But if you know your annual useage you don't need to look at every supplier and every tariff. Just plug the info into one or two of the comparison sites and look at the details of the first few best available tariffs. Hint, look for an option that shows you companies/tariffs that the site can't switch you to, the good deals are often from such companies, after all they aren't paying a kickback to the switching site...
I don't think I've seen a domestic tariff that alters rate on amount used for a long time. There used to be "no standing charge" tariffs that had a higher rate for the first x units and a lower rate after that. Curiously the "excess" amount paid on the first x units was nearly always within a penny or two of that companies standing charge... These tariffs didn't last long before Ofgem outlawed them.
E7 or the Agile thing mentioned vary the rate but on time of use not consumption be that total or instantaneous.
They will generally take it in whatever way suits you. If you don't have a record of your meter readings just look at your latest and 12 months old bills to calculate your annual energy consumption, that should suffice.
Which is nice if you can predict your annual consumption, but you can't. Maybe this winter is colder than last, maybe you have more roast dinners, maybe everyone WFH when they didn't last year. I want to know not just who is cheapest for last year's usage, but also how much I'd lose out if I use more or less. I could throw some random guesses in the comparison site, but it would be easier to see on a graph.
At least one supplier (Outfox) had a stepped standing charge, dressed up as a 'subscription fee'. You paid 6.99 / 9.99 / 11.99 a month (or whatever it was, I made up those numbers) based on levels of usage.
All these things would be easily shown on a graph - graphs don't have to be straight lines. The step where you move from 6.99 to 9.99 would be quite apparent, for example, and maybe you want to account for that if your consumption is around that point.
For E7, I'd want to produce a series of graphs based on tweaking the slider between night and day usage. Maybe tariff X is great if I use lots of night electricity, but not so good now everyone WFH and uses more in the daytime, and I'd be better going with tariff Y that has a flatter difference.
When more suppliers come out with TOU tariffs I think comparing them is going to be a particular headache...
Losses. Less for a reactive one I suppose, but how many dB? (I've got a resistive one somewhere, but I don't know where I would get a reactive one (i.e. a shop) even if I could be bothered.
you don't get a paper statement, you must have a paperless one then.
The energy company is required to provide you annually with a statement of your total usage so that you can use this number to enter into a comparison site
they can't opt out of doing this
And surely, if you have paperless billing, you do check it (against your own manual readings of the meter)
Please tell me that you don't just assume it is correct and pay the bill regardless?
I changed supplier in the late 90's when competition was first allowed and it took months for them to get it right, so I stayed put for a long time after that, but now in the "internet move" age it's been fine ...
I remember one conversation with an energy supplier salesman, who was arguing there was no standing charge at all. So I pointed out they had two different energy prices - one for the first 1500 units and then a lower one for the remainder - so all they had done was a slight of hand to hide the standing charge in the unit price! He insisted that was not the case, but oddly was not willing to let me have all my electric at the lower tariff price!
Well, we (I) typically read the meter once-every-so-often and she submits them online. In-between, they estimate the readings.
Yup. The Logic is that it should all work itself out in the wash?
I've just read the meters and submitted the values and we are £250 in credit with the gas and because one of the values for electricity its smaller than their estimated value, and the system doesn't seem to be able to cope with that (or assumed I've used 99995 kWh, loads of plants and lights), so I'm guessing that might need some manual intervention?
The numbers are the numbers, the cost per number is what it is so ... ?
It looks like I only have three readings since early 18:
Gas:
19/03/2018
342 units
14/10/2019
251 units
15/11/2020
Lekky:
19/03/2018
6159 D (17.52p / kWh)
2785 N (5.96p / kWh)
14/10/2019
4574 D (17.52p / kWh)
1548 N (5.96p / kWh)
15/11/2020
FWIW,
Lekky: Tariff name: Standard Tariff type: Variable Payment: Monthly DD Day rate: 17.52p / kWh Night rate: 5.96p / kWh Standing charge: 26.01p pd
Duel fuel discount: £15 pa
Gas: Tariff name: Standard Tariff type: Variable Payment: Monthly DD Unit rate: 3.83p kWh Standing charge: 26.01p pd
Last time we switched, I got a phone call from a salesman saying that I was a valued customer and they were sad to see me go. I said they were now too expensive.
