I've been on a fixed tariff with EDF for a year or two. They wrote to me in August to say it was expiring at the end of September, and offered me their new fixed tariff (a bit more), or drop through to standard rate (a bit more again).
As the new tariff was a bit more expensive I thought there was no point in swapping until the end of September. Just tried to do it and the blasted thing has been withdrawn (for me) so now my only option is standard, a not insignificant price hike.
So - has anyone recently swapped to a fixed tariff with a reputable supplier that might still be available? I find the comparison sites a nightmare and frankly I don't believe what they tell me, or that they tell me everything.
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>> So - has anyone recently swapped to a fixed tariff with a reputable supplier that
>> might still be available? I find the comparison sites a nightmare and frankly I don't
>> believe what they tell me, or that they tell me everything.
I moved to Eon last year, if you know your accurate consumption (in kWh) for the year, the price comparison sites are spot on.
But then Eon dumped me off the cheap fixed rate, and played the same trick on me. I am in kinda switch inertia, cant be bothered to do it every blinking year.,
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 2 Oct 12 at 00:48
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'Scottish' Power is owned by the Spanish outfit Iberdrola.
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>> 'Scottish' Power is owned by the Spanish outfit Iberdrola.
>>
Why does it sound to me as though that company name would translate from Spanish to English as "Hyperfunny"? Not a good omen.
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They are based in Basque Country, so if you don't pay your bill ... !
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I am in the middle of a switch from Eon to Scottish Power. £17 a month less on DD, fixed until Jan 14. Got it through a comparison site (uswitch, will soon receive a box of wine for doing so). Don't know if still available, but worth a look at them if you haven't done so already.
No hassle whatsoever with the comparison site, done in 5 minutes.
Also, have a look at Martyn Lewis's site, moneysavingexpert.com. Might have the latest deals and those not available through comparison sites on there.
I'm quite looking forward to seeing if my new Scottish power is any better at warming the house up than my previous English power. It's much colder up there innit, so must be warmer power they make, right?
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As much as I hate being a Killjoy, Alanovic. As a past customer of theirs, I was not particularly happy.
www.reviewcentre.com/reviews82624.html#Reviews (Down the bed a bit)
Fractionally happier than with British Bass, though.
:)
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 13:00
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I'm not really worried about customer service. I can read a meter and send them the readings online, and pay by DD. That's just about the only contact I've ever needed with an energy supplier.
I hope I do not need to eat those words in the future.
Which review is yours? I see no mention of "Clk Sec".
Last edited by: Alanović on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 13:06
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Thanks all. Reading that review site makes me think actually inertia is the best thing here - I'm going to go through potential hassle to change and save about a tenner a year I reckon, and they all seem as bad as each other.
Better the devil you know maybe, especially since I have a setup where I pay each quarter for the actual amount used, rather than a monthly payment option which I don't like.
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>> I see no mention of "Clk Sec".
I only discovered that website today when someone hereabouts posted a link on another thread. It might be useful, so I've bookmarked it.
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If you`ve got your consumption figures off your last bill, run them through the Equipower calculator on Ebico`s Website. No standing charges or thievin` 2-tier usage system! - you may be surprised to see what you could have paid, instead of what you did pay last time!
Last edited by: devonite on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 13:21
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We are with EON fixed tariff for two years via AGE UK. (Age concern, as was).
The deal expires towards autumn 2013 and I will certainly be checking for a cheaper deal.
My rule of thumb is that if a saving (on any recurring expense) is less than a tenner, I'll stay and if it's more I'm off.
EON are changing my gas and electricity meters to smart meters tomorrow (no charge, of course), but that will not influence my decision next year.
The idea of customer loyalty to any supplier went out of the window along with supplier loyalty to me.
I'm sort of considering changing my staff account with HSBC, which offers no benefits to me now, to the Halifax deal which offers a fiver a month (£60 a year is worth having) if you swap and pay in a grand a month.
Any horror stories about them I should know?
Last edited by: Roger on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 13:26
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>> We are with EON fixed tariff for two years via AGE UK. (Age concern, as
>> was).
