Swtiching Confusion

Jakaru

I'm a little puzzled now I've started this.

I have my Annual Comsumption for both Gas & Elec in KWh (figured its the best way, as consumption via Price I felt paid could be easily worked out on the wrong info by the comparison sites) - I know what I was paying per month until recently, when my Monthly DD amounts were recalculated, so I have those figures too (which means I say pretty accurately how much I'm using and what my yearly cost of that is.

Current gas & elec together, £49 a month, £588 a year.

Was £64 a month, £768 a year, before they were recalculated (I was building up credit with them, basically, so they had to change them).

I put my KWh hours into Energy Helpline, and it estimates I'm paying around £780 a year currently, and then lists my savings. Now, its fair to assume that the savings are based on that figure - yet my savings (around £130-160 including any cashbacks), would mean that overall I'd be paying out roughly the same as I am now by switching?

Tried the other comparison sites, and got my 'Estimate current spend' fed back to me as £680-730 - with savings listed which MUST be based on that figure.

I'm now REALLY dubious about any of the savings listed, as if they can't reliably estimate what I'm spending now - then the savings become nonsense.

So - I stopped looking at the savings, and looked at what they were estimating would be my New yearly spend with the new suppliers. They basically all estimate I'd pay around £650 a year.

I'm not paying that Now - and yet I'm on British Gas standard tariff. Quite Surreal.

I can stay where I am - and assume I'll pay £588 a year - or Switch, and pay £650 and get maybe £30 cashback. I must be doing something wrong somewhere, but I'm lost as to what....

notbritishgas

Why don't you work out your current annual spend yourself using the unit prices that you pay BG and your annual consumption in kwh, do not forget you pay some at the higher rate if you are on a no standing charge tariff.
You can then compare this figure with those quoted on the comparison sites, but be aware that it might bear no resemblance to the Direct debit amounts that you are paying.
Possibly the £49 you pay is low because you had a credit balance, the real figure could be higher.

Jakaru

Haven't done the working out my own figures, as while I have the 2 different Tiers for both, being sure how many of my KWh are at each rate currently is a problem (perhaps this is where the comparison sites stumble, my usage may be mainly on the lower tiers).

Being devils advocate, I wondered if I could assume that my Old prices were correct (£768 a year), and go off that as a better basis for savings - but as I know for certain that that Was building up credit, its fair to assume that my real figure might be slightly higher than the £588, but reasonably lower than the £768.

This led me to a figure around £650 of course. Which is what the comparison sites are coming up with for my 'new' amount.

I think what this means is that if I switch, I'll have a Similar monthly payment to my current (650/12=54, currently 56) - but
I'll not be in credit with anyone, or building up to much credit (a good thing I guess). There may then perhaps be some return of Credit from BG (not a lot, but maybe £30-50), plus cashbacks from the swtich - so I could end up £80 better off that way in the medium term I think.

Had my Monthly not been recalculated by BG - this would have been a WHOLE lot simpler!

Jakaru

Ah ah...! Without boring you with the details - it looks like removing the built up credit from my account would change my monthly DD from £56 to more like £62! It's not particularly accurate, as its hard to say what my current credit is at any specific moment from quarterly statements, so I'm guesstimating.

That gives £744 a year - and puts it much more in the line of what the comparison sites are saying, and gives me a saving.

This does mean I think that I would maintain my current payment level as it just Co-incidentally matches the price I would get elsewhere - but I could get Cashback on the deal, and I'd hope Credit back from BG. A phone call to confirm they would pay back credit if I switched is my next move I think.

I knew I must be going wrong somewhere... phew.