Best fixed electricity tariff

Phones4Chris

macman said:

Why make this sound so complex? Any price comp site will do the calculation for you taking both the unit cost and the standing charge into account. Just feed it the right kWh input. OP already has an ASHP and so should have some idea of what it's using during the heating season.

Most people who go down the heat pump route will have done some research and have a reasonable idea of what the annual usage is likely to be: it's not exactly an impulse buy.

Because it is NOT straight forward! As several of us have now said or implied, you need to consider the effect of higher or lower usage on the bill. Purely going by the "supposed" savings from a comparison site is a mistake. Yes, you use the ones with the biggest predicted savings as a guide, but then look at unit price and standing charge. @Matelodave has given a nice example!

[Deleted User]

I don't know this for sure but I'd imagine that for those of us with normal electricity requirements (i.e non -ashp, non -electric car, no feedins etc) the annual electricity usage will still vary from year to year - so in June 2018 I had used 4050 kWh pa (over the previous 12 months) whereas now I am using 3600kWh pa creeping ever more lower it seems.  But for those with addditional electricity needs I can imagine the figures may be more variable so yes the OP perhaps needs to put in current usage rates based on the last year of current use (assuming all electricity needs are the same) and perhaps then redo the calculations (on various PCW)  with +/- say 10% to see if this changes the cheapest supplier.  And then once you think you have made your mind up use the unit price and SC to double check.     

Gerry1

Phones4Chris said:

macman said:

Why make this sound so complex? Any price comp site will do the calculation for you taking both the unit cost and the standing charge into account. Just feed it the right kWh input. OP already has an ASHP and so should have some idea of what it's using during the heating season.

Most people who go down the heat pump route will have done some research and have a reasonable idea of what the annual usage is likely to be: it's not exactly an impulse buy.

Purely going by the "supposed" savings from a comparison site is a mistake. Yes, you use the ones with the biggest predicted savings as a guide, but then look at unit price and standing charge.

Yes, going by the "supposed" savings from a price comparison site is a big mistake, thanks to Ofgem's utterly stupid rules.  ALL projections and claims should be completely ignored because they can be seriously misleading.

However, using the results with the biggest predicted savings 'as a guide and then looking at unit price and standing charge' is definitely NOT the way to proceed.  The unit price and standing charge are not intrinsically important, it's the total cost after you've crunched the numbers with the PCWs and a calculator.  To obtain that cost accurately, you need to know your annual consumption(s) in kWh obtained from actual meter readings a year apart.

As matelodave has said, the kWh rate is much more important for a high user (e.g. ASHP) whereas the standing charge is more relevant for a low user (e.g. an unoccupied property, outbuilding with separate supply etc).

You should note a few of the lowest annual costs given by the PCWs and compare them to your existing tariff(s).

You'd also be wise to consider a few other things such as a fixed or variable tariff together with the customer service ratings which can be seen by looking at the Citizens Advice ratings and the relevant 'Add your feedback on xxxxx Energy' threads on this forum.  Other things to bear in mind are when the first DD is taken, whether E7 is cheaper (probably not for an ASHP which needs feeding most of the time) and, for those with gas, whether separate suppliers are cheaper than dual fuel.

Phones4Chris

Gerry1 said:

Phones4Chris said:

macman said:

Why make this sound so complex? Any price comp site will do the calculation for you taking both the unit cost and the standing charge into account. Just feed it the right kWh input. OP already has an ASHP and so should have some idea of what it's using during the heating season.

Most people who go down the heat pump route will have done some research and have a reasonable idea of what the annual usage is likely to be: it's not exactly an impulse buy.

Purely going by the "supposed" savings from a comparison site is a mistake. Yes, you use the ones with the biggest predicted savings as a guide, but then look at unit price and standing charge.

Yes, going by the "supposed" savings from a price comparison site is a big mistake, thanks to Ofgem's utterly stupid rules.  ALL projections and claims should be completely ignored because they can be seriously misleading.

However, using the results with the biggest predicted savings 'as a guide and then looking at unit price and standing charge' is definitely NOT the way to proceed.  The unit price and standing charge are not intrinsically important, it's the total cost after you've crunched the numbers with the PCWs and a calculator. ..................

What a load of contradictory cobblers. How else do you think your are going to calculate your likely annual cost if you don't look at those figures. What you've gone on to say is more or less what two of us have already said or implied, and I'm certain the OP will have worked that out for themselves anyway.
As they'll only have just under two years data, and the first year won't be too representative as there'll have been some tweaking to getting it running optimally for the installation, hence for annual usage there is likely to be some estimating, as additionally you can't predict the weather which will determine how much the ASHP needs!

[Deleted User]

The KISS principle of energy contracts is that high users are better off on a contract with a high DSC and a low unit price, and low users fair better on a low DSC/high unit price contract. Why? Because PCWs are only accurate if the consumer actually uses the estimated annual amount. Plus or minus 10% can make a big difference to the annual energy cost.

kickaha0884

This is an interesting conversation as what I am gleaning is that no-one seems to be able to do a straightforward comparison. I have been looking at Bulb, Peoples energy and Octopuss with their estimates based on a 4 bedroom house and the different tariffs they come up with vary quite a lot. We haven't moved yet, we are fed up with EDF and each one of these companies seems to have slightly different criteria for what a four-bedroom house would use. It seems to be quite difficult to choose a true comparison - do you have to take pot luck?

JJ_Egan

Comparison key is not Estimated usage nor estimated direct debits .

Its the price per unit and daily standing charges that determine the bills via what you actually use .

niktheguru

kickaha0884 said:

This is an interesting conversation as what I am gleaning is that no-one seems to be able to do a straightforward comparison. I have been looking at Bulb, Peoples energy and Octopuss with their estimates based on a 4 bedroom house and the different tariffs they come up with vary quite a lot. We haven't moved yet, we are fed up with EDF and each one of these companies seems to have slightly different criteria for what a four-bedroom house would use. It seems to be quite difficult to choose a true comparison - do you have to take pot luck?

or you could just base it on your current usage in your present house and a bit more kwh on, then compare all three using this data. It will be a hell of a lot more accurate than picking their random "4 bed house" choices in the comparison sites.

macman

Phones4Chris said:

macman said:

Why make this sound so complex? Any price comp site will do the calculation for you taking both the unit cost and the standing charge into account. Just feed it the right kWh input. OP already has an ASHP and so should have some idea of what it's using during the heating season.

Most people who go down the heat pump route will have done some research and have a reasonable idea of what the annual usage is likely to be: it's not exactly an impulse buy.

Because it is NOT straight forward! As several of us have now said or implied, you need to consider the effect of higher or lower usage on the bill. Purely going by the "supposed" savings from a comparison site is a mistake. Yes, you use the ones with the biggest predicted savings as a guide, but then look at unit price and standing charge. @Matelodave has given a nice example!

At no point did I suggest being lured by the 'supposed savings'. As I've said, the only figure that matters is the total annual cost.

coffeehound

Thread appears to be a Dump 'n' Run anyway