Is anyone comparing energy providers anymore? Is it really pointless these days?

chris112

Prior to these huge energy price hikes, i used to always be switching my electricity provider every 6 months or so gaining more competitive rates but from what I have read it seems that there is no point in switching anymore so I was curious if anyone here still runs a comparison to check?

I've been trying to compare on the cheap energy club but it always says that I am on the lowest tariff, however, looking at the Unt rates  on my account they are from way back so are around 20p per day rate, yet comparison still says that I am on the best tariff, is this because the site no longer runs comparisons? 

surely there's some form of competition despite the energy price cap?

[Deleted User]

Every standard variable tariff is set at the price cap.  No suppliers appear to be offering new fixes.

The only thing worth comparing is the day.night differential on E7 tariffs, and even then only between your existing supplier, EdF and Octopus because nobody else is accepting new customers.

QrizB

chris112 said:

surely there's some form of competition despite the energy price cap?

There is no price competition for single-rate electricity. The government have told the suppliers what to sell at, and that's the price.

Suppliers do get to offer their own split rates for E7, so if you have E7 it might be worth switching (although your only real options are Octopus and EDF - other suppliers haven't been accepting switches for a while).

Or there are the innovative tariffs that some suppliers offer, eg. Octopus. If you qualify these might be worth it.

Otherwise, you'll only really be switching for non-price reasons, like eg. customer service or green-ness of energy.

jimpwarsop

No and yes.

mmmmikey

Hmmm - well in my case yes and no

The EPG has been applied as a flat rate discount and this has lead to some big differences for Economy 7 between suppliers.

For example, in my case, I used an average of 860kWh of day time electricity and 9170kWh of night time electricity per year over the last 2 years. At EDF October EPG rates that comes to a cost of £1207 per year and at BG October that comes to a cost of £2034 - a huge difference! I'm already with EDF but it would certainly be worth changing to them if I was with BG with this usage pattern. Note that my day usage is low because I have solar panels, and the situation is alos improved by charging the solar battery overnight using cheap E7 energy in the winter months.

Both these costs ignore the £400 rebate. If I take the £400 rebate off the EDF cost, I'm not far away from paying the same this winter as I did last (or at least I would be if I hadn't turned off the NSHs in favour of a wood stove).

So, while I would agree that for most people "No and Yes" is a good answer, there are certainly customers for whom it's worth comparing. Specifically, if you're on E7 and either an unusually high day/low night or unusually low day/high night the differences can be significant.

Of course, you still do have the issue of whether your preferred supplier will take you on as a new customer....

Chrysalis

TOU and tracker tariffs are the innovation.

inkydolphin

Bizarre isn't it that privatising the industry to introduce competition has ended up with the prices being set by the government and the government paying the private companies to help their customers because the price is too high.

badger09

inkydolphin said:

Bizarre isn't it that privatising the industry to introduce competition has ended up with the prices being set by the government and the government paying the private companies to help their customers because the price is too high.

Are you implying a causal link?🤔

tghe-retford

badger09 said:

inkydolphin said:

Bizarre isn't it that privatising the industry to introduce competition has ended up with the prices being set by the government and the government paying the private companies to help their customers because the price is too high.

Are you implying a causal link?🤔

There is a saying when it comes to privatisation - privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

[Deleted User]

tghe-retford said:

badger09 said:

inkydolphin said:

Bizarre isn't it that privatising the industry to introduce competition has ended up with the prices being set by the government and the government paying the private companies to help their customers because the price is too high.

Are you implying a causal link?🤔

There is a saying when it comes to privatisation - privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

This isn’t either of those things though.

inkydolphin

badger09 said:

inkydolphin said:

Bizarre isn't it that privatising the industry to introduce competition has ended up with the prices being set by the government and the government paying the private companies to help their customers because the price is too high.

Are you implying a causal link?🤔

No - it's just a bizarre turn of events. 🙂