BG Standard Variable or alternative?

Shoxt3r

Hi all,

We're due to come to the end of our fixed British Gas tariff "Peaksave Super Sunday v6" (which no comparison site seems to have heard of) and weighing up options given the price cap increase in October.

We've been told by BG that we can switch now without fees, and will be switched to their Standard Variable Tariff from 15th October.

Having looked at the Energy Club and Uswitch options, a shorter fixed term seems to be the best case at the moment, given how volatile things are. Therefore I'm thinking about switching us to a 12-month term and review options again next year.

BG can offer the following as options, but all are £20-40 more expensive a month (estimated).

• Cap Tracker Sep27 v1
• Standard Variable Tariff
• PeakSave Super Sunday Nov27 v4
• Fix and Fall Sep28 v4
  

Uswitch recommends Fuse Energy:

While the Energy Club comparison recommends E.ON:

We're using gas and electric, and our usage based on readings from the last year are as follows:

Gas:
4,742 kWh

Electricity:
1,643 kWh

Estimated annual cost:
£1,092

We pay roughly £100 a month via Direct Debit, and have around £170 in credit with British Gas at the moment.

Any thoughts on best action to take?

Many thanks,

Andrew

QrizB

Of the two I'd choose the Fuse fix. It's 18 months which will give you certainty through two winters, and if prices plummet you can exit early for £50 per fuel.

Sign up with them direct and you'll be able to claim a referral credit. There are plenty of Fuse customers around I'm sure you'll find someone with a code.

Shoxt3r

Thanks QrizB!

I've had a look at Fuse Energy and completed a quote, but it's worse than the Variable Rate from British Gas (at least based on their estimates), even using Fuse's "Fixed" tariffs….

Confusingly, running a similar quote via USwitch comes out differently?

QrizB

I've had a look at Fuse Energy and completed a quote, but it's worse than the Variable Rate from British Gas

Bear in mind that the BG variable rate will be rising by about 4% at the start of October (£5 a month) and by another 20% at the start of January (£25 a month). The Fuse fix is fixed.

Confusingly, running a similar quote via USwitch comes out differently?

That looks to me as though you've given different annual energy use figures to USwitch than you did to BG or Fuse. Do you want to check them?

QrizB

See also this Martin Lewis video clip where he explains all this better than I did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7XL4ZBfUqE

Shoxt3r

Wow, thanks QrizB - I miss seeing his show so that explains a lot!
Much better for me to lock-in as it stands and go from there in 18 months.