the cost of dual fuel. You may have said it already, there's a lot of pages - but if (re)quote their postcode it is likely that someone will double check those searches for you. You don't get to 40 pages without there being a clear will and unlimited patience from many people here.

Robin9

@bsms1147, @Gerry1,@Talldave, @RelievedSheff, @jbunchangb (and anyone else I've missed) - you've all got far more patience than me.

xlnc99

Ok Guys, i am getting it slowly and slowly. I am going to go through the thread again and also any links etc i can find to brush up on this. I will post my thoughts in 24 - 48 hours. I believe i am slowly understanding this, bit by bit. I do understand far more then when i first started off

Talldave

Robin9 said:

@bsms1147, @Gerry1,@Talldave, @RelievedSheff, @jbunchangb (and anyone else I've missed) - you've all got far more patience than me.

I'm persevering because I thought we had royalty in our midst, with a userid starting xlnc??!!

Whilst completely off topic another good reason to avoid OFTM is that for Londoners separate supplies - both from OFTM - are cheaper than OFTM dual fuel; a clear sign of disdain for your customers!

Gerry1

I've solved it !  The OP is made of antimatter... push him one way and he always goes the other.

So let's give revised advice and see what happens...

• Never give meter readings, let the supplier rely on estimates instead.  Anyway, it's always All You Can Eat, so why bother with meters?

• Switch to Ebico Zero, there's no standing charge, so it must always be the cheapest.

• Cancel the Direct Debit to save money.

• Buy magic dust heaters and use them on Economy 7 to save even more money. Put a couple in the garage so that the car is always warm after a cold night.

• Leave the immersion heater Boost switch on at all times.

• Never pay any bills.  After 12 months you don't have to pay them anyway because they're out of date.

• Leave the oven on permanently on so that no time is wasted heating it up.
• Always fill the kettle fully because it makes the water hotter and gives a better cup of tea.

• Install an electric shower.

• Make sure the bath is full before stepping in, then it won't go cold and need topping up.

Robin9

To add
turn up the radiators in the rooms you don't use to the maximum so they are nice and warm for the one day a year you need to get something off a shelf.

PS I pity SP trying to make head and tail of this.

elsien

xlnc99 said:

Ok Guys, i am getting it slowly and slowly. I am going to go through the thread again and also any links etc i can find to brush up on this. I will post my thoughts in 24 - 48 hours. I believe i am slowly understanding this, bit by bit. I do understand far more then when i first started off

Take your annual gas consumption figures (or the best approximation that you've got). Ignore any savings the calculator comes up with and do your own sums. 
 Do the maths to work out how much the KW hours will cost for the year, then add on the standing charge for the year to get the total amount. Do the same with the tariffs you are interested in and decide which is best value. This may or may not be the cheapest depending on how important things like customer service are to you. Also consider that last year was a mild winter and usage will go up if we get a colder one this time round which may also affect your decision ref the balance of KH cost and standing charge.

Do the same for electricity.

Then if you're feeling brave,  do the same calculations for any dual fuel deals. In my case I found that with the single tariffs it made very little difference in overall cost so I went dual fuel for convenience as much as anything, . But at least I'd checked first. And other people clearly find that single fuel works better for them.