Help - do i need to switch - my rates seem lower than the rest and i don't understand why!

MURT83

Hi, i'm looking for some help please, i feel like i'm missing some really basic detail when looking at new energy deals but i can't for the life of me figure it out!

I've had emails from MSE Energy club saving there are cheaper deals and i should consider fixing (i'm on a standard tariff with Utilita).  When i put my details into the calculator it is coming up with deals where it says i will save between 3-8% annually on my current tariff.  Fab! But when i go into the details of these tariffs the rates are higher than my current rates.  E.g. an 8% saving is available with Ecotricity but their gas rates are 6.405p kwh, standing charge 40.226p per day.  When i check my current bill it's showing first 62.00kwh @ 21.249 and all other units at 6.307p kwh.  This is cheaper right?  I'm not imagining it?  Why does MSE see my annual bill will be lower and save me money, i honestly don't get it and i want to make sure i have switched to a fixed deal before the price cap increase next week if that's what i need to do. 

Also just to add, my bills with Utilita are not low, they're ridiculous!  I switched to  a credit basis and my bill has gone from £140 to £240 to £280 in the last 3 months.  I'm currently trying to reach them on the phone to discuss but am on hold forever....

Advice and insight much appreciated, thanks

Toni 

Dogbyte009

Utilita doesn't have standing charges. What you're paying is 21.249 per Kwh for the first 62 Kwhs then 6.307 for anything else.

If you were to switch you'd be paying 6.405 for every Kwh but with the addition of 40.226 per day.

To work out if it's cheaper you need to look at how much energy you use in a month, multiply by 6.405, then add 40.226 x the number of days in the month.

debitcardmayhem

When you say your bill has gone up 140/240/280 is that the bill or the Direct Debit. You need to look at the bills and note the kWh you have used and then let us know.

FreeBear

Dogbyte009 said:

Utilita doesn't have standing charges. What you're paying is 21.249 per Kwh for the first 62 Kwhs then 6.307 for anything else.

If you were to switch you'd be paying 6.405 for every Kwh but with the addition of 40.226 per day.

To work out if it's cheaper you need to look at how much energy you use in a month, multiply by 6.405, then add 40.226 x the number of days in the month.

But do watch the small print - Some suppliers quote unit rates inclusive of 5% VAT, others don't.

bagand96

MURT83 said:

When i check my current bill it's showing first 62.00kwh @ 21.249 and all other units at 6.307p kwh.  This is cheaper right?  I'm not imagining it?  Why does MSE see my annual bill will be lower and save me money, i honestly don't get it and i want to make sure i have switched to a fixed deal before the price cap increase next week if that's what i need to do. 

Is this a typo?  Do you mean the first 2 kWh a day are 21.249p rather than the first 62?  Because if it's the first 62 then there's no way Utilita will work out cheaper!

It's just a case of doing the maths, the MSE Comparison tool is limited and can't always compare every tariff, not sure if it can do the Utilita tariffs properly or not.  For the rates you quote the Utilita tariff is cheaper....

2kWh will cost 42.498p with Utilita, but 53.036p with ecotricity (40.226p + 2 x 6.405p).  After that every kWh is also marginally cheaper with Utilita.

Dogbyte009

Is this a typo?  Do you mean the first 2 kWh a day are 21.249p rather than the first 62?  Because if it's the first 62 then there's no way Utilita will work out cheaper!

As I understand it from the Utilita website the first 62 Kwh per month are 21.249 which makes up for not having a standing charge.

On the basis of a quick back of the envelope calculation there's a break even point at around 600 Kwh per month after which Ecotricity will be cheaper.

bagand96

Dogbyte009 said:

As I understand it from the Utilita website the first 62 Kwh per month are 21.249 which makes up for not having a standing charge.

On the basis of a quick back of the envelope calculation there's a break even point at around 600 Kwh per month after which Ecotricity will be cheaper.

Ah ok I see.  That's strange, when I checked on Utilita earlier and got a quote, I saw the following:

Our Smart Energy tariff has two unit rates and no Standing Charge. First Rate is collected for the first 2 kWh of electricity or 2 kWh of gas used per day. Saver Rate applies for all remaining kWh of electricity or gas used in the day.

I guess they must have different tariffs - the quote only lets you select PAYG, so it might be different for Monthly DD tariffs.  Whilst first 2 kWh per day or first 62 kWh per month might seem the same (at least for a 31 day month) it's not exactly.

Ildhund

bagand96 said:

First Rate is collected for the first 2 kWh of electricity or 2 kWh of gas used per day. Saver Rate applies for all remaining kWh of electricity or gas used in the day.

 Whilst first 2 kWh per day or first 62 kWh per month might seem the same (at least for a 31 day month) it's not exactly.

It most certainly isn't the same. You might make use of a tariff like this for a weekend cottage, so suppose you turned up on 29 March for the first two-night stay of the year. You managed to use 70kWh on the Saturday and 80kWh on the Sunday to keep the temperature up, but only 5kWh on the Monday while packing up to go home again. What would your March bill look like?

I'm guessing it would be
1-28 March   0
29 March 2kWh @ 0.21249 + 68kWh @ 0.060307 = £ 4.53
30 March 2kWh @ 0.21249 + 78kWh @ 0.060307 = £ 5.13
31 March 2kWh @ 0.21249 +   3kWh @ 0.060307 = £ 0.61
Total for the month's 155kWh  £4.53 + £5.13 + £1.06 = £ 10.72

If on the other hand you lived much more frugally, with no holiday cottage to retreat to, you might use just 5kWh per day throughout the month, totalling 155kWh. Your bill would be (31 x) 2kWh @ 0.21249 + 3kWh @ 0.060307 =  £18.78.

The same amount of energy used, but the fat cat pays a lot less because of the time of use.

I honestly have no idea how they actually calculate it, but I'm guessing any variation is in their favour, not the customer's. I just took a quote from them; the rates were 51.73p/kWh for 'first rate' and 23.29p/kWh for the 'saver (!) rate', so it sounds like you're on a good deal. I wonder how they manage to settle their standing charge bill with Ofgem and the distributors. I also wonder what the anti-standing-charge brigade would say to a tariff like this. 

QrizB

Ildhund said:

I honestly have no idea how they actually calculate it ...

AIUI, PAYG is billed daily and pay monthly is billed monthly. So it's more of a benefit to PAYG customers than it is to credit ones.

Ildhund said:

I just took a quote from them; the rates were 51.73p/kWh for 'first rate' and 23.29p/kWh for the 'saver (!) rate'

I think you've got an electricity quote there, while the OP is comparing gas tariffs.

Ildhund said:

I also wonder what the anti-standing-charge brigade would say to a tariff like this. 

It's this Utilita tariff that's usually mentioned as an alternative whever we get a thread protesting against standing charges.