EDF Say They Can Save Me Between £110 - £163 Per Year Over BG?

Ripperoo

Hi guys

Using Uswitch, EDF can apparently save me £110 per year (gas & elec combined)? The calculated annual price being £606.

This was using accurate annual consumption figures from the last 12 months.

The actual cost of the gas & electric (from BG) I used over the last 12 months was £591 (combined).

So by those calculations EDF will actually be £15 more expensive.

Now I haven't taken into account the recent announcement from BG regarding the massive hike in the cost of gas & electric and if EDF are using the new figures, then the £591 is a useless figure as I'll roughly be paying somewhere in the region of £80 - £85 more overall (approx £675).

Which would possibly be a saving of around £70. Providing EDF don't put up their prices any time soon.

It does say on the EDF calculator page: "Savings calculator last updated for 20/09/2005". So I take it that the figures it produces will reflect the BG increases that start the day before.

What I find strange is that EDF say they can save me £110 on Uswitch, but the sister companies (Seeboard, SWEB & LE) could save me £163. But apparently I can't get the others in my area. What gives there?

However, using the calculator on the EDF site gives a saving of £163 (same a the sisters). Hmmmm!

The prices they estimate in the breakdown for my usage over 12 months are way off tho'.

Using the same annual consumption figures as I used on Uswitch, they estimate my usage at £726 (combined), whereas it was actually £591.

Again, this could be innaccurate due to the recent increases announced by those robbing barstewards BG. But even so, it's at least £50 out.

Here was me thinking I was gonna save a few quid this year too by getting the loft & the wall cavities insulated.

So for my questions (if you got this far);):

1. Have EDF already increased their prices recently?
2. Anyone have experience of cheaper electric & gas bills using EDF istead of BG?
3. Are EDF any good overall as a supplier?

I'll probably end up staying with BG until April next year (when the capped offer runs out), then it will goodbye BG.

They're even phasing out the prompt payment To55ers!

Anyway, thanks.
--
Regards
Ripperoo

Teak

Are you looking at the online dual fuel tariff or just the standard tariff? Don't know if it's the same, but I noticed earlier this year the LE online savings calculator quoted less saving than online comparison sites like uswitch. I later found out to ignore the LE site's savings as that only compared their standard tariff where as the comparison sites can offer the cheaper online tariff. Also maybe the difference might be down to outdated competitor tariff prices or not taking into account your BG capped tariff?

But to answer your 1st question, yeah EDF (LE, SB, SWEB) had a standard tariff price rise in August, while the last online tariff price rise was in June. EDF's capped offer only applies to the more expensive standard tariff btw.

As for the BG price rise, Uswitch state:

http://www.uswitch.com/Energy/help/news.asp?ref=~bgtrack

10th September 2005: British Gas announce price rises
British Gas announced yesterday it will be raising its prices. Gas prices will rise by 14.2% and electricity by 14.2%.

Their customers face an increase in their bills of £64 for gas and £40 for electricity. This will mean an increase for the average family bill of £104 increasing their total bill to £821 a year.

The price rises will come into effect from 19th September 2005.

uSwitch.com has updated the British Gas plans and prices in our energy comparison service to reflect the price rises.

If you did the quote on or before the 10th, might be worth redoing it just to be sure you got the updated prices.