He responded, saying he had a good tariff that would be cheaper. I said I'd looked at all the tariffs on offer, to which he replied that this was a 'special' cheaper one that they didn't advertise. On being asked why valued customers didn't get this anyway, he had no reply. I hung up.
That was what the Mrs would do / suggest I did ... 'If you could have given us that in the first place, why didn't you ...?' However, *we* all know the game, like when wanting £X for a car you advertise it at £X+25% and allow them to haggle you down to what you wanted (typically the actual market value). ;-)
Mate and his Mrs, turning 60 found their life insurance doubling. Phoned around, got quotes for the same as they were paying. Phoned back to their existing supplier and they matched it without need of proof or any further questions.
Same with double glazing, conservatories, car insurance, BB suppliers ... 'I can't give you any more discount but let me speak to my supervisor and see if they can do anything more ....... "oh right, you can do another 10% but they have to sign now" ...'
I knew that, but he was still more expensive and I was happy with the new supplier. Seemed an easy way of getting rid of him (and I was in the car at the time)
I've a double spreadsheet: top half has current(!) tariff and details; bottom half is for comparison with other tariffs. Just so long as I don't edit the wrong half... I must remember to protect those cells.
That's more the point. It's funny, once I have a pretty good idea I will get a better overall deal elsewhere, I will be more confident re my 'you still need to do better' stance *and* be ready to actually walk away, not just threaten to. ;-)
Cool.
Yup, putting them on the spot is normally a good way of getting rid of them (if you want to play them along) ... like the 'This is Microsoft Windows and your PC has a virus' telephone scam call. If I'm not busy I'll play them as long as I can ... 'No, pressing that doesn't do anything ...', eventually saying ... 'does it matter that it's Linux ...', but if I am and don't just hang up, I'll just say 'No you aren't, you are a scammer trying it on .. ... <click>'.
For genuine people, especially those who do phone back with their 'best' price I'm generally polite, even if they could have done that better price the first time round as I know it's part of (today's) game and they are just doing their jobs. ;-(
Huh? They all say things like 'Super Duper Warm Fixed 2022' tariff will save you £217.43 based on your current tariff. The 'cost' is filling out a form on a website and typing in the readings on changeover day (they email you).
You seem to be trying very hard not to save money... horses, water, etc.
Oh dear. There's formerly a daylight robbery tariff, now merely one at the Ofgem price cap. You can save quite a bit, no question.
Oh dear oh dear. They're taking you for a ride, aren't they?
Thanks for that. As I explained elsewhere, I haven't been 'in charge' of any of this previously, she has and we used to get the meters read, sent a bill and we (she) paid it. Then we went 'online', paperless, DD and in most cases the meter readings were estimated and assuming our usage pattern didn't change too much, everything should just tick along.
I have since found the account overview online but as some of the meter readings I submitted were lower than their estimated values, it looks like their clocks have just jumped ahead by a full meter count and I think we would notice that if they tried to bill us for it. ;-)
Sorry, yes, I've done that previously a while back (just plucking numbers out of the air or accepting their property template) and they may have said 'We can save you <an amount> on our 'Once in a lifetime, might change without notice, probably not worth the risk / max aggro when it all goes wrong' plans and so I just left it.
Not really, it's just that I've been here before and am aware that in some cases it really isn't worth it? Do I want to spend even an hour trying to save the cost of a couple of takeaways in the knowledge I'll be doing it all again before I know it?
I'm not saying I won't give it a go 'this time', just that it's rarely seemed to be worth it 'for me' and my disdain for doing this sort of thing. ;-(
It will be interesting to see if nothing else.
We don't know yet do we? They *might* be for sure, but we don't know that to be the case yet?
The Mrs was happy that we were paying more per month that the yearly cost as it's better to be in credit than debit.
Since daughter moved out (when stepdaughter died) the running costs are likely to have reduced, less use of the electric shower, less running of the washing machine, tumble dryer (actually that broke a while back and I've not gotroundto fixing it yet) and dishwasher etc. So, part of the amount we are 'in front' may be down to some of that?
I received a couple of emails from BG this morning, thanking me for my meter readings and that our bill isn't due for a while so I won't know where we are at till we get that?
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