Changing electricity suppliers (OT)

[sweetheart]

I know its Sunday and I am here again. This is my project of the week.:) I know you all must have changed electricity suppliers . Have any changed from British Gas?

I looked on all the com sites and was set to change to EDF not because they were cheapest but because they have a fixed price to 2014 and were cheaper than my current one. I got an offer from British Gas for 2013 but it was still more expensive ( when I worked out the two tier charges they have all the time instead of a standing charge).

I then read on the bottom of BG's letter that before I could do anything about changing I had to contact them and tell them. I had to then organize my new supplier and if they didn't want to allow it they wouldn't. Is this true?

All I wanted to do was click on the icon in the compare site and I hoped it was all done for me then ( Haven't done that yet now). If what BG say is true then I am stuck with them or I could end up cut off altogether?

[Lobster]

Unless you're tied into a contract with them (ie, usually that means you've been with them less less 12 months) then no, they can't stop you switching. All the companies like to know in advance so they get a chance of trying to sweet-talk you out of moving away. Just go ahead and change.

Am curious though - what *exactly* does it say about not allowing you to move? Am intrigued...

By the way - when you move to EDF, do yourself a favour and don't click on the link on the comparison site. Instead - go to the Quidco cashback site and do it from there, and you get an easy £20 cashback (which would otherwise go to the comparison site). If you aren't a member, if you use the following referral link to join it will give you another £1 (and me £1.50 :)

[Dave Liquorice]

Doesn't sound a bad deal, but it really depends on what you are paying now, what EDF's fixed price to 2014 (when in 2014, Jan or Dec...) is and what you think energy prices are going to do over the next 28 to 40 months.

TBH I'm surprised that an energy co is offering fixed price for such a long time. Unless it is a (currently) high fixed price ie

the tarrif reverts to their "standard" (aka fing expensive) tarrif at the end and probably without a reminder letter.

I'm paying 8.3p/unit (+ 5% VAT) variable tier 2 with EON online, no-standing charge, fixed monthly direct debit.

The end result from a given suplier between standing charge and no-standing charge versions of the same tarrif are almost invariably identical within a couple of pence. Assuming that you always use all the Tier 1 units, which most households will do before they get up of a morning...

No, you can just click through on the comparison website (for most tarrifs/suppliers but not all) the comparision website gets a kick back for each succesful referal.

The company you are leaving will try and persuade you to stay and the company you are moving to will tell you to ignore these pleas. It's a very competitive market and companies are falling over each other to get and retain customers.

It's highly unlikely that you will be cut off, that requires someone to physically come round and discconnect wires. That costs a company, somewhere, real money... There might be a billing hiatus where you either have a gap or an overlap which might be fun to sort out. (A gap I'd ignore, but I would not pay twice for the same energy...).

[sweetheart]

It was to March 2014. My calculation is that energy prices wont be coming down! But it is cheaper than my current BG anyway ( both what I currently pay and what I will pay after 18th August).

Its been the first time for 10 years that BG have made an offer of a fixed price to me. But that is higher still. My current BG tarrif is their standard E7 one and no, I am not fixed in to a contract.

I have economy 7, No gas in village so no duel fuel. As I said EDF are not the cheapest but are £127 cheaper over a year ( they have a 12 month one which would save me £212 but it only runs to March next year.

Reasons for EDF ( no order)

my mum uses them and has no trouble

call centres in UK

good reputation with dealing with problems.

fixed price deal so I know where I stand for two years.

they will give me an extra £8+ for not having gas available - so brings the price down even more

easier to understand because they have the standing charge rather than the BG first 750kw at X and then the rest at y every month!

Paper billing is a choice at no extra cost. I dont like online ones as I never get to see them ( I have this with BT and I have never been able to get to grips. I like my bits of paper sent to me through the post)

[sweetheart]

They are. For the past five years they have given my mum the offer of a fixed price every time her previous one comes to an end. They have a fixed price for 2012 and one for 2014. I thought given the price rises it would be better to fix. I know some would say its a gamble but I don't see the prices coming down to be honest.

[sweetheart]

I used your link

[tim....]

That rate is not available to me.

Best that they are currently offering is 22p for the first 900 unit per quarter (which means that the "no standing charges" is a lie)

and 10p thereafter (plus VAT).

Fixed for 12 months with a penalty for moving before then

tim

[sweetheart]

Well you seem to be paying a lot less for your electricity than I am being charged by any of the providers. I cant get 8 or 10 p a unit electric anywhere or even your 22p.

I think it is 16p a unit for day and 5p for night rate and a £95 standing charge for a year.

[chris French]

In message , sweetheart writes

I pay 7.679p + vat per unit (plus 20.26p for the first however may units instead of the standing charge).

But there are differences in our situations.

You are on E7 - so pay less at night and more in the day and you would like to keep paper billing, which cuts you off from the online only deals which are the cheapest

[Andy Burns]

Last time I bothered to check, all the suppliers that offered the choice between a standing charge or a more expensive first "n" units, the price worked out exactly the same assuming you used at least "n" units (I assume, but haven't checked, they'd give the same discounts on a standing charge as they do on units).

