A comment on the radio suggested that whilst prices might not go down any further this year, there were still some announced price cuts were still to take effect so could be worth waiting a month or two before doing a comparison and switching.
My energy fixed price deal finishes on 17th March and they wrote the other day offering a new tariff (higher) but when I phoned today they had all sorts of variants that had not appeared on price comparison website. They also said their prices were going down on 26th March.
It is still a bloody minefield despite the suggestion that the govmint were going to press for simpler tariff structures.
Have you also looked at Co-Op Energy? It would be interesting, for me at least, to see how they stack up against your other alternatives for your consumption. Of course, a major problem is that there are various basis price changes probably in the pipeline for different suppliers at different times, not to mention announced changes to discount and fixed-price schemes with the claimed intention of "simplifying" things.
I switched to First Utility a couple of years ago, after visiting a price comparison site. 3 months after I switched they doubled the standing charge on my Gas - but stealthily - they informed me of price rises and the rises per unit seemed reasonable enough, but the rises in standing changes were glossed over (and when I went to check the wording later the notice had been removed from their web site, quite convenient). Apparently by law they cannot increase the price in the first 3 months, but as soon as the 3 months is up they whack on the price increases. They try to lock you in by offering year-on year bonuses which only pay out at the end of the next year. But in my case the increase in standing charge cancelled out any first year bonus, and I suspect another price rise would have cancelled out the second year bonus too. My advice would be avoid them like the plague, they are not to be trusted.
I switched to Co-op, mainly because I thought I could trust them. Their minimum contract is a month, they have one tariff, no bonuses, and no penalty for leaving at any time. Their profits go back to their shareholders (=customers). So far they have been excellent.
During the process of switching First Utility called offering a special deal if I would stay with them. I told them there was no deal they could offer which would persuade me to stay with them - by stealthily doubling the standing charge they had lost my trust. The guy in the call centre was speechless - he had no answer to that.
Mine is "we will save you £80 a year" plus an extra "£23 on the points that you would accrue at your rate of payment".
To be fair though, I have never switched from my old, separate utility companies - but *IF* I do change (unlikely at the moment for just £80), it would be to the co-op, as I have dealt with their bank for the last 30 years and found their "ethical business" claim true -- and that's what would 'swing it' for me.
My dual fuel came out at £6 per month less than I am paying now, plus the 20 quid/year co op points. I too have never changed suppliers from the markets opening up. Nobody has ever offered a saving that was worth the hassle a lot of people seem to suffer.
Hmm. I've just switched to them - their fixed-to-March'13 tariff works out cheapest for me. Mind you I'm assuming both unit and standing charges are fixed. I was with them a few years ago and had no complaints, and I've never had a problem switching suppliers - we've done so about five times.
I didn't wait for the price cuts to factor into the comparison sites - MoneySavingExpert says "It?s worth noting only British Gas?s change is incorporated into comparison sites so far. Yet as the changes are tiny, and we?re still mid-winter, for those on standard tariffs the savings from acting now should outway any minor inconsistencies in the results".
Me, Nothing =A3224/year more expenisve that my current supllier (NPower) the =A350 kick back and possible =A319 of "points" still don't make 'em cheaper.
My experience also shows them to be untrustworthy, if things go well then it can be fine but if things go wrong, don't expect them to be sorted out quickly (or perhaps at all). I'd happily pay 80quid a year extra not to use them.
To o/p watch out for tariffs that are tail end loaded, eg. price includes 50-100quid bonus payable at end of 12mth intervals which inhibits switching. I believe NPower do this.
Last deal I set up for someone was a Scottish Power fixed (might have been a tracker) who I'm not generally a fan of but it was the best deal for this person. Nearly went OVO, small outfit, nice principles but they price hiked the very day of sign up and so weren't competitive.
Also, on comparisons, make sure to tick the "include tariffs not available from us" or similar box (that is from moneysupermarket.com) to view absolutely all tariffs.
A trip via quidco might work too, I got 80quid cashback on a dual fuel switch a couple of years back and 50quid on the Scot Power one above that paid for a meal for the 2 of us.
Anyway, maybe don't jump to change now, the switch will take 6wks so you'll be in low gas usage by then and cost differences wont be so significant. Look for deals through the summer and see if one takes your fancy.
Was slightly concerned at the T&C's that said that the price would be that on the day energy supplies start, so not wanting to be a hostage to fortune I got an email from them saying that the price would be that on the day I sent the online form. I copied their web pages for the time I sent the form, and that's what turned up on the agreement.
I guess they were looking for more customers, and this was a small risk for them to take, but a bigger one for me.
That's not to make any difference. The price cuts only apply to "STANDARD" rate charges. Anyone on web based pricing plans is paying less than that anyway.
Thanks for pointing that out, I had thought that the price was fixed at time of sign up[1] but will look closely at T&Cs if I get close to going with them in the future.
[1] As they say 'get quote' (as in quotation, as in fixed price rather than estimate) before sign up I'd expect them to be on a hiding to nothing if they tried to go back on the quoted price.
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