Energy: Find the cheapest supplier & earn cashback
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Cheap Energy Club tells me I can save over £400 a year.
The usual explanation for this is that the comparison is based on your existing fixed tariff until it ends, then defaults to the supplier's standard tariff.
Not this time. It is comparing to standard tariff for the whole year.
This is while a switch is in progress, it says. No, it already happened nearly 2 weeks ago. Surely a more valid comparison would be against either the old or new fixed tariff, not standard tariff. I wonder if this false headlining of £400 saving risks confusing people into feeling they've made a wrong choice.0 -
Cheap Energy Club tells me I can save over £400 a year.
The usual explanation for this is that the comparison is based on your existing fixed tariff until it ends, then defaults to the supplier's standard tariff.
Not this time. It is comparing to standard tariff for the whole year.
This is while a switch is in progress, it says. No, it already happened nearly 2 weeks ago. Surely a more valid comparison would be against either the old or new fixed tariff, not standard tariff. I wonder if this false headlining of £400 saving risks confusing people into feeling they've made a wrong choice.
MSE CEC offers a simple 'year cost on present tariff' compared to 'year cost on these tariffs'. It is worth bearing in mind that Ofgem's methodology (which is under review) works for all consumers who are still on SVTs (80%) and for those on fixed tariffs with more than 12 months to run. The rest, having switched already, should be savvy enough to work it out for themselves.0 -
Cheap Energy Club tells me I can save over £400 a year.
The usual explanation for this is that the comparison is based on your existing fixed tariff until it ends, then defaults to the supplier's standard tariff.
Not this time. It is comparing to standard tariff for the whole year.
This is while a switch is in progress, it says. No, it already happened nearly 2 weeks ago. Surely a more valid comparison would be against either the old or new fixed tariff, not standard tariff. I wonder if this false headlining of £400 saving risks confusing people into feeling they've made a wrong choice.
It can take approx 3 months after the switch occurs for a supplier to notify MSE that the switch has occurred.
Your MSE account should clearly identify what supplier & tariffs that are being compared, and more importantly, that you have a switch in progress.
Whilst you have a switch in progress, MSE will not allow you to switch again (for the fuel(s) involved)0 -
MSE CEC offers a simple 'year cost on present tariff' compared to 'year cost on these tariffs'. It is worth bearing in mind that Ofgem's methodology (which is under review) works for all consumers who are still on SVTs (80%) and for those on fixed tariffs with more than 12 months to run. The rest, having switched already, should be savvy enough to work it out for themselves.It can take approx 3 months after the switch occurs for a supplier to notify MSE that the switch has occurred.
Your MSE account should clearly identify what supplier & tariffs that are being compared, and more importantly, that you have a switch in progress.
Whilst you have a switch in progress, MSE will not allow you to switch again (for the fuel(s) involved)
Thanks for the info it can take some time to feed back to the CEC account. The transfer itself took 5 days, including part of a weekend.
When I posted earlier, and also when I looked a couple of days ago, I was definitely being shown a comparison list which started with saving £426, which represented a comparison with £1197 on standard tariff, not the pre or after switch tariffs which are both fixed for slightly over a year from now.
However I logged in again just now, and I'm now shown a comparison list which uses a baseline of the old tariff, so maybe the comparison with standard tariff was just a temporary glitch.0 -
Its time for me to switch my energy tariff and I'm bemused by the plethora of new companies offering fuel. I've had one such dealing through no fault of my own and I wouldn't want to repeat this experience.
I have little tolerance for poor CS so whilst I don't want to pay over the odds, nor do I wish to deal with companies without an established track record. So whilst I could theoretiicaally save the best part of £300 pa using a new provider (handy money that could be used to make my home much more energy efficient!) I'd rather save less and go with one of the names I recognise. Although I hate the thought of letting companies profit from my aversion to hassle, my thinking is that within 18 months from now, a list of baddies will be established from feedback.
Is this an unreasonable position to take? Am I just a big fat chook?Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!
"No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio
Hope is not a strategy
...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!0 -
@VfM4meplse
No it is a good idea to research the company's you wish to move to.
I use the price comparisons as a starting point and remove company's based on their feedback. Hence I would never touch Iresa, First Utility just to name 2 who have appeared top of the lists for me in the past year.
I also remove companies who I have used and had bad experiences with too.0 -
It would be brilliant if MSE could provide an up-to-date table of suppliers and customer satisfaction ratings (not just as a note on the quotes). I appreciate its a moving feast and always will be, but it would offer a guide at least.
Unless they already have and I don't see it?Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!
"No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio
Hope is not a strategy...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!0 -
Customer ratings are always difficult to interpret. Most people who've had an OK deal with a supplier wouldn't go to the trouble to shout about it. Have a problem with their service and you're much more likely to make some niose about it. How do suppliers give customers excellent service? After all, all a customer wants is to have their utilities when required and pay a reasonable price for it without any trouble.
Having said that, I have witnessed very good customer service from EON. You will see their reps are pretty active on here too. They are not (and probably never will be) the cheapest, but if you don't mind paying a bit more, they will be there should you need them, in my experience.
I should add I am not a customer of theirs. Was once, but have moved to cheaper deals quite a few times since, as I feel I have a better than average understanding of the services provided and am prepared to deal with less satisfactory customer service, although there are still suppliers I wouldn't touch with the proverbial bargepole!
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<Citizens Advice> provide customer complaints data which is based on the level of complaints received. There is always a problem with the newer, smaller suppliers where there just isn't the data available until they become established. For more peace of mind it would probably be best to avoid suppliers for which there is insufficient data.V_fM4meplse wrote: »It would be brilliant if MSE could provide an up-to-date table of suppliers and customer satisfaction ratings (not just as a note on the quotes). I appreciate its a moving feast and always will be, but it would offer a guide at least. . .
That said, you can never be 100% certain of good customer service even with suppliers having a low complaints level. Low doesn't mean zero.
Warning: In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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Having said that, I have witnessed very good customer service from EON. You will see their reps are pretty active on here too. They are not (and probably never will be) the cheapest, but if you don't mind paying a bit more, they will be there should you need them, in my experience.
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Caveat Emptor. Paying more in my experience does not necessarily mean better customer service. Equally, small does not mean bad customer service. Over the past 2 years, I have had/am receiving excellent service from Zog, Bulb, Powershop and Octopus. Conversely, I have had appalling customer service from Iresa - as has been the case for many.
It is worth remembering that provided energy accounts are monitored closely by the consumer, then the consumer holds all the cards - however bad the supplier. I ditched and switched away from Iresa after 3 months. Yes, I encountered a certain amount of pain for a further 3 months but I came away with £75 for poor customer service. The irony here is that I told The EO that I only wanted a correct bill. Their response was that I couldn’t choose the bits I liked/disliked from their Final Decision.
I am sure that all new suppliers start off with the best of intentions. Like all start ups, there is a sizeable element of Bank debt. Posters on forums such as MSE shout out how good a small supplier is (based on nothing more than a switch!) and MSE gives it a ‘top pick’ annotation (based on what?). Owners of some energy companies can start to see £ signs but they are reluctant to up CS staff despite increasing customer numbers. Things get missed; customer complaint numbers rise; The EO started gets involved; Ofgem reluctantly steps in when it is forced to do so by Citizens Advice and Which, and suppliers’ reputations suffer.
I’ll finish where I started: caveat emptor.0
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