Pre-meter Gas & Electric

msaquib

Hi,

I will be moving to my new first home. I was living with my parents previously.

At present the Gas & Elecric is provided by NPower pre-meter. I have looked at Simply switch. I've enetred 3 betrooms and 3 people currently living in the property.

Also enetered:-

Tariff details Do you have Economy 7? No
Is your current tariff capped / fixed? No

Can anyone explain what is Economy 7 and tariff capped/fixed?

My results for new pre-meter:- Elec & Gas recommends EDF Energy. When I click on Gas only it recommends Ebico. When I click on Electric only agian it recommends Ebico.

If Ebico are good then why it isn't recommended for having Electric & Gas in one place?

Thanks
M

far

Economy 7 is a 2 tier tariff for electricity which is only really meant to be used if you have storage heaters as your main or only source of heating. It provides 7 hours of very cheap electricity at night but during the day, electricity is dearer than the standard rate. A capped or fixed tariff is one (like say Southern Electric's Price Fix 2008) that will have it's prices capped or fixed for a certain period of time. The reason why EBico aren't recommended for gas and electric is probably that Southern are cheaper if you take electric and gas from them.

msaquib

Thanks for your reply.

I have heard from my friends that Ebico are cheap relating to Pre-meter. The house I will be moving into is quite big and it might use more electric and Gas. I guess it might be around £60 a month each.

Which one would you recommend? I live in Birmingham.

Thanks
M

far

For most situations, EBico are cheaper if you are on a pre-payment meter - from memory I believe they are only dearer if you use much more than the average for gas and electricity. As always, use one of the switching sites to confirm this though. You could, if you wish, ask to be switched to a credit meter as soon as you move in - this would give you access to much cheaper tariffs.