Shell Energy switch

egyptiancotton

I'm currently with Avro but my fixed tariff has come to an end and Shell Energy (Energy January 2022 v4) were the cheapest in the CEC's comparison results. I've received the welcome pack from Shell and had a look at the personalised tariff information guide. The illustrative gas and electricity consumption and costs are much higher than the annual consumption figures in my CEC account - the illustrative costs with Shell are about £300 more than what I actually use annually. I've received confirmation of the Direct Debit that has been set up but it doesn't say how much I'll be paying and when, whereas one of their welcome emails says they'll email me beforehand to confirm the exact amount I'll be paying and when. Are the illustrative costs and consumption figures just an example, or are they meant to be based on my usage and Shell have got their information wrong? I've tried contacting customer services but I can't get through to anyone - just an automated message saying that calls cannot be taken right now due to unforeseen circumstances. I've tried the online chat service and no luck there either.

I also noticed in the tariff terms and conditions that signing up to the tariff means that I'm registering my interest to have a smart meter installed, where eligible. The tariff details in CEC's comparison doesn't indicate that a smart meter would need to be installed. Is a smart meter mandatory with Shell?

Update: Just realised I hadn't activated my online account, so I did that, logged in, and saw that my DD is currently set at £50 a month (which is around what I expected) and it's also stated when payment will be taken each month. I know the DD amount can change, but I'm still a bit concerned about the illustrative annual consumption and cost figures in the tariff information guide that Shell sent via email; I'm not sure whether these are just an example or they should be based on my annual consumption figures.

Gerry1

Forget all projections and claimed savings, they're nonsense thanks to Ofgem's incompetence.  Just compare the annual costs using your annual kWh consumption derived from actual meter readings.

You may not be on the best deal: to see all suppliers you should have compared using Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  You should also check whether separate suppliers are cheaper, they often are.

£600 per year sounds unrealistically low unless you live alone in a bedsit and are out all day, so a big bill shock may be coming down the tracks.

RelievedSheff

Gerry1 said:

Forget all projections and claimed savings, they're nonsense thanks to Ofgem's incompetence.  Just compare the annual costs using your annual kWh consumption derived from actual meter readings.

You may not be on the best deal: to see all suppliers you should have compared using Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  You should also check whether separate suppliers are cheaper, they often are.

£600 per year sounds unrealistically low unless you live alone in a bedsit and are out all day, so a big bill shock may be coming down the tracks.

Not necessarily. We have been paying £55 per month this year for our dual fuel account and it has about £225 credit on the account which will be far too much for our winter usage. We are in a 3 bed detached property and I am currently working from home.

We should get a nice refund when we switch suppliers in February.

Gerry1

RelievedSheff said:

Gerry1 said:

Forget all projections and claimed savings, they're nonsense thanks to Ofgem's incompetence.  Just compare the annual costs using your annual kWh consumption derived from actual meter readings.

You may not be on the best deal: to see all suppliers you should have compared using Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  You should also check whether separate suppliers are cheaper, they often are.

£600 per year sounds unrealistically low unless you live alone in a bedsit and are out all day, so a big bill shock may be coming down the tracks.

Not necessarily. We have been paying £55 per month this year for our dual fuel account and it has about £225 credit on the account which will be far too much for our winter usage. We are in a 3 bed detached property and I am currently working from home.

We should get a nice refund when we switch suppliers in February.

Hope it works out for you, but the Shell Energy website is quoting me £1002 for the average annual consumption figures that it shows by default.

thorganby

Just because this CEC collective Shell deal is at the top of their list, doesn't mean that it is actually a good deal, because they don't quote all of the cheapest deals or quote for separate suppliers.

They make money from their collective switch and you pay more than you have to!

I could see no mention of agreeing to smart meters on the actual Shell website.

Tell us the unit rates and daily standing charge you will actually be paying?

Do your own comparisons, find your own best deal and don't be taken in by the smoke and mirrors cashback.

