Switching tariffs - help with workings out please!

spookylukey

Like many others on here I am considering switching to a price capped tariff. I'm currently with E.on on the Energy Online Extra Saver 5 tariff and am looking at switching to the Price Protection v14. I haven't had a bill yet as have only been in my house since mid February so I rang to see how much extra I would end up paying compared to my current tariff based on the meter readings I have already supplied. The guy said it would work out to about £15 extra a year for gas and the same for elec but that seems really low!

Could anyone who is good with gas/elec figures and workings out see if he is right for me please? I'm on a really tight budget so can't afford to make a mistake with switching on the basis of duff info!

Figures in red are price protection tariff rates and in black are my current tariff prices. I get a 14% total discount for managing my account online and paying by DD for dual fuel and the Price Protection plan gives a 9% discount instead.

Elec
19.635 first 900 kWh then 10.7625
17.1675 9.4185

Gas
4.66095 up to 2680 kWh then 2.97045
3.23505 up to 4572 kWh then 2.57355
(The Price Protection plan has a lower first tier threshold than my current plan 2680 v 4572 at the moment)

The meter readings I have supplied so far are:

Elec - 25th Feb - 2nd April - 277 units used
2nd April - 1st May - 199 units used

Gas - 25th Feb - 2nd April - 99 units (m3) used
2nd April - 1st May - 62 units (m3) used

Thanks in advance for any input

Cardew

I am afraid it is impossible to accurately work out how much extra you will pay unless you know accurately how much gas and electricity - in kWh - you use each year.

Also do the prices above include VAT?

Your electricity consumption will probably not vary greatly during the year(a little higher in winter) so a reasonable estimate would be 2,500kWh a year.

Gas is more difficult to estimate as summer use is way lower than winter.

You have used a low 1,800(approx) kWh in approx 10 weeks at the end of the winter, so you are obviously a very low user. I would think that an estimate of 7,000kWh would be about right.

To further complicate matters, as you are a very low gas user it is possible you will not use all your tier 1(primary) gas units in a summer quarter under your current tariff, but will under the PP tariff.

Taking my estimate of 2,500kWh for electricity I calculate you will be paying
Approx £262 on your current tariff(after 14% discount) and £317 on the PP tariff(after 9% discount)

With a 7,000kWh annual gas consumption you will be paying approx £181 on your current tariff(after 14% discount) and approx £230 on the PP tariff.(after 9%)

notbritishgas

spookylukey wrote: »

Like many others on here I am considering switching to a price capped tariff. I'm currently with E.on on the Energy Online Extra Saver 5 tariff and am looking at switching to the Price Protection v14. I haven't had a bill yet as have only been in my house since mid February so I rang to see how much extra I would end up paying compared to my current tariff based on the meter readings I have already supplied. The guy said it would work out to about £15 extra a year for gas and the same for elec but that seems really low!

Could anyone who is good with gas/elec figures and workings out see if he is right for me please? I'm on a really tight budget so can't afford to make a mistake with switching on the basis of duff info!

Figures in red are price protection tariff rates and in black are my current tariff prices. I get a 14% total discount for managing my account online and paying by DD for dual fuel and the Price Protection plan gives a 9% discount instead.

Elec
19.635 first 900 kWh then 10.7625
17.1675 9.4185

Gas
4.66095 up to 2680 kWh then 2.97045
3.23505 up to 4572 kWh then 2.57355
(The Price Protection plan has a lower first tier threshold than my current plan 2680 v 4572 at the moment)

The meter readings I have supplied so far are:

Elec - 25th Feb - 2nd April - 277 units used
2nd April - 1st May - 199 units used

Gas - 25th Feb - 2nd April - 99 units (m3) used
2nd April - 1st May - 62 units (m3) used

Thanks in advance for any input

Hi, lets take the electric. The price protection tariff for the first 900 units is 2.4675p more expensive than your current one. That means the first units will be 900 times 2.4675 = £22.20 more expensive. Then we have the secondary units which are more than 1p more expensive. From your readings you use about 2400kwh per year so that is 1500 secondary units at 1p extra which equals £15.
So in total, price protection for electric will be more than £37 extra, which shows their figure of £15 to be less than true.
I guess that the gas will be equally wrong.

spookylukey

Thank you both so much for taking the time to reply

Cardew - Those figures do include VAT, I know it's not possible to work out accurately how much extra I woule be paying but your calculations give me a really good idea of how much extra I'm likely to be paying - much more than E.on's 'about £15 a year' answer!

I am a low user of both gas and elec, it's just me in a 2 bed house. I work full time so am out of the house for most of the day and when I'm in the house I'm really aware of my gas and elec usage as I really can't afford to have a big bill which is what's making me lean towards the price protection tariff.

Cardew wrote: »

To further complicate matters, as you are a very low gas user it is possible you will not use all your tier 1(primary) gas units in a summer quarter under your current tariff, but will under the PP tariff.

I would have thought that was a good thing though? On my current tariff it's very unlikely that I would ever get to the second cheaper price tier but on the Price Protection tariff I might do.

Thanks again for your help

spamberler

Im in a similar position, i live on my own in a 3 bed house. Im on the same tariff and only just switched. I really want to go with the 'ScottishPower - Online Fixed Price Energy NSC' but I dont know if I am able to switch again so soon??