Excessively Low Energy Quotes

PeteerAD

How do I sort out which Energy quotes are not viable?  I find that many of the low quotes only act as a 'come on', and after a couple of months at the low direct debit payments, the provider decides that I have to pay more, sometimes doubling the payments.  This seems to me to be a bit of a 'con'.

SaverRate

PeteerAD said:

How do I sort out which Energy quotes are not viable?  I find that many of the low quotes only act as a 'come on', and after a couple of months at the low direct debit payments, the provider decides that I have to pay more, sometimes doubling the payments.  This seems to me to be a bit of a 'con'.

Please actually educate yourself about direct debits and energy quotes! The direct debit goes into a pot of money. The energy firm then bills you for your usage. Then bill then comes out of the pot of money. When the energy company realises the pot of money will not cover the bills they will up your direct debit. You should be looking at the standing charges and the unit rates to work out the cheapest energy supplier not the direct debit amount!

Gerry1

If you get a quotation based on number of rooms or estimated readings it'll be a formula for disaster, as is thinking in ££/month instead of kWh/year.

macman

There is only one figure that matters: the total cost per year.
The only way that a new provider would double your DD is because it was initially set far too low, which means that you gave usage figures that were way too low.

molerat

My granddaughter was quoted £28 per month by SSE on her newly rented E7 storage heated flat, I re-educated pretty quickly on reading meters an submitting those readings regularly.

greatcrested

Forget the direct debit quote. What you actually pay each month may change and will depend on the cost of each unit of energy, and the amount of energy you use.

So whatever is 'estimated' at the start as a monthly DD amount that should cover your usage, may later need to be adjusted.

When selecting which supplier and which product to sign up to, look at

* the daily standing order cost (as compared to other products) and

* the per unit cost of energy (gas/electric) (as compared to other products)

dunstonh

PeteerAD said:

How do I sort out which Energy quotes are not viable?  I find that many of the low quotes only act as a 'come on', and after a couple of months at the low direct debit payments, the provider decides that I have to pay more, sometimes doubling the payments.  This seems to me to be a bit of a 'con'.

This would have been better asked in the correct forum.   
However, you seen to be mixing things up and jumping to conclusions.  That is giving you the wrong impression that its a con.
A direct debit is a method of payment to collect a monthly payment.  That is all.      
When you go to a supplier, you tell them what you think your annual usage is.  They set the payment to match that. 
If you tell them that the usage is lower than it actually is then the monthly direct will not cover the real cost and sooner or later it will be increased to both catch up what you owe and set it to the right level.
If you tell them that they usage is higher than it actually is then you will go into credit and sooner or later they will reduce your monthly payment to use up your credit.

On top of that your usage is not consistent throughout the year.  You use very little during late spring to early autumn with the majority used in the colder months.  December-February in particular.    During the summer months you build up credit which is then used during the winter months.   However, if you switch provider after summer, you have not built up any summer credit and you will go into deficit early on.   And you will need to make up that deficit.

If you are comparing costs with suppliers then use the actual annual amount of energy you use (look at the ACTUAL meter readings 12 months apart - do not use estimates).  Do not use the monthly cost method as that stands a higher chance of you not setting the monthly payment at the correct level