Have you ever switched energy before using a comparison site?
Never worried about cashback such comparison sites may offer???

LAMB take your bank details so they can pass them on to the supplier they switch you to. They automatically select Direct Debit as the payment method for customers as suppliers often offer substantial discounts for paying by Direct Debit, so ensuring you’re getting the very best deals.

Even MSE suggests you should pay monthly by Direct Debit for the cheapest options usually.

Taking your direct details is exactly what all the big price comparison sites do. They never take any money themselves from your account - that is not what you give authority for. Your authority is for the energy supplier to take the money.
You will remain covered by the comprensive Direct Debit Guarantee that applies to all Direct Debit agreements.


Particularly where you wish someone else to 'Look After Your bills' giving banks details once enables them to switch you as you would expect, without having to refer back to you for your bank details each time.
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N.B. The only exception is if you currently have a Prepayment meter installed, in which case LAMB only find you other deals paying by Prepayment Meter and will not ask for your bank details.

It sure is, eg Topcashback are are paying £80 ( for the next 4 days only) for switching to the currently best fixed tariff deal in my area with EDF s latest all online exclusive tariff.
Currently the best fixed deal for me and three of my friends who are leaving Iresa via Octopus Energy

Don't be misled. Read more carefully.
The EDF deal offer of £80 is only for Business Energy Consumption of 50,000 kWh and over. For domestic dual fuel the offer is £30.50 and single it's £11.25. Rather different.

Don't be tempted by a cash bribe - if you are a business using 50,000 kwh your bill is probably £6-7000. £80 is hardly significant.

Hello georgecopeman, and welcome back to MSE.

Rest assured I have read your post very carefully indeed and found it most valuable.

I see you rarely post on MSE. Indeed you joined MSE way back in 2005 and only ever made one previous post which was over 10 years ago.

Amazing that someone has remembered their password after so many years of inactivity on this site, but you obviously have, and it was most opportune that you just happened to be reading this thread barely an hour after another posted something you diagreed with.

Still, I'm glad you have now returned to MSE, as your posts are most valuable, and this site would sadly die if it were not nor people like you who take time out of their day to make the effort to make really informative posts that you do.

I'm sad to see that despite over 10 years of absence, you immediately left MSE again as soon as you posted this 2nd post of yours. Please do not leave it so long until your next post, and hopefully you will be able to spare us a few more minutes of your doubtless invaluable time on your next vist.

Take care ...

I enrolled a friend because he doesn’t have internet, and was promised twenty quid each for joining. Any idea how and when that is paid?

In any event, they came back next day to say they couldn’t find a better deal for him than the one I put him on via MSE a year ago, but they would check again in three months.

Only after reading this thread did I realise that they don’t deal with all energy suppliers. I suppose the bigger they get the more incentive there will be for companies to deal with them in terms of more business they can bring in.

I think there is a market for this kind of operation, as millions of people are still on gas and electricity standard rate tariffs because of indolence. My father in law is still paying £3 a quarter to rent a BT phone he has had forever, when you can buy a new one for twenty quid!

Arguably slightly off-topic, but the requirement to give bank details so they can switch you means they presumably only do DD deals.

For some time I've resented the significant surcharge you have to pay for not paying by DD (of course they call it the DD discount); I'm sure it doesn't cost the companies involved nearly as much as the extra they charge to process payment by other means, such as paying your bill online when you get it, or even - since they try to even out the DDs anyway, so you pay a fixed amount every month - standing order.

(I do have a fairly good idea why they do it, but I've yet to see any company admit to that reason: they go on about "convenience to the customer", and so on. Which I can't really see them being at all bothered about.)

This is what GoCardless suggests are the relative handling costs:

https://gocardless.com/guides/intro-to-direct-debit/cash-cheques-bacs/

This article is very interesting, especially the last bit where Look After My Bills is compared to Flipper and Labrador. Flipper being the only one that compares the entire market because it doesn’t rely on the energy company paying them a commission. Yes there is an annual fee to the customer of £25, but at least it looks at the whole market. And also crucially allows other payment methods apart from DD...well that’s what it says on this, albeit partial link anyway...

thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-6084119/The-Dragons-backed-new-energy-switching-firm-you

Oh, as a new forum user I can’t post links...so here’s copy and paste instead...

“There are other online switching services available, too, such as Flipper and Labrador, which claim they can save you £385 and £537 a year respectively.

Unlike Look After My Bills, which will only switch you when your fixed deal has expired, these firms promise to never stop searching for a cheaper deal. If they work out that you may save even after paying an exit fee, they will switch your account.

Labrador says it won't move you unless it makes you a minimum saving of £80 a year after exit fees.

Flipper says it will not switch you unless it can guarantee a saving of at least £50 a year.

However, Flipper also charges a £25 annual fee. This is because, unlike Look After My Bills and Labrador, which take a commission from suppliers, it does not take money from providers for referrals.

Customers who sign up for Flipper and Labrador do not have to pay their bills by direct debit — although many suppliers offer a discount if you do pay this way.

Flipper will compare deals from any firm that offers an online tariff. Labrador provides a list of the energy suppliers it works with on its website, which it says covers almost 80 per cent of the market.”


There is something about a “free” service that I always find suspicious.

I joined look after my bills a few weeks ago. now my tariff with first utility is ending they sent me a 'switch' to:
PFP for £58 per month, seemed good; "BUT!" ~
...today received another 'switch' to:
powershop for £84 per month! Seems really bad as this is no better than staying with first utility!
They say I have 14 days to cancel. However I did not receive any explanation for this switch from PFP on the 14.12.18, to POWERSHOP on the 16.12.18?
I can't understand what they are doing!

Has anyone else had a similar experience to this please?

Many thanks!

IMO if you dont know what they are doing then leave them, they should be helping rather than confusing. In the end, they dont do what they do for nothing so someone is paying for their service.

Take control yourself and dump them - it's not difficult and you'll at least know what is going on and you can be sure that you are getting the bset deal for you rather than them.

In their FAQs, they state the following:

Quote: We always want to make sure it’s worthwhile for you to switch suppliers, that’s why we will only switch you if we can save you at least £50 or £15 if you have a prepayment meter. Unquote

As I said in an earlier post, the great unknown is what assumptions are made in the future cost calculations? Personally, I would ask them to justify the switch. The other unanswered question is 'who is regulating these automatic switching sites'? Looking at their terms and conditions, there is a complaints procedure but no third-party arbitration service. Your only recourse would appear to be a Court of Law.