Separate suppliers - do you align tariffs?

egyptiancotton

I've recently applied to switch from dual-fuel to separate gas and electricity suppliers and went for 12-month fixed tariffs with both suppliers. I'm curious to know whether other members try to align their separate tariffs on the same terms (e.g. 12-month fix) or perhaps choose tariffs purely based on price or customer service and aren't fussed on aligning their tariffs to come to an end at roughly the same time.

JJ_Egan

Yes or no all depends upon price , could have dual or desperate .

CS of no importance though a few suppliers will be on the avoid list >Usually the ones bigged up for referrals.

brewerdave

lloydyyy said:

I've recently applied to switch from dual-fuel to separate gas and electricity suppliers and went for 12-month fixed tariffs with both suppliers. I'm curious to know whether other members try to align their separate tariffs on the same terms (e.g. 12-month fix) or perhaps choose tariffs purely based on price or customer service and aren't fussed on aligning their tariffs to come to an end at roughly the same time.

Personally don't bother to align end dates - for instance, I stayed with the same provider on a 2yr fix for gas thru 4 different leccy deals.
Just by chance my current deals both end at the beginning of March because I had a brief 4 month period of dual supply earlier this year

egyptiancotton

Thanks for the reply. I was shopping around and there was a 15-month fix with British Gas Evolve for only £3 more per annum but I went for the 12-month fix version instead, just to keep the tariffs sort of aligned.

The 15-month fix for gas would end in March 2022 and the 12-month fix for electricity would end in December 2021. If I go for another 12-month electricity fix then the tariffs would be out of alignment and therefore might prove awkward to switch to a dual-fuel tariff (if cheaper). I might be overthinking this a bit too much bit it dawned on me last night and I was curious to ask what other members do.

brewerdave

lloydyyy said:

Thanks for the reply. I was shopping around and there was a 15-month fix with British Gas Evolve for only £3 more per annum but I went for the 12-month fix version instead, just to keep the tariffs sort of aligned.

The 15-month fix for gas would end in March 2022 and the 12-month fix for electricity would end in December 2021. If I go for another 12-month electricity fix then the tariffs would be out of alignment and therefore might prove awkward to switch to a dual-fuel tariff (if cheaper). I might be overthinking this a bit too much bit it dawned on me last night and I was curious to ask what other members do.

I only went dual fuel briefly in October '19 because my gas supplier was getting out of the market and I looked for the cheapest gas deal accepting a slight increase in leccy price (it was only available as dual supply). Earlier this year leccy and gas prices were dropping so I went back to separate supplies.
Generally I haven't found dual deals to be the best since early 2016 when there was competition amongst the comparison sites to produce the lowest EON deal !!!

egyptiancotton

Appreciate the replies. It's useful to know what other members do.

Talldave

Never think about alignment. As others have said, you can go through multiple suppliers for one fuel whilst sticking with one for the other. 

egyptiancotton

I'm not quite sure what to do with the British Gas Evolve tariff. For my usage (12,000 kWh) the 15-month fix via Switch With Which totals £375 over 12 months (2.69p standing charge and unit rate is 14.33p). The 12-month fix via Compare The Market totals £372 (2.688p standing charge and unit rate is 13.62p).

Robin9

lloydyyy said:

I'm not quite sure what to do with the British Gas Evolve tariff. For my usage (12,000 kWh) the 15-month fix via Switch With Which totals £375 over 12 months (2.69p standing charge and unit rate is 14.33p). The 12-month fix via Compare The Market totals £372 (2.688p standing charge and unit rate is 13.62p).

At first sight I thought it's a no brainer isn't it - providing you have put the same info in -  £375 for 15 months v £372 for 12 ?   But there's a difference  of 0.71p/kWh and that's over £85   (plus VAT ?) so something wrong with your figures ? 

egyptiancotton

Robin9 said:

lloydyyy said:

I'm not quite sure what to do with the British Gas Evolve tariff. For my usage (12,000 kWh) the 15-month fix via Switch With Which totals £375 over 12 months (2.69p standing charge and unit rate is 14.33p). The 12-month fix via Compare The Market totals £372 (2.688p standing charge and unit rate is 13.62p).

At first sight I thought it's a no brainer isn't it - providing you have put the same info in -  £375 for 15 months v £372 for 12 ?   But there's a difference  of 0.71p/kWh and that's over £85   (plus VAT ?) so something wrong with your figures ? 

I think the Switch With Which figure is quoting a cost for 12 months rather than 15. I've taken the figures directly from both comparison sites. The prices include VAT.

Talldave

lloydyyy said:

Robin9 said:

lloydyyy said:

I'm not quite sure what to do with the British Gas Evolve tariff. For my usage (12,000 kWh) the 15-month fix via Switch With Which totals £375 over 12 months (2.69p standing charge and unit rate is 14.33p). The 12-month fix via Compare The Market totals £372 (2.688p standing charge and unit rate is 13.62p).

At first sight I thought it's a no brainer isn't it - providing you have put the same info in -  £375 for 15 months v £372 for 12 ?   But there's a difference  of 0.71p/kWh and that's over £85   (plus VAT ?) so something wrong with your figures ? 

I think the Switch With Which figure is quoting a cost for 12 months rather than 15. I've taken the figures directly from both comparison sites. The prices include VAT.

I'd pay £10 more over the year to go with Zog, just to avoid being a British Gas customer.