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought of the other comparison sites (Uswitch, Citizens Advice and Switch With Which?). Avro's estimated annual figures for gas and electricity of 10500 kWh and 1500 kWh, respectively, seem a good average, so I used those for comparing prices. But I've had a look at actual meter readings I logged over past year or so and calculated usage to get an idea:

• Aug 19 - Sep 20: Gas - 11808 kWh, electricity - 1581 kWh
• Oct 19 - Sep 20: Gas - 11000 kWh, electricity - 1319 kWh
• Aug 19 - Aug 20: Gas - 11500 kWh, electricity - 1477 kWh
• Jan 19 - Jan 20: Gas - 10000 kWh, electricity - 1247 kWh

I went with Shell as they were the cheapest (excluding cashback) on CEC compared to separate suppliers with decent feedback. Shell's prices are:

• Gas: Standing charge - 11.928p, unit rate - 2.702p
• Electricity: Standing charge - 14.816p, unit rate - 16.216p

Just ran another comparison but taking all suppliers into account purely based on cheapest prices (out of dual-fuel and separate suppliers), fixed tariffs, excluding cashback and disregarding exit fees:

CEC

• Single fuel: Gas (Zog Energy - £338) - 12 month fix, electricity (PFP Energy - £232) - fixed until 30/11/21
• Annual cost: £570, unless I choose an electricity supplier with decent feedback, such as Eon (£283 a year)

Citizens Advice and Switch With Which?

• Single fuel: Gas (British Gas Evolve - £335) - fixed for 15 months, electricity (PFP Energy - £232) - fixed until 30/11/21
• Annual cost: £567

Uswitch

• Dual-fuel: Utility Point - 12 month fix - £594

Talldave

I don't understand all your averaging stuff! You refer to averaged consumption rather than derived from meter readings, then proceed to use meter readings to derive averages??  It's all a bit complex? 500kWh gas is around £10, so the difference between 11,000 or 10,500 is not significant. 

Comparison sites are all about finding the optimum combination of unit rate and standing charge to give best value for your ball park consumption.  For example,  we use 42,000kWh gas, so unit rate cost swamps standing charge in the importance stakes.

egyptiancotton

Talldave said:

I don't understand all your averaging stuff! You refer to averaged consumption rather than derived from meter readings, then proceed to use meter readings to derive averages??  It's all a bit complex? 500kWh gas is around £10, so the difference between 11,000 or 10,500 is not significant. 

Bit of an error in my reply - now corrected. The bullet-pointed meter readings are actual readings. What I mean was that I used Avro's estimated annual consumption figures for comparing prices (I mistakingly said average figures) - the estimated annual consumption figures seem a good average.

Talldave

lloydyyy said:

Talldave said:

I don't understand all your averaging stuff! You refer to averaged consumption rather than derived from meter readings, then proceed to use meter readings to derive averages??  It's all a bit complex? 500kWh gas is around £10, so the difference between 11,000 or 10,500 is not significant. 

Bit of an error in my reply - now corrected. The bullet-pointed meter readings are actual readings. What I mean was that I used Avro's estimated annual consumption figures for comparing prices (I mistakingly said average figures) - the estimated annual consumption figures seem a good average.

OK. Separate suppliers are cheaper as usual.  I've used Zog a couple times and would recommend. If you read threads on here, the feedback on Eon isn't too hot. I'd use a smaller supplier with sensible monthly billing.

tsb

A big thank you to lloydyy for your post mentioning the smart meter clause. I had also signed up to the Mse collective Shell Energy switch on Tuesday as there was no mention of it being tied to smart meter installation.  I had received the emails from Shell with the full terms and conditions pdf of the tariff and had only looked at the unit prices to check. When I go to fully check, the last paragraph of the last page of the pdf states this tariff means you are registering interest to have smart meters installed where eligible.  I have cancelled the switch.  I'm totally disappointed with the Mse Energy Club.

Gerry1

tsb said:

When I go to fully check, the last paragraph of the last page of the pdf states this tariff means you are registering interest to have smart meters installed where eligible.

Does it state that you must have smart meters installed in order to stay on the relevant tariff, and that you'll be booted off to an expensive standard tariff after a few months if smart meters haven't been installed?  It may only mean that you agree to be contacted, i.e. you can then refuse.