whos your energy with

BG for gas, standard meter, offered me their best tarrif and it would save me about £0.43p per year (yes, 43 pence), my bills are only £16pm.

BG for electric, pre pay meter as that's what was fitted when I took the flat on. Put about £28 a month on it.

You can make your own consumption as cheap, or expensive, as you want.

Mine is a 2 bed, ex-council, 1960's concrete flat in Scotland. Heating goes on if I'm really cold and having jumpers / blanket isn't keeping me warm, at most two months of the year and only for an hour.

Hot water is on-demand, used for a bath, wash, washing up etc.

Electric includes the hob and oven, I mainly use the hob, with occasional Sunday roast a few times a month, shower is used every day, light is only on in the room I'm using, everything (except fridge, two freezers and cooker) get switched off and unplugged when not in use.

Just to give context of low bills and usage.

There's only one way to find out ! Give Avro a whirl and select a fixed tariff with no exit fees. If you like them, that's fine. If not, or you find a better deal (either with them or somebody else) then you're free to jump ship.

The website is simple but efficient and I had no problems. I only left because I'm a rate chaser and Yorkshire Energy were slightly cheaper. They're also great.

Avro weren't the fastest to refund the remaining credit but that's not unusual and they didn't break any rules. YMMV of course, but it seems a risk worth taking.

Just be aware that with a new build your comparisons can't be accurate: your usage is unknown so you'll need to be diligent with meter readings to make sure your payments are keeping up and that your tariff remains competitive.

We bought a new build earlier this year which was also supplied by British Gas.

We decided to stay with them but change to their cheapest tariff at the time.

We didn't really know how much energy this new house would use compared to our previous 1930s property but estimated it would be about the same.

It is actually turning out to be much less. We are currently paying £61.50 per month with £30 for electricity and £31.50 for gas for a 3 bed detached house which is about £30 per month less than the old house.

We have built up quite a credit balance since April when we moved in and I dont think we will use it all over the winter so our Bill's may be lower come next year when we have a full 12 months as a comparison.

With us not using a great deal of energy the savings from switching suppliers are minimal and we prefer to use a well established company who wont just shut down next week leaving us in the lurch!

We are quite happy with the BG customer service and although the website has a few glitches when it is working it is simple to follow and informative.

Talldave wrote: »

Symbio for electric- crap website, spelling errors on bills, and you need a degree in maths to understand their billing. But they're cheap and a flaw in their convoluted billing scheme means I can get a free day's electricity each month.

Zog for gas, cheap and no complaints.

You have reminded me we also joined the BG rewards scheme and have so far picked up two free days electric every six months and then a further ten days free electric on our next bill.

Won't amount to a lot but better than nothing.