paulr

As above. Is it really worth the effort, are they all the same, what about the smaller companies.

I'm with NPower. Last year used 3247 Electricity and 9724 Gas.

Put it into Uswitch website, recommends switching to first utility for a £201 saving, fixed until May 2015.

dpb

A year ?

I'm pretty dubious have to say - essentially the *******s have us cornered

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

don't bother.

I swapped over once a few years back. I got a random call from a supplier, they said how much last year etc they said how about I save you £150, I went with it
It turned out to be about £200 more
We was moving house at the time so couldn't be bothered chasing it up

They are all the same. Oh we wont put prices up because we did it a few month ago blah blah

And they say privatisation creates more competition and cheaper prices. Yeah okay
Everything else will go the same way

paulr

I looked at the customer reviews for uswitch, truly shocking.

john banks

I switch every time a provider resets me to a higher rate. It always goes up because energy prices go up, if you save money from switching it is usually because you haven't put the minimal effort in to make savings in the past.

They are not all the same, and if you are hoodwinked into switching and don't understand what you are signing it is worth educating yourself. I certainly don't earn money to throw it away.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

The only way to save is to use less!

BIG TIP! Tell your energy provider your meter readings before the date the prices go up. Otherwise when you pay the correct amount and not the estimate youll get screwed.

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

Been on a standard elec tariff since we moved into current house 8 years ago, after the news last week I thought I'd contact my supplier to see if they had any better tariffs. Signed up to a fixed tariff till March 2015 last Monday and reduced my direct debit by £120/year. Then on Friday my supplier announced a 9% increase so I've saved another £120/year by signing up before the new rate. So I've saved £240/year - is that a decent amount? I think it is.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Used the figures Southern Electric sent us from our last reading (5383 and 14602 - ineffient shït heating/crappy electrics) and EDF came back a lot cheaper after looking on their site.

Problem being I'm on prepayment meters still and to get off th onto say a monthly direct debit usually requires an installation payment and credit check. Now I hazard after 'negotiation' I may be able to waver the two lots of £50-£60 installation bills, but with my credit rating down the pan for the last 5 years, I worry about passing that.

Getting a new heating system fitted this week thank **** so for our usage at least the new rads will be hot, unlike their current 1971 counterparts!

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

It's a cartel, you will never save money when they all raise prices by around 10% every year!

Graz

Potentially saved a bit by switching to a fixed tariff before the prices went up. That was with nPower who we were already with. Might save £200 over year so not to be sniffed at.

Also if you change providers you can invariably get some cash back, anything from £30 - £50, so that helps too.

All you need to know: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/?tab=sect14

SRSport

What do they say? I thought they were just the middle man, bringing all the prices together.

john banks

I don't understand the apathy. If a commodity is subject to inflation, you will still save by having the cheapest provider when there are easily 40% differences. Between home and business we are saving £2000 a year by shopping around.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Stuck my details into uswitch a month or so ago and got a monthly difference of £10 across the providers. With a bill of £200 per month I can't get £10 to 40% no matter how bad my maths. As said it's more or less a cartel and a waste of time shopping around!

Graz

Part of the problem really. If we all switched to whoever was cheapest even if only by £10 a month then other companies would be forced to undercut them to win back the business. Problem is most people can't be bothered and this reduces the competition in the market place. What's also annoying is the length of time it takes them to do the switch, they should make it so it's seven days maximum.

Quite like the new service on MoneySavingExpert, you put in you details and set a threshold e.g. £100 a year, if a tariff becomes available that would mean you save more than the threshold you set then they email you to let you know. They'll even do the switch for you and it most cases give you £30 cashback.

john banks

Npower standard at my address is 36% more than First Utility to whom I have switched. Maybe there is a lot more competition here, although I cannot see why.

cster

Potentially useful thread.

Chip

With all of the utilites having to buy from the same suppliers what do you expect. Distribution costs are uniform across the network as well so it isn't going to change.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Expect? Who said I expect anything? I don't, I just get fed up of pro privatisation ********* telling me that 'competition' for prices beyween the enrgy companies benefits the consumer when as they are effectively a cartel it does the opposite.

Chip

*********! Why? just because their opinion differs from yours. You know sweet FA about how the industry works and what it was like pre privatisation.

As for cartels why don't you ever moan about supermarkets then you ********

Dingdongler

How patronising and ill informed

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

No, because they are wrong.

Forgetting what I do or don't know about the industry pre-privatisation surely even you can't honestly say the current energy market is a truly competitive one.

I am not even really complaining about it, just getting sick of hearing politicians and analysts telling me compeition is good when there isn't any!

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Iim with N power and had a letter to say they are putting prices up by 10.9% so we fixed for 2 yrs at a price .006 per unit less then we are paying now? Its roughly £96 a year. IIRC

Chip

No, because they are wrong.
As I say, in your opinion.

Forgetting what I do or don't know about the industry pre-privatisation surely even you can't honestly say the current energy market is a truly competitive one.

Well according to a previous post there is some 36% difference in prices between companies. Remind me, how many were there before privatisation.

I am not even really complaining about it

Really

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Yes I saw that yet when I tried it on uswitch I got less than 4% difference!

Oh and it was cheaper before privatisation... in fact it weas cheaper last yesr !!!!!

cster

Changed just now and saved £90 per year on bills, with price guaranteed til May 2015.
And this is before my old supplier has bought in their 10% increase in Dec. That is another £140.
That makes £230 a year.
The money doesn't make that much difference to me - it is just nice to see how easy (extremely) it is to change suppliers and also pay homage to the fact that brand loyalty means precisely nothing these days.

Advice to F1 - stick with your current supplier mate - you know it makes sense!

Leslie

Waste of time trying to do better by changing. They are all a bunch of con artists!

Les

Chip

Hey Les wouldn't you be OK with a wind turbine where you live?