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Switching energy suppliers

gassor

gassor

There may be more posts after this.
Just a suggestion to have a look at the marketplace every so often. It could be simpler but can be done in 20 minutes. Saved £700 pa this morning I'm led to believe using uSwitch.
 
gassor said:
Just a suggestion to have a look at the marketplace every so often. It could be simpler but can be done in 20 minutes. Saved £700 pa this morning I'm led to believe using uSwitch.
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I don't believe half of these claimed savings, we change every couple of years the savings amount to about £50 on average.
You must use a lot of energy.
 
muzzer said:
I don't believe half of these claimed savings, we change every couple of years the savings amount to about £50 on average.
You must use a lot of energy.
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this is my experience as well. Last time I looked the savings were negligible for us.
 
Savings are pretty easy to calculate without their blurb, I agree with Muzzer they seldom exceed £50-£100 p.a. unless you've been stuck on a std variable for a long time.
 
I use MSE's switching tool which is excellent.

I was with BG last year but they bumped up their prices massively this year so we switched to Avro energy which is the same price as BG last year.

Think from memory BG wanted £190 a month for this year and Avro are about £117 a month that's for both gas and electricity, only downside with Avro, so far, is that you pay the first month up front so you pay the old supplier and the new one in the same month.

https://avroenergy.co.uk/Default.aspx
 
Avro here too, yes, I was a bit miffed with the month up front lark. (though the old supplier took nearly 2 months doing their settlement bill, so saved paying two lots together).
 
The comparison sites are comparing the savings compared to the standard rate that you default on to at the end of your contract if you do nothing. They are not comparing the best rate from your current supplier to the other supplier's rates in their initial enticement. It is not until you have done a full comparison can you see what the savings are.
 
There are some other nice perks to changing sometimes though, even if the savings aren't huge. Not long ago I changed and saved a bit, but equally pleasingly found a company which buys its electricity entirely from renewable sources. Which is nice if you like that sort of thing.

And they do a refer a friend scheme which meant both I and my parents got a £50 credit when they switched too.

I've no affiliation, I just thought it was a good offer.
 
Derek Wright said:
The comparison sites are comparing the savings compared to the standard rate that you default on to at the end of your contract if you do nothing. They are not comparing the best rate from your current supplier to the other supplier's rates in their initial enticement. It is not until you have done a full comparison can you see what the savings are.
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+1.

I keep a very close eye on tariff costs from my supplier and often compare alternates using a usage spreadsheet that I have evolved over a few years. The price comparison websites tell me that they have a winner for me. My numbers are different. That's when I realised that they use the standard tariff of my supplier for their comparisons rather than the tariff I am currently on, even though they always ask me to identify that tariff during the info gathering. These sites can be useful, but a can also be ripoff which brings them unnecessary cutover/referral fees unless you look closely.
 
Always go through your last year's bills (or longer) to establish your real usage. I know a few people who just used the 'number of rooms' and 'size of family' estimates, and of course, it comes out with huge savings. I change every year, as the fixed tariff I choose at the beginning of the year runs out, and the existing provider is normally loath to offer you a similar deal, but someone else will.

The whole thing is predicated on customer laziness, and considerable disinformation. It should be the other way round of course, but that's privatisation. Caveat Emptor rules.
 
It is also worth factoring in what you can get for a small furry Meerkat on Ebay! I changed my home insurance a couple of weeks ago, saved £15 on the policy, and sold my Oleg Star Wars BB-8 on Ebay for £65 B.I.N! Net saving £80 (less Ebay charges).
 
Not forgetting the two for one cinema deals available every Tuesday and Wednesday at all Cineworld if you buy ANY insurance via comparethemarket annually

A 1 day travel insurance for a few quid qualifies!
 
Having changed supplier a couple of times, my experience is that any actual savings are pretty marginal, on the order of a quid or two a week. So I tend only to do it now if I'm unhappy with the current supplier, or I want to put them on the back foot, or the new supplier offers something of other value to me, such as green sourcing of their electricity.
 
I'd like be in the position where it would make no difference to me.

Unfortunately it does - by several hundred quid a year.

So I'm forced to play the silly game of switching suppliers every year.

And it p****s me right off!
 
You do not have to switch supplier each year, you look at the best rate from your current supplier and opt in to that, they also want to keep your business. On my supplier it is a simple web based tick box activity. I periodically look at the comparison sites but the savings are not sufficient to lose the benefit of an online consumption history.
 
It seemed fair enough to resurrect this thread. We could probably all be a few quid better off if we occasionally shared these sorts of links around pfm.

Every now and then I get sent a link to refer friends & family to the energy company I use, Bulb. If someone uses it to switch gas & electric, we each get £50 off bills. So if you're in the market, please consider using the link.

This is it: www.bulb.me/david659

They supply 100% renewable energy, and are pretty well priced. There's a review here - https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/bulb-energy
 
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