Thieving robbing hounds they are. My 80 year old mother got her car insurance renewal from them, £589 squid for a 1.4 Renault clio!
Comparison site got that down to 259 quid, and a free meerkat.
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I'm still with Ebico (long after being shafted for years by BG, never again) for leccy and gas, usually one of the cheapest though possibly not the very best price available.
Where they score for me is 'ethics' and the simplicity of their pricing, no cons you can see plainly what the costs are....Southern Electric manage the billing and i've had no probs with them.
www.ebico.org.uk/
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Welcome back GB, nice to see you in here again.
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>> Welcome back
Thanks Brompton.
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>> I am in the middle of a switch from Eon to Scottish Power. £17 a
>> month less on DD, fixed until Jan 14. Got it through a comparison site (uswitch,
>> will soon receive a box of wine for doing so). Don't know if still available,
>> but worth a look at them if you haven't done so already.
Just finished the application, although I went through MoneySupermarket (£30 cashback) rather than uSwitch as the wine we buy is less than £5 a bottle :)
Only a small monthly saving - £40 a year according to the calculator - but that's before Eon raise their prices. Fixed until March 2014.
Thanks for the heads-up A.
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 15:38
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That one is allegedly a tenner a year more expensive for me, but is the cheapest of the fixed rates. How did you get the cashback? I see no obvious mention of it.
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Via the link on MoneySavingExpert:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity#cashback
After going to MoneySupermarket via that link, when the list of tariffs is displayed, most of them were tagged with '£30 cashback'.
EDIT: just seen the £40 cashback link as well - doh!
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 16:09
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>> the wine we buy is less than £5 a bottle :)
I went for the box of wine as a potential Christmas treat, as a bit of a change from the usual £3 (perfectly drinkable everyday stuff) I get from Aldi. Hope it arrives before Christmas.
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I don't have a lot of energy these days :) owing to the fact that I came to the con-clusion years ago that most energy companies are a complete and utter bunch of blimmin crooks!
So, I'll be staying with npower for the foreseeable future being they only managed to rob me of about £300 in the last year.
I've just taken delivery of 60 bags o'coal and even that's gorn up from £435 to £450.
My 73 year old neighbour has the best idea, she burns wood and has umpteen barns full of the stuff that she 'comes by' and is given to her.
If I was still paying out mucho for electrickery, I intended to check out these geezers: www.ovoenergy.com/
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>> So, I'll be staying with npower for the foreseeable future being they only managed to
>> rob me of about £300 in the last year.
Lucky you! npower has just increased our direct debit by 50% from £42 per month to £63 per month! Our heating oil direct debit is £100 per month.
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I don't mind complex tariffs: simple spreadheet jobbie keeps brain from ossifying..
EDF fixed price for 12 months - ...and competitive matching was cheapest...
Last edited by: madf on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 14:27
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>>Lucky you! npower has just increased our direct debit by 50%<<
Our DD has been reduced (by them) because we've used so little electrickery over the last year.
We have oil as well, but I've only stuck in 500 litres in the last year and an arf as I only use the broiler for hot water thanks to the good old multi-fuel stove.
Also, I gits the oil from a local 'community energy club' which does indeed work out cheaper, even for small amounts.
Last edited by: Dog on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 14:35
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>> Lucky you! npower has just increased our direct debit by 50% from £42 per month
>> to £63 per month!
>>
If you don't agree that the figure is reasonable for your usage, you can get it changed.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits
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Well, just before fading into the mud on this one and abandoning the idea entirely, I thought I'd look at the tariffs of a couple of the above examples.
So I need the standard tariff from EDF.
Oh ho ho. After ten minutes of looking about their website, I conclude I am extremely dense or it's extremely well hidden.
All those who would like to point out my density feel free to find it and post a link in the next ten seconds.
I did run the calculators from ebico and ovo using the last bill I had, and they were between twenty and forty five pounds more, but then I'm not on standard rates (until next week).
