Gas and Electricity Help Please :)

LadyMorticia

We were originally on Southern Electric for both gas and electricity. We've just switched to British Gas. We are on Pre-payment.

Is pre-payment the cheapest way to pay for Gas and Electricity?
I'm not really clued up on this type of thing.

We started with British Gas in October. If we were to change to quarterly would we be able to after such a small time with being on prepayment with British Gas?

Also, I'm on disability benefits. So I want to get the cheapest option.

Thank you.

xx

Terrylw1

Hi,

PP generally isn't the cheapest option as their are additional costs which you will cover e.g. maintenance, cards, Paypoints etc. So, Suppliers charge you more with the exception of Ebico who charge the same for PP as credit metering.

Changing to credit will allow you to scoop DD cashbacks as well as allow you to get a lower price per unit (Kwh) and obtain a maximum duel fuel bonus with your DD.

So, it's worth putting your annual consumption into a comparison site to see what the credit alternatives would be and how much you would save/get awarded in bonuses etc.

BGas will have to do a credit check on you to change you and may request a security deposit. Although, if you think out of the box you could pay the security deposit and then switch again which means they can't retain your deposit (and your new Supplier will have you down as credit so no deposit). Thats just a tip to get around it.

You may also qualify for additional benefits for the vulnerable such as cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and be able to go on the Priority Services Register (PSR) which may get you a better service.

melbury

LadyMorticia wrote: »

We were originally on Southern Electric for both gas and electricity. We've just switched to British Gas. We are on Pre-payment.

Is pre-payment the cheapest way to pay for Gas and Electricity?
I'm not really clued up on this type of thing.

We started with British Gas in October. If we were to change to quarterly would we be able to after such a small time with being on prepayment with British Gas?

Also, I'm on disability benefits. So I want to get the cheapest option.

Thank you.

xx

That is quite a rare thing, somebody actually switching over to BG!

BexTech

Pre-payment is the dearest way of paying for energy, can be a few hundred pounds dearer.

Although Ebico charge the same no matter how you pay, their rates for those not on pre-payment aren't good, that is to say whilst their tariff is cheaper than other suppliers when you have a pre-payment meter, you can get much higher savings if you had a credit meter as the other suppliers are cheaper.

Farway

LadyMorticia wrote: »

We were originally on Southern Electric for both gas and electricity. We've just switched to British Gas. We are on Pre-payment.

Is pre-payment the cheapest way to pay for Gas and Electricity?
I'm not really clued up on this type of thing.

We started with British Gas in October. If we were to change to quarterly would we be able to after such a small time with being on prepayment with British Gas?

Also, I'm on disability benefits. So I want to get the cheapest option.

Thank you.

xx

As others have pointed out PP is not cheapest way [except for Ebico with standard tariff]

However if your sole income is disability benefits then you may like the comfort of knowing that on PP you will not get yourself inadvertently into debt.

You only have to have a read of this board to find tales of woe where the DD doubles, or did not cover cost & folk owe hundreds of pounds

Whilst cost is important so is a sound nights sleep, and as you say you are not clued up on this kind of thing it may be a better option at the moment to start recording just how much power you use, in Kilowatts and cubic metres or feet, then you will get a figure to compare and judge the budgetting you will need to do

SwanJon

It might be worth enquiring about BG's essentials tarrif - this gives you the equivelant of the DD discount whilst still using PP.
You can still get cheaper using an online tariff though