Comparing the comparison services discussion

parkview_2

I went to change supplier last week and tried a number of comparison services. I was shocked by uSwitch, the leader!

I understand that they are a commercial business and need to make money, but if this is a priority over providing an unbiased service, they shouldn't be able to say that they meet the energywatch code, which it appears, they don't.

By default, they hide suppliers with a service rating below three. This is fair enough as it may be a deciding factor.

However, after a bit of research, it became clear to me that the only suppliers with a rating below three are ones that do not pay commission.

Surely if energywatch are accrediting these sites, they should check to make sure that their code is being adhered to.

OK, uSwitch do make the hidden suppliers show via a very discreet link, but surely the user should see all by default and make their own decision about the service rating.

Maybe energywatch should have indsutry standard service ratings that the comparison sites use, rather than letting them make up their own as a way of tweaking results to generate higher levels of income.

cheapie_claire

We used energyhelpline with the cashback site and they said that we would save £50 by changing from Npower to Powergen. They then phoned us to say that they had made a mistake with our region and we would only save £5 so did we still want to change? We said no so they said they would cancel the transfer. Only they didn't and now Powergen have taken us on, and say that is too late to cancel with them. So now we have to change even though we'll only save £5 and we'll have all the hassle of trying to find another cheaper company all over again. That's the last time we use energyhelpline!!

charlie12

I found that all comparison services I checked don't actually show you the cheapest deal. They're all a complete joke TBH. I only found them useful at first to get information about various suppliers. The fact that they favour providers that give them commission is shocking but I can't say I'm surprised.

In the end I calculated the costs manually myself and found that the best provider for us was nowhere near the top of these comparison site's listings.

caveat_emptor

Agree. Faced with a rise of 20% from EDF Energy I contacted Simply Switch for best prices and they quoted me npower at £583. This seemed like a good deal so I checked prices on the npower website and came up with £633 which included a £50/year discount. It seems that Simply Switch had applied the £50 discount twice.
Beware the utilities switching sites!

bikeman

First of all let me appologise in advance for not reading all the posts here if I am repeating a common issue.

I have tried to the gas/elec price comparisons on websites such as uswitch and find that they compare suppliers prices at rates only available to new customers.

As an existing Powergen customer I do not get the rates given on these websites. As such it is not possible for me to get an accurate comparison of pricing between my existing supplier and any other. In fact as a powergen customer I am told that I am already on the best deal but this is simply not true because my tariff is nothing like what they compare.

This appears to be the case for all suppliers on these comparison sites as they only seem to compare the best rates available to new customers.

As the majority of customers visiting these sites are undoubtedly existing customers of any given supplier and therefore probably on an old tariff, these pricing comparison systems appear to be fundamentally flawed.

Am I missing something here...

Cardew

bikeman wrote:

Am I missing something here...

If you have a few hours to spare you should read all the threads, posts and Martin's articles on this subject.

All of the comparison web sites have flaws of one sort or another.

The only way is to get hold of each supplier's tariff - bearing in mind that they vary greatly according to the region in which you live.

Using your consumption in KWhs you should then work out the cost for each supplier; taking into account method of payment(Direct Debit is best) and any incentives - running your account on line etc.

Do not assume that dual fuel from the same company will be the cheapest - despite discounts they offer for supplying both. Often it is cheaper to get gas from one company and electricity from another.

BG is nearly always the most expensive for Gas, but pretty competitive(but not the cheapest) for electricity.

Whatever you decide to do, you can bet that within a few weeks changes in tariff will render your decision obsolete!!!

bikeman

True it woudl appear that the only way is to compare manually but these power suppliers are not keen to release their kwh pricing. In my own case as a powergen customer I have repeatly queried the kwh on my bill against their claim that they provide a dual fuel and dd discount yet the kwh amount remained the same when I changed to dual fuel & dd and neither ever appears seperately on my bill. I get assured by them that I get the appropriate discounts but I am not convinced that as an existing customer I actually get them. These companies are not being honest and will suffer with high customer churn which ads to their costs, lowers their margins and ultimately means that customers don't get the best rates.

As to sites like uswitch providing comparisons which are inaccurate (for reasons I said in my previous post), I don't think we should just accept this misleading approach so I am going to make an official complaint to energy watch (I assume these are the right people).

eilz

CHEAPEST & BEST OPTION! DUAL FUEL (T or F?)
Based on 19,050 kwh GAS per year
Based on 3,300 kwh Electric per year

Using ukpower.co.uk & energylinx.co.uk (inc T+ and EBIco) gives best comparisons.

NPOWER is cheapest in E-London area, even cheaper then Telecom Plus.

BUT>>>

If I switch using ENERGYHELPLINE.CO.UK, I Get

£10 Cashback PLUS (from their website)
£50 cashback (NPOWER Online cashback per year)

---

£60 saving + (just for switching)
+
£104 saving annually with NPOWER dual fuel (rating 4 stars out of 5)

---

£164 a Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAVING!

I know NPOWER customer service sucks, but it does stat 4 out of 5 stars

DOES ANYONE DISAGREE ON THESE FIGURES? based on Postcode IGx xxx

loon_2

simply switch are not EW approved

Bombayduck_2

Hi! I'm with British Gas (Elect/Gas Dual Fuel) Meter. I would like to change as they are now putting charges up again although they are going to freeze then until 2010. Would I be best staying where I am or going for the switch? I am Disabled and get disability allowance and see some people recommend "Staywarm" others say "Stear clear". I know it would be better to go Direct Debit but I can see what I am useing and if I want to go away I can make savings ahead of time.
I don't even know if I'm in the right thread.
Please Help!!!