Am I being conned with switching ??

Incisor

c0113tt3 wrote: »

You have a problem contrarymary that you need to address, its nothing personal, but, because of your position, it DOES prevent you from giving fair advice. I am sure you understand this, as with any employee speaking about the company they work for.

With all respect to contrary mary, who is a sales adviser for npower, this forum is to give all the facts about energy companies / deals / tariffs, the good and the bad about each deal / company.

Please be aware, and again with all respect, contrary mary is only giving the good sides to npower (and not stating the bad side) and pointing out any good / bad sides to any other deals with other tariffs / companies. In doing this (by what you dont state) you could infact be giving bad advice

I understand with working for npower it would be difficult to state any particular bad sides, as it could / may be deemed as speaking out about your employer, and I know you want to be genuinely helpfull, but to be able to give advice independently and very likely in your own time, which is appreciated by everyone, does need to state both good and bad.

A possible solution to your problem, could actually be stating that you work for npower in each and every single post, and you are not able to speak of any possible negatives of the company you work for, a disclaimer as such.

Another solution, would be to not speak about npower at all, if you are not able to give good and bad about npower, then stay neutral, and not mention them or not get involved with threads that involve npower or someone considering them.

Colette,

IMO there is no problem requiring a solution here. Contrary Mary has been quite open about her position, and everyone here is a grown up, so we can take Contrary Mary's posts with however big a pinch of salt we would like.

DGJsaver

Premier wrote: »

It is true that Ebico use SSE for their customer service and billing activities. It would even be true to say they work in partnership with SSE, but to suggest they are 'part of Southern Electric' is entirely incorrect.

I dont think so

I think the line is blurred , for me at least as a consumer , i would be fearful of one day they follow the big boys line and leave customers in southern electrics hand

Thats just my view and i cant be the only one

workingboy

Wow!!!

What a response.

To add some salt to the topic, I went to EON's site and used their own comparison site.

Guess what???

Even their own page offers me a saving of approx. £65 using the same figures as used with Uswitch.

I've sent emails to both Uswitch and EON complaining about this trick and await their replies, if any.

I've till Friday to safely cancel my new contract with the cooling period of 14 days.

Watch this space !!

Premier_2

The £65 difference really does suggest that you have not applied the discounts correctly ... easily done bearing in mind how damn complicated the tariff is. Confusion marketing in action!

uSwitch may have offered you a slightly higher saving as they may have negotiated a special tariff with eon, not available with with customers going direct to the supplier.
Or...the prices may be out of date (but the date they were updated should be shown)

I look forward to reading the response you receive.

workingboy

Premier wrote: »

The £65 difference really does suggest that you have not applied the discounts correctly ... easily done bearing in mind how damn complicated the tariff is.

I was'nt aware I should work out any discounts, where they tell me how much I was to save by switching with either Uswitch or EON.

I-LOV-MONEY

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Without a bit more detail on your actual usage when your second home is occupied it is difficult to answer. See my earlier post re knowing annual consumption per annum in kWh.

As a rule of thumb a low user is probably better off choosing a tariff with no standing charge, even qtrly split of the high rate units and the lowest high rate unit price you can find. You really need to do the maths properly, based on your actual consumption for this property.

We tend to only use the property at weekends.

Going through old bills is quite difficult, because some are based on estimates, and the dates don't always coincide.

I am on standard charge - no standing charges.

Gas = 1403 kwH
Elect = 602 kwH

From what I can see, when you are on a 'no standing charge' tariff, they charge higher for the first percentage of units used (to make up for the NSC !), then you pay a reduced rate. However, on a small useage it makes sense to be on NSC.

Can somebody lend me a calculator please ?!

MarkyMarkD

I am surprised by Cardew's allegations against uSwitch. I have used them many times and never found any problem, and that's not because I'm naive and just believe them.

If you enter your consumption in kWh/year, I cannot see how Cardew can suggest that uSwitch is misleading as it simply takes the supplier's rate/kWh and any standing charge and multiplies it up. You can do the same calculation on a spreadsheet or calculator easily enough. Then deduct any discounts for DD payment or dual fuel, and Bob is your uncle.

Why, workingboy, do you think you've been misled? Perhaps the tariff you are comparing to (the one you think you are on) is actually more expensive on uSwitch's site than you bill, because it includes an increase about to or just happened? Perhaps you have entered the wrong tariff name into uSwitch's site?

Cardew

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I am surprised by Cardew's allegations against uSwitch. I have used them many times and never found any problem, and that's not because I'm naive and just believe them.

If you enter your consumption in kWh/year, I cannot see how Cardew can suggest that uSwitch is misleading as it simply takes the supplier's rate/kWh and any standing charge and multiplies it up. You can do the same calculation on a spreadsheet or calculator easily enough. Then deduct any discounts for DD payment or dual fuel, and Bob is your uncle.

Why, workingboy, do you think you've been misled? Perhaps the tariff you are comparing to (the one you think you are on) is actually more expensive on uSwitch's site than you bill, because it includes an increase about to or just happened? Perhaps you have entered the wrong tariff name into uSwitch's site?

MMD,
Where does workingboy say he entered in kWh? and not monthly DD?

Indeed where did he say that he used a website and did not ring them.

He said:

Last week I applied for switching my Duel fuel supply using Uswitch.
Using my April quarterly bills for both Gas and Electric and having Direct Debit

I would agree that if you enter in an accurate kWh figure, you should get an accurate figure from all the comparison sites(but they do vary)

To be fair to them they have to make assumptions on pattern of usage to get the tier1 units correct(especially with NPower sculpting) and the various discounts.

However if there is any way they can get you to change supplier, they will. It is why they exist; to get their commission.

MarkyMarkD

I've said on other threads that the only way to effectively compare tariffs is to enter the usage in kWh. And to be fair, the comparison sites do allow you to enter readings in kWh - but I note that it's not the default on uSwitch and nor do they say "it's far better to enter usage in kWh, because we'll be more accurate in our advice".

But even without usage in kWh, unless you have Economy 7, they will be pretty accurate in their advice because it's not hard to convert your annual spend into kWh.

The issue re patterns of usage is only relevant to people who use tiny amounts of energy as for everyone else, their consumption is always above the threshold for higher-rate units. The NPower thing is a bit of an aberration.

I think you are rather over-cynical. Obviously they exist to earn commission, but most of the type their advice to switch is honest if people enter their details as accurately as possible - which means in annual kWh if possible - and if they enter their current tariff name properly out of the many options sometimes offered.


Interestingly, doing a price comparison on uSwitch for myself, I am within £18 of the cheapest supplier despite having switched months ago. And ebico, who people on here seem to bang on about, is £180 more expensive than my current supplier. :eek:

Cardew

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I think you are rather over-cynical.

Guilty as charged!!!

I heartily dislike the comparison websites, they are parasitic and the many £millions they cream off, all has to be paid for in the end by us consumers.

Armed with the data from the Utility companies anyone could set up a program on a ZX 81 or BBC Computer to do the same job and give objective advice, not be commission driven

If the Utility Companies only supplied that info to, say, Energywatch they could do the same job without us all paying many £millions.

However for workingboy I genuinely thought from his post that he did not enter kWH!