Don't you feel that its all a bit artificial? after all the same gas and Electricity from the grids are being used here, its not like getting a tank of calor or a charged up battery. Thus the only savings that can be made seem to be down to the admin costs of the suppliers, and how canny they have been when they buy the gas or Electric by paying ahead of time at a fixed price. Brian
One thing I noticed was when a fixed price yearly deal ended the same supplier didn't have another competitive deal. I assume that they kept their prices up for a month to suck in people who didn't want to switch into higher price deals for the following year.
Possibly. But if they offer penalty-free switches to another of their own tariffs, it doesn't gain them much.
I never saw one of those where the total varied between the "with" or "without" standing charge, unless you somehow used tier1 units only, which is presumably rare unless a second home?
Over time, rather than all on offer at once. Last year e.on went through a flurry of different tariffs, since the effort to switch as an existing customer is no more than a couple of clicks, I switched every time I could save anything at all, hoping that this "sends a message" that I'm a price-sensitive customer who will leave if ever it's worth my while - my cost is presently £65/m, but checking their cheapest offer using exact readings is now £80/m
I just had a quick check of a price comparison site, and see they have a new "dirty trick" to encourage you to change, it found several tariffs that said I could save £170/year, which I thought unlikely, when I looked at details, the amount of saving assumed assumed I would roll-over onto the standard variable tariff at the end of my fixed deal ...
It's not a _new_ dirty trick. The comparison sites have been using this trick for at least a couple of years. If within a month or two of your current (cheap) fixed contract ending they don't use the figures for the current contract but the much higher standard rates that you would pay if you were stupid enough not to find a new deal.
I also suspect that at times they don't compare discounts for DD, paperless billing and dual fuel.
Every time I've used a comparison site with yearly consumption figures taken from my own records the savings they quote have always been exaggerated. These sites are a good source of finding an alternative supplier and you can save £100s if you are currently in a bad contract but as other have said you need first need to go to the web site of the new potential supplier and see if they give the same figures for the tariff(s).
I guess where many people make the wrong decision is when they enter "I pay £xx per month" without factoring in whether at the end of the year they have under or over paid the supplier. You need the exact yearly figures when using these sites and assume that your consumption for next year is approximately the same as last year.
Well obviously. What our suppliers are is just a billing operation. Even the business about where they get their volts is pure c*ck as it all comes over the same grid.
I use that website as a starting point, they are currently doing a "bulk buy" deal which might be worth looking at. I signed up for the Sainsburys bulk buy deal via them about a year ago, and I got cashback as well. Always worth checking the suppliers site direct first, just in case there are any gotchas in their T&Cs.
Before you go to the comparison site, sign up to TopCashBack
Watch out for companies charging payments up front and for 'tie-in' contracts with penalties for early exit.
Make sure you agree the monthly direct debit payment and what consumptions that is based on prior to signing up.
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I'm currently with Scottish Power and I can change the DD payment amount myself on line. I'm also able to supply my own meter readings which produces an up-to-date bill within a day (often within minutes).
Both allow me to control how I pay. I can chose to overpay during the summer to build up credit for the winter months where consumption will be higher or I can use the facility just to pay for how much I have used up to date. However I do only check/adjust every 3/4 months.
So it should default to another fixed term contract then???
No, it's a reasonable approach, but one needs to check for it.
Boo ... it was due to display a couple of miles from my house today, last couple of times it's done the Cosby Victory Show it has spun round at the bottom of the cul-de-sac, but not today ...
Just being curious, how much for each sign up to TopCashBack?
Of course is it artificial!
The suppliers provide these gratuitous hoops that you have to jump through to get a good deal and rely on most people never reading their bills carefully enough to notice they are being ripped off!
Same thing happens with mobile phones. Unless you pay attention to the market it is very easy to be paying way over the odds by being loyal.
The trick is that most people don't bother to switch and so they get to reap the rewards. The same tactic is used by banks with bait and switch bonus interest deals for the first year and semi dormant accounts with
0.01% interest rates with names like "Ripoff Saver" and "Saver Ripoff".(they spell "Ripoff" somewhat differently)
A good deal of useful advice chaps, so thank you all.
Now, just to complicate matters, I looked up the mse site and they have a 3-year fixed deal. A little more expensive than the cheapest options and with a £60 exit fee, but still an awful lot cheaper than our current bills. Wholesale gas prices are at a 5-year low, so it might be expected that the only way is up, but it's hard to find any authoritative info on price projections (I guess anyone who could tell for sure would be very rich). Knowing there will be no increases for 3 years is a potentially attractive prospect though.
They also have an mse exclusive 1 year e.on fix available that (for me) is £67/year cheaper than my existing eon fix, plus £30 cashback.
The only question is do eon consider swapping between their own tariffs and mse/eon tariffs an "exit" that will trigger charges, anyone know?
Well as the exit fee is £10 and you are saving £97 you can suck it and see.
Of course, but in the (unlikely?) event that eon themselves produce an even better tariff in Jan/Feb to retain those who switched to the v15 fix, there would be a £60 exit fee to switch back, so I'd like to know, therefore I have asked ...
Don't fall into the trap of that the long term deal being cheaper than your current rip off price.
You should be comparing the long term deal with the cheapest deal you can get now. Then consider with a 3 year offer you will be paying more from day one. How much would the prices have to go up for you to break even?
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