If you use less than "n" units you actually save compared to paying a standing charge, but you'd have to be pretty parsimonious to use under

75kWh/month.

My background load is ~110W with the fridge bumping that up to ~200W on about a 1 in 3 duty cycle, so even at this time of year with lower amount of lights in use, I clock up 140kWh/month, if you have an immersion heater you've got no chance.

[Dave Liquorice]

Our E7 is with Ebico 4.83 night 15.06 day (+ 5% VAT). True no standing charge, ie *all* units consumed are charged at those rates. As with all the tarrifs the rate avialable in one part of the country may well be different to that in another, the local distribution companies take different cuts.

[The Wanderer]

Whoever you go with, make certain you take readings on the day the changeover is set to happen! In the end, they're the only thing you have to argue on if things go pear-shaped.

Oh, and if you're on E7, just check when you get a bill that they have the day and night units correctly shown on the bill. No, don't tell me, they couldn't bill night units at day rate and vice versa, could they? Yep,BTDTGTTS..... It was only coz I spotted the mistake when I supplied readings. Idiot meter reader, who had somehow managed to override the handheld device to enter the readings the wrong way round.

[Steve Walker]

The new company will contact them for you.

BG *can* refuse to transfer you, but this would only be in certain cases, such as you being in arrears that you have yet to pay them; information from the other supplier being incorrect or incomplete, etc.

It should all just happen. You will get letters and such like and phonecalls, but it's all pretty smooth.

You won't get cut off. At the worst, you'd end up in limbo as to who your supplier was, but you'd still get your utilities and eventually a bill would catch up to you.

My wife actually had a problem with this before we were married and again when she was leaving her flat to move in with me. On the first occassion, it took months to sort out, but there was no supply interruption. On the second, she told them she was leaving the flat and they said that they weren't her supplier. She checked her bank account and no payments had been taken for over a year.

This was quite upsetting for her, as the previous time, her father had sorted it all out and this time was a reminder of that, when he had since died. She didn't need that, on top of getting married without him there.

After much tooing a froing, it turned out that Transco had the meter-point codes for her flat and another in the house reversed and each time someone in the other flat changed supplier, everything went wrong. It worked out okay though, as they told her that she owed hundreds of pounds, but due to the mix up happening for the second time, they reduced it to 85. She paid them and then received a letter threatening legal action for not paying. It turned out that one of their operatives had keyed in the value of her cheque as 8.50 instead of 85! They then sent her a large bunch of flowers!

SteveW

[Terry Fields]

That happened to me. I got a bill for £6000 (which I queried but didn't pay), and it took two years to sort out, as 'the system' had been changed over to a new one during that time. Finally, I got hold of a young lady who had the courage and nous to spend an entire afternoon chasing this up on the 'old system' and recalculating all my bills. I wound up with a £200 refund.

Thanks, Michelle, I deeply appreciated what you did.

[Mark]

They didn't deal very well with me when they overcharged me by £60. I had to complain to the Ombudsman. However I guess all the others are just as bad.

Bear in mind that price comparison sites exaggerate the savings you get. I have switched several times and never saved as much as predicted.

[sweetheart]

I wasnt looking at their alleged overall savings but at the unit price of electricty they would charge. I reason that if the unit charge is less than I am currently paying then I will save something?

[sweetheart]

That said OH is looking at their 2012 deal because the price is even less per unit . I was looking at 2014 because it is a longer term offer and I think fuel prices wont go down. So we have stalemate and no supplier now!

>

[chris French]

In message , sweetheart writes

It's not just about whether they will go down or not though is it?

Sure in the medium term (a few years) electricity prices are likely not to go down, and will almost certainly go up.

But the question at issue is how much will they go up?

The fixed price is generally higher than the variable price deals - so right now you would be paying more. If they go up enough then you can win on the gamble, if they don't go up enough then you might lose. (like fixed rate mortgages - we won the gamble when we took one out in '97 and

2002, we lost it when we took out another one 2005)

But like mortgages, there can be benefits such as predictable costs that make a fixed deal attractive.

Personally I don't find the fixed price energy deals attractive enough at the moment - but YMMV

[sweetheart]

That doesnt really work in my case. I looked through all the prices and there is very little that isnt cheaper than my current BG rate ( which is standard rate) . In fact EDF standard rate is more than the fixed rate by a

1p per unit.

But regardless unit prices will be cheaper no matter what I get.

[chris French]

In message , sweetheart writes

Comparing to a standard rate, then yes, I'm not surprised that they can be cheaper. But compared to better rate deals then the fixed rates are more. Surely the standard rate prices are there jist so they can make more money out of customers who have never bothered to change, have been put off, or aren't in a position to change

Seeing as you are still on the BG standard rate tha yes I imagine it will be.