I've already spent more time on this than it's worth in terms of saving I think. I can't be certain without the EDF standard tariff.
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Switch to EDF Energy & save £7.28 Choose plan
Standard (Variable) from EDF Energy
Electricity
Annual standing charge + £51.10
Your consumption
From the information you've given us we have estimated you'll use 898 kWh in a year which will be charged at 12.440p per kWh.
+ £111.74
Discounts
6.00% for Standard Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit
- £9.77
Taxes
5% VAT on energy products
+ £7.65
= £160.72
total estimated cost for a year
Need help deciding?
www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity-journey/results
Last edited by: madf on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 15:37
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Energyhelpline website use the "show tariff" link under each listed supplier!
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Ta devonite. That's what I needed. Or maybe ta madf. Because as I suspected the two sites show different prices for the tariff. Or maybe they don't.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 24 Sep 12 at 15:55
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>> So I need the standard tariff from EDF.
>>
>> Oh ho ho. After ten minutes of looking about their website, I conclude I am
>> extremely dense or it's extremely well hidden.
>>
>> All those who would like to point out my density feel free to find it
>> and post a link in the next ten seconds.
>>
I have just seen your post. I went to www.edfenergy.com/
and there at the top is a tab "At Home". Mouse over it and your get "tariff prices and terms". Click.
Then choose "standard variable - view more".
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Well blow me. Who'd have thought you need to do something like hover a mouse. Thanks for that. I'm glad to have my density confirmed, it always cheers up my day.
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Worth checking out www.quidco.com
I went through them when I switched last year - think I got 60 - 80 quid cashback IIRC
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I was on StayWarm with Powergen (later E-On) for several years and the price for dual fuel consumption gradually rose to £87 per month (static for two years). However, E-On bumped it to £110 last April, so I went on the uSwitch website.
Wouldn't accept StayWarm, so I rang and a pleasant young lad called Aaron came up with a figure of £63 per month with nPower, fixed until almost the end of next year. Took up the offer, pay £63 and currently have £179 in credit...:-) As my gas consumption (i.e. central heating) doesn't go up that much in winter, I should be quids in...:-)))
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I have to say I can't understand the idea of giving a utility company money each month against a future bill. I'm only prepared to pay for the fuel I've used, when they bill me each quarter. Seems a funny sort of arrangement to do anything else, although I can see why they want to do it.
I suppose it helps to budget if you can predict your outgoings or something, but even so it doesn't appeal to me.
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>> I have to say I can't understand the idea of giving a utility company money
>> each month against a future bill.
>>
Not half as bad as L'escargot having to pay for tank of heating oil in advance of using it.
It is in effect the same paying for the fuel as your car. The difference is they hold on to the fuel for you but supply it to your house on demand, while with a car you store the fuel in your tank.
Other businesses run on the same model:
solicitors - usually ask for a deposit in advance.
telephone - usually standing charge paid in advance
housing - rent paid in advance, and a deposit kept as surety.
insurance - paid in advance.
etc., etc.
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It's not quite the same as paying for things in advance though. You can't buy the gas in advance, you just lend them money. If the price goes up you get less gas, whereas l'Es's oil is in the bank.
But as I can't easily get 3% tax free interest anywhere else I'm not too cheesed about it for now.
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>> ........... whereas l'Es's oil is in the bank.
In the tank, actually!
;-)
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>> I have to say I can't understand the idea of giving a utility company money
>> each month against a future bill. I'm only prepared to pay for the fuel I've
>> used, when they bill me each quarter. Seems a funny sort of arrangement to do
>> anything else, although I can see why they want to do it.
>>
>> I suppose it helps to budget if you can predict your outgoings or something, but
>> even so it doesn't appeal to me.
Why whats wrong with it? Half the year I have taken fuel I haven't paid for, and half the year I have paid for fuel I haven't used yet.
Seems fair to me.
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Our gas and elec are with Ovo for now. Their tariffs are simple, and at least you can ring them up and have a conversation. They got a bit confused earlier this year, because of a "read dispute" between them and Powergen, and late billing as a result, their extrapolating machine sent me a letter putting up my DD from 148 to about 250 a month. I explained why they were wrong which they couldn't really understand but they agreed to leave it where it was anyway. I was amazed.
