How are you comparing energy prices?

pw23

I understand the MSE. Cheap energy club is no longer operating and I checked Uswitch and they only show me the fixed deal with so energy, so I was wondering what others are doing to compare ther energy tariff with the market ?

has it now resorted to us having to  compare manually by visiting every energy companies website site and comparing 
if do, is there a way to quickly find a list of every energy firm that can supply me electricity?

[Deleted User]

pw23 said:

I understand the MSE. Cheap energy club is no longer operating and I checked Uswitch and they only show me the fixed deal with so energy, so I was wondering what others are doing to compare ther energy tariff with the market ?

has it now resorted to us having to  compare manually by visiting every energy companies website site and comparing 
if do, is there a way to quickly find a list of every energy firm that can supply me electricity?

You will find that the cheapest deals are mainly being offered to existing customers under loyalty schemes. If you want cheap electricity and gas AT THE MOMENT then take a look at Octopus Agile or Tracker. The downside of these tariffs is the lack of price certainty. Moreover, should wholesale market conditions change due to say an unexplained failure of a UK to Europe interconnector, or a massive hike in LNG prices, then these tariffs would be the first to rise.

Montybell1

Its all a con the price cap, the cap on unit price and the cap on standard charges are just limits they are not allowed to go over, so they just set them at maximum, they don’t have to but why wouldn’t they, 
All this caring about customers is a load of bull. Until one supplier breaks ranks & set lower rates nothing will ever happen, sorry to say but you won’t ever see rates below £1700 a year .

Mstty

Montybell1 said:

Its all a con the price cap, the cap on unit price and the cap on standard charges are just limits they are not allowed to go over, so they just set them at maximum, they don’t have to but why wouldn’t they, 
All this caring about customers is a load of bull. Until one supplier breaks ranks & set lower rates nothing will ever happen, sorry to say but you won’t ever see rates below £1700 a year .

I believe legally every energy supplier has to have the standard price capped tariff as an offering.

I also believe a lot of suppliers have fixes cheaper than the price cap so they are doing what you ask.

QrizB

Montybell1 said:

Its all a con the price cap, the cap on unit price and the cap on standard charges are just limits they are not allowed to go over, so they just set them at maximum, they don’t have to but why wouldn’t they, 
All this caring about customers is a load of bull. Until one supplier breaks ranks & set lower rates nothing will ever happen, sorry to say but you won’t ever see rates below £1700 a year .

Well that's certainly an opinion.

And "ever" is a very long time.

mahler

I'm with EON, and have had a few emails from them in the past couple of weeks offering me their "Next Pledge" tariff, so with the 1st October coming up I thought I'd check what Martin Lewis had to say about it. It all sounded OK, but EON want their customers to agree to install a SMART meter, which I definitely don't want to do. If I go on the new tariff and then refuse to let the meter changers into my house what do you think EON would do about it - put me on the Energy Price-Cap tariff instead? I've been giving them monthly meter readings since I've been with them and don't see why I need to have a SMART meter installed, of which even the latest generation seem to cause numerous problems for their users. I remember going on a Sainsbury's energy tariff a couple of years ago, and they also stipulated that the tariff's rates were on condition of installing a SMART meter. I went ahead, but never made the appointment for the meter installation. Nothing happened, and I continued with Sainsbury's until the end of the contract. 

[Deleted User]

mahler said:

I'm with EON, and have had a few emails from them in the past couple of weeks offering me their "Next Pledge" tariff, so with the 1st October coming up I thought I'd check what Martin Lewis had to say about it. It all sounded OK, but EON want their customers to agree to install a SMART meter, which I definitely don't want to do. If I go on the new tariff and then refuse to let the meter changers into my house what do you think EON would do about it - put me on the Energy Price-Cap tariff instead? I've been giving them monthly meter readings since I've been with them and don't see why I need to have a SMART meter installed, of which even the latest generation seem to cause numerous problems for their users. I remember going on a Sainsbury's energy tariff a couple of years ago, and they also stipulated that the tariff's rates were on condition of installing a SMART meter. I went ahead, but never made the appointment for the meter installation. Nothing happened, and I continued with Sainsbury's until the end of the contract. 

