Gas & Electricity Money Saving Discussion Area

baldyjunior

ok so just going on from the last post i gave, i got back on the phone to them and said they according to the website i was intitled to a £43 discount but thats what it is - a discount which comes off the bill every month. however when i explained about the £10 cash back scheme via the energyhelpine site and how confusing it seems, they agrred and have now giving me a £30 cash back due the misleading infomation, so powergen have now redeemed themselves to me, as martin says it pays to badger companys.

FERNIE_3

Is this a saving? I have my gas and electricity with Scottish Gas. I received a mail shot saying Fix you energy prices until 2007! -for a small protection payment. You can view this at https://www.house.co.uk/fixed. I would appreciate any ones views if this is worth it. ???

MarkyMarkD

If your gas supplier is BG (SG - same difference) you are already paying WAY over the odds for your gas.

So, if you pay the "small" premium to fix prices, you will pay even more over the odds.

It will be cheaper for you to switch your supply to a better value supplier, and to ignore the spurious benefits of fixing the price.

Mickey_998

Hi, all the discussion and comparison companies seem to be directed at domestic users. Where do you go to find a comparison for suppliers of electricity for businesses - especially small ones? Thanks in anticipation. ??? ???

Lehop

Have just learnt that if you are over 50 (which unfortunately, I am!) you get a special deal from SWALEC - affecting most Welsh customers.e.g. 3 people living in a 3 bedroomed house pay £63 per month for all gas and electricity regardless of how much they use. Can this be their ploy to win back customers? I'm going to give it a try.

Milex

Have just learnt that if you are over 50 (which unfortunately, I am!) you get a special deal from SWALEC - affecting most Welsh customers.e.g. 3 people living in a 3 bedroomed house pay £63 per month for all gas and electricity regardless of how much they use. Can this be their ploy to win back customers? I'm going to give it a try.

Hi lehop. This sounds very similar to the Staywarm scheme operated by Powergen, which gives you a fixed monthly payment - on the face of quite a convenient scheme.

However, when I called PG for a Staywarm quote expecting savings, they wanted details of my recent usage then - lo & behold - their quote came out at nearly 10% MORE than my existing suppliers (BG gas & Seeboard elec). This was rather odd, as with my annual KWh usage most comparison sites showed PG should be about 20% LESS than existing. PG's excuse: I would have "peace of mind" (explained as knowing exactly how much I would pay every month). Astoundingly, PG then said that they would review the quoted price if my usage turned out to be more than they expected! Is that wanting it both ways, or what? ???

I reckon an extra 30% or so is a very high price to pay for "peace of mind", especially when there is no price fix or guarantee.

I think the lesson is to check the comparison sites carefully before accepting ANY offer from your existing supplier(s). That will show up exactly how good (or bad) the offer really is.

As you're over 50, it's worth asking Age Concern if you're eligible for their tariff (coincidentally, also operated by PG) which often comes out near the top of comparison site tables, with some little extras like cold weather rebates & free energy-saving lamps (see here: http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/products_4154.htm).

malcolmord

Some times it gets confusing

CAREFUL

I switched to Scottish Power in October/ November and understand I am entitled to £10 I noticed that my account had been credited with £10 on 6th December and is described as ""Fundraising innovation" I do not know what this is. Can it be the sum due on my switch to Scottish Power? If not when should I get the £10 and how will be described please

CAREFUL

I can now answer my own question. The sum I received is in respect of the switch to Scottish Power

Lazy_Ike

Hope some one can help with this. I have been procrastinating with regard to switching providers. Last week sorted my phones/internet out, but stalled with regard to energy. I am with BG for both gas and electricity. Prior to BG’s big increase I got a quote from Staywarm. This was 50% higher than I was paying – too much to pay for ‘peace of mind’. I have not bothered to try Staywarm since the increase, as their old quote is still 22% more than my new costs.
On 7/1/05, using the Energy Helpline site Powergen-Age Concern (not the cheapest) returned a figure of £103 potential saving. Powergen’s own site gave me a figure of £96 saving. I then phoned Powergen as I could not work out where Age Concern came into the equation from their website. Very friendly helpful rep. took my figures, and returned a quote showing a saving of £47. He told me the big difference was accounted for by the fact that Powergen had increased their tariffs as at 4/1/05. I was able to quote the charge per KwH from their website to him, and he confirmed that these were still at the old rate.
I have just run my figures through both Energy Helpline, and Powergen’s sites and the figures returned are exactly as above.
Is it correct that Powergen increased tariffs this year? One would hope they would update their website asap, or am I being naive? What assurance do I have (if any) that I will get a saving based on the big differences between quotes? If I can get the £96 saving I will likely go with Powergen, but if can save only £47 I would rather use another provider.