Electricity bill

[Someone-Else]

Just saying...................

Electric bill is in, they suggest I change tarrif "To a more suitable one for us" The suggested tarrif is £69.83 p/m but they also say we are paying £55 p/m" I would like to meet the person that comes up with these daft ideas and ask them why I should pay more / month for using the same amount.

As an aside, have any of you tried the likes of U switch? how did it go?

[chrrris]

I used one of those sites -- I think it was U switch but may have been one of the many others. It recommended "Bulb Energy" who I've been with for about 3 or 4 years now. Both Gas and Electricity prices came down although it's the nature of these things to creep back up again, obviously. I should really check again and see who's cheapest. One thing I won't do is switch to a supplier that requires smart meters as I believe they are a stepping stone to "surge pricing" being introduced, or even potentially limiting supplies, as smart meters can be "cut off" remotely.

[oz0707]

I went with octopus cause I got a few 50 quid referrals put of them. They were giving 50 quid to both the new customer and referring customer so win win. Might not be the absolute cheapest but there or there abouts. I'm on 55 60 ish for gas and leccy

[big-all]

if you havent swapped at least 3 times every 5 or so years you are paying too much
make sure you choose all off market and the ones they wont help you switch to this will give you more choice including the ones they get no commission from
martin lewis money saving expert will give you half any commission they get as cash back
https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

[etaf]

i use uswitch most years to compare
Not really interested in the savings they produce, as those are misleading - I look at the KWh rate & Day rate for both Gas & electricity and compare to my usuage, as i record it each month - should have a conversion for Gas units to KWh on the bill - so quite easy in a spreadsheet.
I have now been with ESB energy for 2 years and just signed another 2 year deal - if you dont want a smart meter watch out for the tariffs, which do mandate a smart meter

[Neelix]

Problem is that most people don't know their actual usage and the rates they pay and how much the standing charge is so any "comparison" isn't worth much

[oz0707]

Realistically how much could I save on 720 per year. I can't see it being loads cheaper to run my place. Detached bungalow.

[arco_iris]

Are you lot discussing the same thing, as OP's post confuses two different aspects?

The suggested tarrif is £69.83 p/m but they also say we are paying £55 p/m

"Tarriff" is the amount payable per unit of consumption + standing charge - theoretically one could be low to reel you in but the other higher to make up for it (or vice versa). This is the bit you can "switch".

The amount "p/m" is for when a monthly amount is set, to spread the cost equally over twelve equal months to help you budget your finances, some people need to do this. They don't want low bills in summer, high bills in winter.

So, supposing - based on the previous year's consumption, when for instance, you went on holiday a couple of times, it was a mild winter, prices were lower, etc. - £55 a month was the then calculation. At the end of the period you would be either in credit (you'd used less than reckoned) or in deficit (£660 didn't cover actual cost), these figures should be on the bill. If not, study the last four bills and work it out for yourself.

Then the computer, not a person, calculates that to catch up on last years defecit plus this years expected cost, added together, you need to pay £69.83 per month. If you were in deficit and the monthly amount didn't change, you'd fall further & further into owing them money.

I've never liked this "paying monthly" because it could equally go the other way and why should they have my money in advance. I have quarterly bills and pay each one as it falls due. Every other quarter is estimated, every other quarter is actual reading so every six months it's dead right. Even then, if you don't like estimated readings, you can submit actual reading and bill will be revised before payment. (Smart meters, if they work, is supposed to make it right every time).

[Someone-Else]

I see what you are saying, I would say our bills are correct as we get a notification of what they are going to charge us and I then send them what the actual meter reading is, and so we get the correct bill, so I still don't see how they think we should pay more than what we are, when it should be less as we are still in credit.

[dewaltdisney]

I have been with Eon for years when it used to be Eastern Electricity. I pay around £60 a month and a similar amount for gas which is supplied by British Gas that took over from North Thames Gas. I have tariffs offered on the renewal points and I look casually at the at the standing charge and the unit rates. They tend to balance out at an average consumption and I find it all tedious and lose interest. I mainly look at the estimated monthly payment as the guide,

I think I mentioned recently about some supplier switch bloke in Sainsbury's who buttonholed me into carrying out a review of my power supplies. He triumphantly says 'I can save you £40 a year' I say 'saving less than £1 a week is not worth me bothering, I expected you to say £150 a year' He was a bit narked.

DWD

[arco_iris]

S-E, In that case, ignore it - sounds like a computer generated letter where the computer can't tell its arse from its elbow, doesn't know its calculation is more than you already pay, trying it on. Were you to agree, they'd probably lock you in to a contract to stop you switching away from them, that's their plan.

By submitting a reading, getting a recalculated bill, paying that, you are doing the right/best thing in my opinion. But why pay monthly, do you need to budget that tightly? i.e. not have £175ish excess in the bank, to pay quarterly?

[Nos]

Just as a comparison here in France, we live in a new detached bungalow very well insulated and 100m2 of living space, we have air to water heat pump and UFH, in the winter we have the house at 23*, the bill for our first full year was 1700€, so about £130 per month, all electric no gas.

[oz0707]

Just as a comparison here in France, we live in a new detached bungalow very well insulated and 100m2 of living space, we have air to water heat pump and UFH, in the winter we have the house at 23*, the bill for our first full year was 1700€, so about £130 per month, all electric no gas.

Nos does that mean your energy costs are a lot higher than ours? What are you paying per kWh? I'm in a familiar place except use mains gas as available, got MVHR to reduce losses.

[Tom d'Angler]

The suggested tarrif is £69.83 p/m but they also say we are paying £55 p/m" I would like to meet the person that comes up with these daft ideas and ask them why I should pay more / month for using the same amount.

If you are coming to the end of your fixed contract period then the projected price after the end is usually higher than what you have been paying during the contract so most companies will suggest a different tariff which, in theory, is cheaper than the new price you would pay if you remained on your current contract.

I have been using "look after my bills" for a few years. They scour the market for you every year to find the (supposedly) cheapest new contract and, if you agree to the new contract, they take care of everything for you. I said "supposedly" because I checked their findings against my own search via U-Switch and there was one cheaper company but they had terrible customer reviews, mainly regarding inaccurate billing, so I suppose "look after my bills" actually looks for the cheapest supplier that also has a good customer service record.

Despite the fact that an open utility market should bring prices down through increased competition, the reality is very different.

I agree with chrrris's point about not having a smart meter as I have heard too many stories of inaccurate billing and huge direct debit payments being taken from bank accounts as a result. I have refused smart meters because it takes me less than 5 minutes once a month to take and upload my meter readings.

When my youngest son and his girlfriend (finally, at the age of 28) left home a couple of years ago, I switched to a water meter but found I was becoming far too stressed about "turn that tap off" and "do you have to water the plants again?" and not flushing the toilet after having having a wee, so I switched back to meter-less. My neighbour's water is metered and he pays just £5 a month less than me. I'm happy to pay that little bit extra as it means we can water the garden, wash our vehicles, and fill our large paddling pool as much as we want.

[big-all]

its certainly far better than it used to be
you now have price caps imposed on actual market increases so far less variation and wiggle room for savings
before the annual price cap came in iff you didnt shop arround every switch you would loose a few up to hundreds off pounds
now the way it works is you go back to there default tariff after your year contract but because its better controlled to inflation it can take several years now for it to creep up and be worth swapping