I'm about 400 in credit, so if we can hold off the heating for another month we should be able to coast through the winter OK. They credit about 3% "interest" on credit balances so I don't mind being in front.
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Conversely, why should an energy supplier allow you to use their product for 3 months without asking you to pay for it?
Pat
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I paid £455 in advance 3 weeks ago for 60 bags of coal that I won't start using until all hallows eve.
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As others have stated, it's not the 100% prepayment for something I know I'm going to use. I do that with heating oil.
It's the "we'll set a monthly figure, make it hard for you to disagree with it, and take more money than you will actually spend" that I'm not comfy with is all.
Ok, there's ways around that, and you fill in a form or ring them (good luck with that) or write to them or whatever, but I don't want to have to do any of it. Just send me a billl and I'll pay it, done, happy, as I do with 99% of my other purchases.
I appreciate others are comfy with it and good luck to you. We all have our own perspectives, and as I've said before, NECAMOTI.
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>> As others have stated, it's not the 100% prepayment for something I know I'm going
>> to use. I do that with heating oil.
>>
>> It's the "we'll set a monthly figure, make it hard for you to disagree with
>> it, and take more money than you will actually spend" that I'm not comfy with
>> is all.
But you are deliberately misrepresenting it, thats not how it is at all.
It is total annual consumption * price per unit / 12 = monthly DD. Whats wrong with that?
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>>It is total annual consumption * price per unit / 12 = monthly DD. Whats wrong with that?
It would be OK if that's what happened, but my experience is that unless you are prepared to challenge with figures it always ends up with a permanent credit balance. I'm sure others have had this experience.
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>> It would be OK if that's what happened, but my experience is that unless you
>> are prepared to challenge with figures it always ends up with a permanent credit balance.
>> I'm sure others have had this experience.
I was somewhat surprised to find that after being approx £150 in debt by the end of the winter, our last Eon bill showed we were £1 in credit. So in fact they're lending us money at a good rate :)
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Zero's exactly right. I underpay in the winter (debit balance on account) and overpay in the summer (credit balance on account, which is then used up in the winter).
It spreads payments evenly and helps me to budget a fixed sum every month.
Don't see how anyone could have a problem with that, sometimes I'm owing them, sometimes they're owing me. Swings and roundabouts.
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I agree with you Crankcase.
I can feel a letter to the regulator coming on. What they should be made to do is EITHER pay interest (as Ovo does) OR convert the prepayments to prepaid units of gas or electricity instead of keeping a cash balance.
What happens now is they put the price up after you have given them your money to look after, you aren't buying fuel in advance. When you've paid for it, it should be yours like Dog's coal and snail's oil.
It's just occurred to me that I can bump up my readings when my fix is near expiry and get a bit in the bank :-)
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>> It's just occurred to me that I can bump up my readings when my fix
>> is near expiry and get a bit in the bank :-)
>>
Isn't that fraudulent?
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If the electricity company don't read the meter, or cannot be bothered to do so themselves, why not?
As an aside I recently had my DD to Eon reduced from £70 per month to £59 per month, presumably as I was in credit by just under £300 at the time. I wanted to pay them a bit more, as I like a good winter buffer, but it was not allowed as it would have taken my credit to over £300.
I've just had my bill for the last three months which reduced my credit to £217; still a decent buffer, but yesterday I had a letter saying my DD was being increased to £70!
Over the winter months I will top that up, manually by debit card, by around £20 to £25 as I reckon my winter usage is around £90 to £95 a month.
Wonderful are the ways of energy companies billing departments.
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>> Over the winter months I will top that up, manually by debit card, ..........
How will you do that? I thought direct debits could only be changed by agreement of the payee.
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>> >> Over the winter months I will top that up, manually by debit card, ..........
>>
>> How will you do that? I thought direct debits could only be changed by agreement
>> of the payee.
>>
Normal payments are by DD.