So you agree to the terms and conditions of a new contract and then refuse to honour them. How would you feel if you signed up to a new contract which came with a £150 credit, and the supplier refused to pay it to you. It is a breach of contract - pure and simple. E.oN has every right to switch you to a non smart meter tariff if you renege on the agreement that you have made with them.



There are now tens of millions of smart meters in use. Note: when your meters reach the end of life, suppliers can now fit smart meters WITHOUT the consumers approval. They also have a legal right of entry to replace end of life meters.

FreeBear

Dolor said: There are now tens of millions of smart meters in use. Note: when your meters reach the end of life, suppliers can now fit smart meters WITHOUT the consumers approval. They also have a legal right of entry to replace end of life meters.

But they only have "right of entry" with a court order (unless you know different and can link to the relevant legislation).

[Deleted User]

FreeBear said:

Dolor said: There are now tens of millions of smart meters in use. Note: when your meters reach the end of life, suppliers can now fit smart meters WITHOUT the consumers approval. They also have a legal right of entry to replace end of life meters.

But they only have "right of entry" with a court order (unless you know different and can link to the relevant legislation).

Correct - but their right to go to a Court for a Warrant of Entry is enshrined in The Gas and Electricity Acts and 

Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954

It is an act of last resort and the homeowner would be made well aware that an application is being made.

Scot_39

Montybell1 said:

Its all a con the price cap, the cap on unit price and the cap on standard charges are just limits they are not allowed to go over, so they just set them at maximum, they don’t have to but why wouldn’t they, 
All this caring about customers is a load of bull. Until one supplier breaks ranks & set lower rates nothing will ever happen, sorry to say but you won’t ever see rates below £1700 a year .

The cap as the name applies is just a cap. It is the maximum they are allowed to charge.

Octopus for instance have in the past priced pre pay below the cap - and unless it's changed recently - charge slightly below (about 2% per fuel) the Ofgem standing charge cap rate - around £12 on average standing charges for duel fuel - for the standard default single rate and e7 tariffs.

EOn will soon be charging me 0.4p less in standing charge per day than the Ocotber cap for my multirate electric.

Their are fixs out there - some loyalty - some open to any customer.

Some loyalty versions from psts here upto say 5-6% cheaper than the Ofgem cap rates for July in place at time of offering. One offers a Ofgem cap tracker - £50 cheaper at TDCV consumption.

Suppliers have currently a 1.9% EBIT allowance over allowed costs in cap. What's EBIT - in simple terms - earnings before interest and taxes - thats not profit - those deductions are real - especially at some debt burdened suppliers.

It will rise to 2.5% come October 1st tariff rates.

2.5% at £1923 TDCV usage = £48.

Use less than TDCV - they make a lower EBIT - not profit - EBIT - from you.

You owe them money that they have to borrow to pay the generators - that's interest out of that 1.9/2.5% allowance.

And so your porbably right - most will not be offering £1700 - thats £223 below the cap - on the basis of the £48 EBIT allowance. Not on an Ofgem regulated tariff - essentially priced with secured rates in mind.

Although there are those willing to take on wholesale linked tariffs - like Tracker and Agile (if careful about time of use) - who probably across a whole year might easily beat that.   But remember both of those are largely untested in their current pricing form - and without EPG style discounting - across a full UK winter.

pw23

I'm finding it very difficult to access the different size in order to try and compare, my current provider OVO doesn't offer me any special tariffs, so was hoping someone could set out how exactly I would go about manually comparing

I've tried using a few comparison size, but everyone, for some reason brings me back one result, so Energy, every time, but it isn't cheaper and it is only a fixed tap

 

I miss tge days of the , cheap Energy club, where you type your details down, run a surge, and then get all the results in price order
Are people that used to use the cheap Energy club, Comparison now just sticking with one tear and waiting till and if they offer a better tariff?


I can't help, but think There are cheaper, tariffs/firms available
I'm in South London and the race OVO Charge me are:

Simpler energy economy, 7
Day: 30.63
Night: 18.64
SC: 45.05

how do these rates look to you?
I assume it would be dependent on my location though