Cheaper Separate Gas & Electric Suppliers

colin25710

I have been trawling through the price comparison sites today and the one thing that has stood out to me is that I can achieve a significant saving by changing to separate established suppliers for gas and electric. (longer fixed contracts and still a £120 a year savings) This is totally contrary to what I expected - have other found this? 

Neil_Jones

colin25710 said:

I have been trawling through the price comparison sites today and the one thing that has stood out to me is that I can achieve a significant saving by changing to separate established suppliers for gas and electric. (longer fixed contracts and still a £120 a year savings) This is totally contrary to what I expected - have other found this? 

This has been the case for quite some time.

Gerry1

It's about time that the price comparison websites checked automatically whether separate suppliers are cheaper.  But don't expect this to happen any time soon: I suspect it would increase the chances of smaller companies topping the lists (e.g. Neon Reef, who only supply electricity) and most of them don't pay commission to the PCWs.

Similarly, single rate can be cheaper for some customers with an E7 meter, but that's never checked automatically.

If you have mains gas you have to visit several PCWs (some have exclusive deals) and to check each one three times (dual, gas, electricity), but it's well worth doing because the savings can be substantial.  Always start with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch'.

Tallerdave

Gerry1 said:

It's about time that the price comparison websites checked automatically whether separate suppliers are cheaper.  But don't expect this to happen any time soon: I suspect it would increase the chances of smaller companies topping the lists (e.g. Neon Reef, who only supply electricity) and most of them don't pay commission to the PCWs.

Surely this is something that the regulator should be insisting on? Since the savings by going separate are very real. Ie: the difference between one imaginary Ofgem saving and another imaginary Ofgem saving is a real saving. 

Gerry1

Tallerdave said:

Gerry1 said:

It's about time that the price comparison websites checked automatically whether separate suppliers are cheaper.  But don't expect this to happen any time soon: I suspect it would increase the chances of smaller companies topping the lists (e.g. Neon Reef, who only supply electricity) and most of them don't pay commission to the PCWs.

Surely this is something that the regulator should be insisting on?

Ofgem doesn't even insist that E7 quotations are accurate.  Many suppliers' websites give fake E7 quotations, tearing up your accurate day and night readings and arbitrarily assuming a much higher percentage is used at night.

You could be billed several hundred pounds more for the exact usage you told them, but dozy Ofgem can't be bothered to do anything about this misrepresentation.  (However, the PCWs usually get the annual costs correct.)

So the chances of Ofgem telling PCWs to include separate suppliers in their calculations are close to zero.