There is an on-line facility to pay one's bill by debit card.
I just use that (on pension day!) to pay the odd twenty or twenty-five quid more or less, as it suits cash-flow.
I use the same idea (again on pension day) to pay my council tax by debit card, although that is a fixed amount.
We are now on smart meters for both gas and leccie, so I'll keep a beady eye on usage on EON's site, as I understand it updates fairly regularly. We also have a fancy digital readout display thingy which shows all sorts of usage & guesstimated costs, although I've just stuck it in a cupboard. After all, we are not going to stop using gas or electricity just because of what a usage meter says.
We use what we use.
Last edited by: Roger on Thu 27 Sep 12 at 10:44
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>> >> It's just occurred to me that I can bump up my readings when my
>> fix
>> >> is near expiry and get a bit in the bank :-)
>> >>
>>
>> Isn't that fraudulent?
>>
I imagine so yes. Morally not a problem - they owe me units instead of money, which I get at the price obtaining when I paid for them rather than the price when they supplied them.
I won't do it of course.
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We're with npower and according to uSwitch the cheapest supplier would be ........... npower! The new tariff would save us £100 a year. The only disadvantages of changing I can see would be paperless billing and a £30 penalty if we cancelled before 30th November 2013.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 26 Sep 12 at 09:05
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am with the co op energy, i got my tarrif fixed from aug 2012 to aug 2013, that when the price of gas and electric was down, they charge a single rate for electric and gas and a separate standing charge for each.
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When E-ON sought to increase my StayWarm annual dual fuel contract from £87 to £110 a month last April, I went on the much recommended uSwitch comparison website. However, it doesn't list StayWarm, so I phoned and one of the call centre staff came up with £63 a month average all-in with nPower. Didn't hesitate to swap and savings already evident...:-)
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>> me thinks Dog and L'Es may want to think about topping up again!
>>
>> money.aol.co.uk/2012/09/27/heating-oil-prices-to-soar-buy-now/?icid=maing-grid7|uk|dl4|sec3_lnk4%26pLid%3D129348
>>
Unfortunately there's only room in the tank for an estimated 120 litres. Normally I buy oil when there's room for 850 to 1000 litres.
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I don't use much oil ike (I'm on the coal) in fact I've only run my central heating twice in 1.5 years when the broilerman serviced the critter.
I received an email yesterday from my 'community energy club' quoting 64p per litre which surprised me!
So I checked it out www.boilerjuice.com/heatingOilPrices.php :(
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>> I don't use much oil ike (I'm on the coal) ............
According to this tinyurl.com/d52p2h5 coal heating is slightly more expensive than oil heating.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 28 Sep 12 at 09:26
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I say coal, but it's Taybrite smokeless briquettes, I did consider using housecoal this year, which I could do up here
far from the madding crowd but, Taybrite has served me well in the past and, I only spend £450 pa on that.
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Well, just to round this off - today I checked the EDF site again and they have today (or yesterday perhaps) relaunched the fixed price tariff I originally wanted, albeit at a slightly increased rate. For the sake of ease I've now changed to it.
Running my last bill through, instead of a £77.89 bill for the last quarter it would be £89.11 under the new rates, so up, but not too horrendously so. If I'd stayed on standard it would have been £95.39.
Now fixed until May 2014, no early termination fees (just in case). That'll do, pig, that'll do.
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>> Well, just to round this off - today I checked the EDF site again and
>> Now fixed until May 2014, no early termination fees (just in case). That'll do, pig,
>> that'll do.
>>
Scottish Power are pulling their fixed tariff today as they have had too many people taking it up since it was publicised by Martin of MSE.
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That's what happened to my original choice too. Pulled by the time I got to doing it.
So if anyone is thinking about it right now, hesitate and you might well lose it.
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Confirmation of sign up arrived today. It contains the cheering phrase
If anyone launches a new tariff that can save you more than £1 a week at typical consumption, we'll let you know.
Seems unlikely but if true a good thing to offer.
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The perennial Electricity Supplier question - Zero
