How many switches can I do?

cm233lh

I recently switched to Scottish Power cause they were cheap. Then within a month I switched to BG for the Quidco cashback. Now Scottish have put up £61 cashback on Quidco, so I'm going to switch back.

My question is, how many times can I do this before I get blacklisted? Are they allowed to refuse to take me on, or do they have to go on paying commissions? Or will they just refuse the Quidco deal because I'm not a new customer?

Terrylw1

You can switch every 28 days between Suppliers unless you have signed some sort of lock in deal e.g. business contracts have minimum terms.

You can't get blacklisted unless you don't pay and they effect your credit rating due to that.

Supplier have the right to refuse your business yes, but they seldom do as they want your business. Every customer they sign replaces 1 they lose so they want your energy usage or they don't make money.

Your current Supplier can stop you from leaving by opjecting within a strict timeframe but they only do this if you have debt.

Just remember, everytime you switch there is a lot of data going back anf forth between parties. So, the more you switch, the more pressure you put on these companies to transfer data. So, switching every more of so can mean you end up waiting longer for your first bill if previous switches have not completed.

Quentin

You can switch as often as you like.

Though Quidco don't like their members to "abuse" deals, so you might want to alternate the cashback sites you use.

DireEmblem

hmm sounds an interesting idea.

So I can switch suppliers every 28 days, so for simplicity lets keep that once a month...

Atm switching once a month i could get
61 Quidco Scottish Power
20 Freefivers Npower
60 Quidco British Gas
12 Rpoints Uswitch
60 Quidco Powergen
8 Rpoints Simply Switch
20 Quidco MoneySupermarket

Now that is just 7 switches, for an average back of £34PCM (241 total)

Now the Uswich, simplyswitch and Moneysupermarket could find me ones which were ~not much more than what I currently pay (~40 a month) and the rest arent that much more expensive tbh, so with just the above, and given some suppliers I may pay slightly more for the month, I almost half my bills.

So is this worth it?

I now think so, just looking into where to switch first now

Quentin

The flaw to your plan is that although you can switch after 28 days with a supplier, each switch takes much longer than 28 days to be completed.

far

Quentin wrote: »

The flaw to your plan is that although you can switch after 28 days with a supplier, each switch takes much longer than 28 days to be completed.

This really depends on the circumstances - our electricity was switched within 30 days but because of errors by Briitsh Gas, our gas switch took 64 days so you are relying on everythng going smoothly every time if you switch as often as every 1-2 months - which can be a lot to assume.

Ken68

Hi cm... v..e..r..y interesting. Every two months for the year alternating with Quidco and Energyhelpline and whoever would bring in 75% of my annual charges.
No different than stoozing.
Or Terrys seasonal shifting mentioned in another post, at least would be worth a try.

Cardew

Of course this will be stopped when the Utility companies have fixed term contracts with penalty clauses for leaving - a move long overdue in my opinion.

Whilst there is no criticism of people taking advantage of the 'rewards' for switching, it is an unnecessary overhead that in the end all customers pay in increased prices.

Please don't say that money comes out of the companies' profits - it doesn't. The level of profit for each Utility company is set by the Regulator. So they will make the same profit and the 'reward' money(and commission to parasitic organisations like Quidco) is simply classed as an expense, which results in increased prices.

So the sooner it is stopped the better IMO

Terrylw1

DireEmblem wrote: »

hmm sounds an interesting idea.

So I can switch suppliers every 28 days, so for simplicity lets keep that once a month...

Atm switching once a month i could get
61 Quidco Scottish Power
20 Freefivers Npower
60 Quidco British Gas
12 Rpoints Uswitch
60 Quidco Powergen
8 Rpoints Simply Switch
20 Quidco MoneySupermarket

Now that is just 7 switches, for an average back of £34PCM (241 total)

Now the Uswich, simplyswitch and Moneysupermarket could find me ones which were ~not much more than what I currently pay (~40 a month) and the rest arent that much more expensive tbh, so with just the above, and given some suppliers I may pay slightly more for the month, I almost half my bills.

So is this worth it?

I now think so, just looking into where to switch first now

As long as you are domestic, there is nothing stopping you switching per the current industry policy which is the month (28 days due to the Feb issue but generally you have to work on a month/30 days)

However, as I said be aware that whilst customers may be able to get billed after a month or so, it just ain't that smooth behind the scenes. So, the more pressure you put on the CoS process (which involves 2 Suppliers, 2 Data Collector appointments, 2 Meter Operator appointments, 2 Data Aggregator appointments, a walk order - not always used, estimation by the new DC if you don't provide a reading to switch, an energy history handover for the previous 12 months from old DC to new DC, meter details being passed from old MOP to new MOP and then onto new DC & new Supplier, blah blah blah) the more likely it will take longer to get a bill.

They cannot object to your switch if they have not completed the CoS, the industry works based on potentially retrospective updates into systems. So, as long as you don't fall fowl of the debt rules, you can keep hopping.

Just remember, it only takes 1 of the above parties to be in a resource backlog of some false data to get fed to somebody and the CoS can takes 6 months or longer to complete.

Ken68

You could say, Cardew, that the Regulator is an unnecessary expense, OK until matters have settled after privatisation but a free for all should be the norm.
Subject to Health and Safety of course and outright fiddling.

It is not as if OFGEM has done a decent job.
But for a low user, inducements have to be considered, tho I see the Quidco cashback is UP to £60. Perhaps depends on consumption.

danthemoneysavingman

good cashback on moneysupermarket I think, and sometimes from mutualpoints.com. But surely this would be a bunch of hassle to stay on top of, considering how useless most of these companies are with customer service! Be interested if someone starts doing this