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  • dave_dph
    dave_dph Posts: 618 Forumite
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    Thanks Mick

    That does make things a bit clearer, I just need to be sure I'm doing what I need to do in order to achieve my easy saver annual price of £811. I do not want to be charged their standard rate!!

    So going back to the June future pack; from what you say, I should be looking to purchase enough future packs to cover all of June's usage? Then if a higher discount is offered as a special pack in that billing period, the June credit would be carried over?

    I know my exact usage as I've kept a spreadsheet record for at least 10 years.
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    Pretty much spot on with your advice there mick

    The early months are the most difficult. You have to ensure you buy enough powerpacks to cover your first month's usage. As mick says on May 1st you will have further packs become available that you can use towards your first month's usage. My review date is 13th so anything I buy before that counts is used in my current months bill.

    Under no circumstances under purchase and allow powershop to buy power at standard rate. Its very expensive. Even a 5.7% jumbo is better than no discount

    I bought everything in sight for first two months. Ended up £215 in credit. Don't think it's possible to build that much credit up now as powerpacks have been reduced in value and quantity.

    Now I only buy powerpacks of 20% or greater value and I've watched my credit reduce to £164. As my credit went so high it means I've only actually paid £51 for electricity this year In total

    It all becomes clear as time goes on. I'm happily getting bills between £28 and £32 a month at moment which is a lot less than I've previously paid
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    Any packs you buy that aren't used are indeed carried over to the next month ad infinitum. I have a jumbo I purchased on 16th June 2017 which consisted of £13.70 worth of electricity. I still have £6.12 of it left to use today. Powerpacks are used starting with highest discounts first. Jumbos are the lowest you can get hence why its left there in my credit bank. The packs I am currently using this month are November 2017 future packs purchased again on 16th June (the date my shop went live). I purchased 5 of them which gave me £65.35 electricity. I only use around £30 a month and it's taken me until now to get around to using these packs. I still have August september October and December 2017 and January 2018 packs stored up to use.
  • fewkeste
    fewkeste Posts: 534 Forumite
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    dave_dph wrote: »
    Ok, so as a new customer I gained access to the shop two days ago and immediately purchased powerpacks for the current period:

    1 x Snack pack with a saving of 24%
    1 x St George pack with a saving of 10.1%
    1 x Jumbo pack with a saving of 5.7%
    1 x June Future pack with a saving of 12.7%

    Also available to me are future packs for July and August, both with savings of 10.8%.

    So how do I know which packs to buy in order to get the best price? If I don't buy future packs to cover all my usage in June, July and August, when we actually get to those billing periods; are the discounts for current cycle going to be less than 12.7% and 10.8%

    I'm somewhat confused as to how this process puts me in control if I'm purchasing powerpacks blind?

    My advice is buy all the future packs in the shop now up to the maximum amount allowed.
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    As mick says you don't really need to buy them now though as you can't use them yet. June future powerpack will disappear on May 1st so I'd buy that now myself as you have no credit. Its 12.7% discount too. Not that high compared to winter ones but a lot higher than the July and August ones are. The July and August future packs will be available to purchase until end of May and end of June respectively. September powerpack will appear may 1st and stay in the shop until end of July. Of course you can buy them all now if you so desire but you risk being stuck with a pack with a 10.8% discount in your credit bank if you end up buying large discounted special packs which cover your actual usage. Ensure you cover your monthly usage. If that means buying the future packs then do so.

    Nowadays the future packs don't give you as much energy. When I joined you could buy 5 x £10 future packs ie £50 worth of electricity. The current August future pack only allows you to purchase 4 x £3.57 packs so buying all future packs shouldn't bankrupt you
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    Are you a electricity only or dual fuel customer dave
  • dave_dph
    dave_dph Posts: 618 Forumite
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    I'm all electric, economy 7.

    I guess in one way I've joined at the right time; my heating is off now until hopefully October, so my usage is as low as it is going to be.

    I was beginning to wonder how I would escape from being charged the standard rate if the powerpacks available for the current month didn't cover my usage, but if future packs are used before the specific future month, I can sort of see how this would work.
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    Yes the June future pack will be available to use from your May review. So if your first review is on 15th May for example the june powerpack becomes usable from 15th May onwards ie you will be able to use it during your next billing period (15th May-15th June). . I nearly had to buy standard power during my first month but I just about scraped it by buying the jumbo pack (most of which is still sitting unused in my credit bank)
  • dave_dph
    dave_dph Posts: 618 Forumite
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    My review date is the 13th. Does that mean that the June future pack cant be used against my usage between 13th April and 13th May? If so then I need to make sure I purchase all current and special packs offered before 13th May.

    At the moment the app is telling me I'm 4 days ahead, hopefully the packs that become available from 1st May will be enough to cover me to the 13th May.
  • Tafrock
    Tafrock Posts: 747 Forumite
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    Hopefully the discounts achievable will start to increase from October future pack onwards. They did in 2017 before reducing back down from March onwards. I haven't bought any future packs since maxing out on the February future pack with a discount of 23.7%. The March pack dropped to 15% and they've dropped steadily since then. Last years September pack was 13.6%. I doubt this year's will be as high. Last year's August was 12.8%. This year its only 10.8% and the quantity of electricity available is heavily reduced
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