Please help..... moved house, supplier needed.

Billy_the_fish

Been scanning thread after thread, even the thread sticky 'find the cheapest supplier' doesnt have the cheapest supplier stated.

So im in need of a little help here.

ive just moved house and am a single parent so am wanting the best possible solution to my energy needs.

at present the house is Connected to British Gas, so i called them asking for them to send me prices through via post etc and with a breakdown so that i could understand it, at which point they said 'we cant do that sir'!

then me saying if you cant supply me with prices im going to pay then how on earth would you think im going to keep the house running your energy?!?!?

so she said they would come in the post with the welcome letter!! will they??

ive been ripped off in the past using prepay meters.

have heard in the past Ebico are really good but im not having Prepayment meters again unless really necessary.

So my question is, What is the best/cheapest solution for me?

im not signed up for all these cashback/quidco etc sites so any offers relative to that will not be needed.

im just looking for the cheapest supplier.

im trying not to use direct debit as i dont want them in and out of my bank as being on benefits if anything messes up on a DD then if really cause s me hassle having to live on a tight budget as it is.

BG said i will get 10% if i sign up for there direct debit but im not wanting to let them loose in my account.

HEEEEEEEELP.

any ideas?

thanks peeps.

benjdr

Well, the cheapest will totally depend on your usage. Can you tell us a little about your home and how many occupants it has?

Also, you seemed to imply that Ebico uses prepayment meters exclusively. That is not the case. I don't want to jump on the Ebico bandwagon just yet, but Ebico are going to be very competative for you if you are a low user, and you can pay how you want.
Check out the graphs i posted here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=7037165&postcount=23

Ben

Billy_the_fish

Thanks for reply.

i wouldnt say im a high user really but at times i have sound equipment that uses a fair bit of energy but that is only on a few hours a month if that.

i live with my 9 year old in a 3 bed house, just had combi boiler fitted to save money and the property has central heating. house is electric only for the boiler.
the boiler im changing heat twice a day at the moment as the combi boiler hasnt had its timer switch fitted yet but will have it all set up so no energy is wasted or very little is wasted.

as for having a guess at my usage units i wouldnt even know where to begin as i was on Prepay at last property.

thanks for any help.

olly300

OP the only thing you could do is go to one of the switching sites and put in average usage as what you use.

Change to a company that has the cheapest unit price/good customer service* for that estimate. Then after you have gone through one billing cycle put your actual usage in and change again.

*When you find a company before you switch have a look on these forums using the search facility to see if they have lots of complaints about them. Some utility suppliers seem to generate more complaints than others.

Terrylw1

Hi,

They could have told you what you would pay over the phone and then it would be comfirmed when you get your first bill. So, if it's not in the welcome pack, just do that.

You are right to avoid PP meters, with the exception of Ebico they are more expensive with other Suppliers. Thats because they have to fund extra services to maintain that service for you.

You won't get the best deals unless you go dual fuel and/or DD. You could go dual fuel and get some sort of discount but it won't be as much as having DD as well.

You are free to switch after a month anyway so don't feel you are trapped with a Supplier. If you don't like their service, just switch again.

You would be best using a comparision site. If you don't have any data to work from just use the national averages for now (3300Kwh elec 20500Kwh gas) and see what comes out best.

Make sure you take your readings every month and then you can track what you aks using which will help you find a better deal later.

Terrylw1

Worth listening to Andy.

Atlantic do a nice cashback but their promise of no estimates is very useful since it means their DD estimation is pretty accurate as it's based on actual readings.

To really get accurate DD's you need to have actual readings on each bill and you need to establish you first year so they know how winter may change your needs. Atlantic seem pretty customer focussed from this point of view unlike BGas, Npower etc.