Gas & Electricity Money Saving Discussion Area

jaxxx

I have been following Martin's tips about switching gas and elec and am now ready to change from Powergen (who have been driving me mad with multiple bills - all wrong - and their changing of name and bill format from Eastern Energy to TXU Energi to Powergen over the past few years). However I am having trouble finding out exactly what rate I am on for both gas and electric. I know that I'm dual fuel, monthly direct debit, but whenever I go on the comparison sites I am not sure what rate to select - Energyhelpline have 3 that could be me:
1. No standing charge (pre July 2003)
2. Standard
3. Standard (pre July 2003)

Since I get different results with each one I need to know which is the right one. Powergen themselves couldn't help (other than to say I was on their dual fuel tariff), neither could the telephone helpline for Energyhelpline other than to suggest that the pre July 2003 is the rate for customers who were with the original Powergen - evidently my Powergen is the South and they took over TXU Energi and kept TXU rates. I know that I have had a standing charge for electricity up until last month when it was withdrawn when their new pricing scheme came in. Is anyone else in this position and as confused as I am? :-/

loon_2

I fear that you are some what confused.

Eastern were bought by txu, who were subsequently bought by powergen. It was not merely a name change, it was a take over. As for finding out which tariff you are on, that depends on your supplier. Judging by your post it would appear that your supply is with the txu side of powergen, which would mean that you would need to speak to them. However, if you call powergen on 0800 015 0211 (uk based call centre) they should be able to deal with your query. (the tel. number on the bills tends to go to india, who i find to be less helpful).

With regards to switching, at the moment there are numerous tariffs with numerous features and benfits. eg online tariffs, capped prices, fixed rates/unlimited consumption, etc.

Personally, i would suggest that you stayed with pgen and change to their capped prices. This is merely because the price rise they had in sept (when they swapped to a nsc tariff) was 3% on electric and 3.1% on gas. These prices have now been capped, and unlike scottish power they do not charge a premium to cap the rates. Powergens rates are fixed until july 2006 (7 months longer than spower) and unlike competitors have not had an increase of around (9% elec 12% gas).

Given the current climate, powergens prices are likely to increase in line with their competitors, which means for the not so distant future pgen capped prices are cheaper.

At present powergens energy online is showing as one of the cheapest tariffs, but unfortunately they are not capped. scottish power do have a capped online tariff, but as with standard capped, they charge £47.45 just to have the rates capped (a charge that increased 30% last month, which is not too good for a tariff that they guarentee no price rises.

celtic_yob_2

Can anyone answer my question?
About a fortnight ago I registered to go with Powergen on line as they came out cheapest.
Yesterday I had a letter through the door from age concern with a free phone number.
I rang the number, a lady very helpful answerd I told her I had just signed with powergen, and in no time she informed me I was signed up for the normal service and she said what she would do is put me on the capped service where I will not have any price rises for two years.
Reading this forum (first time on here) I read that Powergen ran age concern, and if they do have I been hoodwinked into signing up for a dearer service. Read here it's 10% higher.
They could have sent me the letter just after signing, hoping I would do just that.

loon_2

when you signed up to powergen online did you uncheck the dpa box. if not, you agreed to be sent promotional info. without seeing the letter, it is more than likely to be promo info.

age concern tariff is run by powergen, but it i not capped and age concern cannot sign you up for capped. if you call them on 0800 015 0211 (uk call centre) they should be able to tell you which you have signed up for.

however, if you signed up for online, you should get online. Is there any chance that you accidently signed for age concern?

celtic_yob_2

Thanks Loon
No, I signed on line. Can't remember about dpa.
And I signed up for online, I took it that when she said that she would put me on capped, that it would be at the same rate as online. But, reading this forum that is not the case. I will phone and if they inform me that my tariff as gone up 10% as a result of that phone call, I think I will go back to Adlantic....as soooon as possible

scottysteve

Thought you would all like to know that Powergen online dual saver have not upped their prices this year. In fact they told me that they have not gone up since Jan. 03.

As a number of people have already mentioned, their website has some issues and customer service is as always not up to the advertised standard but hey - my attitude these days is to expect poor service but put up with it to save some money.

Also after six months of building up a credit balance, I have just got a refund and my direct debit reduced from £25 to £15.

Methinks this deal is as good as it gets for gas and elec.

Cheers

samanthagodden

Hi I know this is probably in the wrong place. Sorry but I dont know how to start a new topic.

I have a question relating to saving gas/money.

My hot water tank is heated by gas, I have this on timer to heat the tank twice a day, it is well insulated and it has been suggested to me that it would be cheaper to leave the hot water on all day so that if the temperature drops below the predetermined setting then it will heat up. The thinking behind this is that it wont cost as much to heat as it will never really get cool, whereas if it is having five or six hours to cool, the gas will have to run for longer.

Any thoughts on this?

Sam

JingleJim

Dont know about you lot but I`m with Ideal LloydsTSB for my gas supply. They have frozen their price rises untill March 2005. Think I`ll stay with them for now.

Link:

http://www.lloydstsb.co.uk/car_home_travel.asp?link=top_navigation

Click on "What can I save on home utility bills?"

MarkyMarkD

Hi I know this is probably in the wrong place. Sorry but I dont know how to start a new topic.

I have a question relating to saving gas/money.

My hot water tank is heated by gas, I have this on timer to heat the tank twice a day, it is well insulated and it has been suggested to me that it would be cheaper to leave the hot water on all day so that if the temperature drops below the predetermined setting then it will heat up. The thinking behind this is that it wont cost as much to heat as it will never really get cool, whereas if it is having five or six hours to cool, the gas will have to run for longer.

Any thoughts on this?

Sam

It's rubbish.

The main loss of energy is from the tank, so ideally you want the tank to be as cool as possible except when you need to use it.  If you are out in the day, you don't need the water hot, so you should have the boiler off and let it cool a bit and then it will lose less heat.

If you maintain it at a constant temperature, it will lose more heat.

Boilers usually work better heating for a longer period of time, rather than cycling on and off every 15 minutes or whatever.

For the same reason as above, you want the boiler thermostat to be on as low a temperature as you are comfortable with.

Oh, and to start a new thread, go up to the forum list for this forum (go to top of page and click on forum name above the name of this thread) and then click on Start New Topic.

samanthagodden

Thanks Marky markd, i will leave it as it is.

Sam