No dual fuel benefit for electricity only customers?

CrumpM

Why are electricity only customers penalised by not being able to benefit from similar deals like duel fuel customers get from energy suppliers?  Surely in this modern day where there are grants and incentives to go with air/ground source energy it is counter incentives ed to then tell customers they can't benefit from discounts like duel fuel customers can. If anything, it should be the other way round. 

I've also seen recently that MSE are opening the cheap energy club back up but can only provide comparisons for duel fuel customers. Again, a negative point for electricity only customers.

Has anybody seen energy deals that benefit just electricity customers that beat duel fuel deals?

Interested in people's thoughts.

Thanks.

bagand96

Are there any suppliers that offer significant discounts for dual fuel currently? I know my tariff doesn't, or any tariff I've been on in the last few years. 

Robin9

Once upon  a time there was - that disappeared when the new boys came into the market and they were often single fuel only


Edit -  from the MSE guide Edf and  OVO still do dual fuel  but do the sums to see if its better to use separate suppliers

I'm still in a 3 year fix for Elec (SVT for gas) so will do my sums in September

Qyburn

If a business wants to offer a discount if buy two things from them, why would anyone expect to get the same discount for buying only one?

Or is the argument that dual fuel discounts shouldnt be allowed at all?

No skin off my nose as we don't have gas available anyway.

amanda1024

Electricity only means you can benefit from time of use tariffs, which I think don’t apply to dual fuel - plus I’m not aware of any dual fuel offers at the moment

dunstonh

Why are electricity only customers penalised by not being able to benefit from similar deals like duel fuel customers get from energy suppliers?

You would have to assume that dual fuel tariffs are better if you feel you are being penalised.  However, that is not the case.    Whilst some suppliers may offer a small discount reflecting the reduced costs of having both fuels along with the increased income, the reality is that they are not usually market leading deals and you get better electricity terms standalone.

rp1974

Anybody else got that Friday feeling,again?,maybe just me.

As a dual fuel customer myself,albeit with two different suppliers the minimal to non existent discount for getting the two things from one place isn't a realistically worthwhile concern,for most.
Therefore OP,as many suppliers are available,choose one that meets your requirements,and maybe stop with the "penalised" nonsense,when it's nothing of the kind.

matelodave

Even when there were dual fuel tariffs around most people could do better by going for separate gas and electricity deals. The main advantage for most was the fact that they only had one DD but even then there were a lot who couldn't work out how their payments had been apportioned.

Judging my the number of threads on the subject, there are plenty who struggle to understand a singe gas or leccy bill, they'd be twice as confused with a dual bill.

bagand96

CrumpM said: 

I've also seen recently that MSE are opening the cheap energy club back up but can only provide comparisons for duel fuel customers. Again, a negative point for electricity only customers.

The MSE Energy Club Tool states "Currently the tool’s only optimised for dual fuel Price Cap tariffs" 

It does work fine though for single fuel, even if it's not optimised for it (whatever that means)

Qyburn

bagand96 said:

The MSE Energy Club Tool states "Currently the tool’s only optimised for dual fuel Price Cap tariffs" 

It does work fine though for single fuel, even if it's not optimised for it (whatever that means)

Probably means its not sophisticated enough to compare separate prices, only compares on the assumption you use the same supplier for both. 

Gerry1

More to the point is that many suppliers refuse to sell you gas unless you also switch your electricity to them.

That's an anti-competive practice that makes it harder for new suppliers to enter the market, e.g. Fuse, who only supply electricity.

It's just another example of Confusion Marketing so beloved of supermarkets; BOGOF, 3 for 2, 4 for 3, Second One ½ Price, Regular Price £x — Loyalty Card £y, Spend £100 and Save 10p/litre on fuel, etc.

The idea is to make it hard to work out the 'real' price of a product: if there are very few Known Value Items then customers can be bamboozled into believing that promotional prices represent savings.

It's noticeable that Aldi don't use Confusion Marketing.  The price you see is almost always the price you pay, and there's a refreshing absence of shouty banners.  Surprise, surprise, they don't need to employ sleight of hand because they're found to be the cheapest supermarket year after year !

If dozy Ofgem were any good they'd have ensured that all consumers were free to shop around and buy single fuels from all suppliers.