Forum menu
We have been on British Gas since we moved into our current house, and are thinking about switching to save money. The thing is, all the deals are so complicated and limited in one way or another, that I have no idea which is best.
Are there companies that STW would avoid, or definitely use? Are there deals out there that are worth pursuing?
Help!
It's easy enough to compare given the number of comparison sites there are. Your biggest problem is when you are in a cycle of price rises and you can't be sure who has already increased theirs and who is yet to do so.
We used Scottish Power for 3 years while renting and they were pretty good customer-service wise.
We bought a house in the summer and went with the current supplier to the property - Utility Warehouse, after noticing that they came out favourably in a energy company survey by Which.
Avoid Spark energy at all costs- I can't even begin to list the problems we had with them!
I work for one of the bigger suppliers.
lots of deals available at the moment but make sure you compare using your annual usage. All suppliers have to put it on every bill now.
try some of the smaller suppliers as well, the only one I have heard negative things about is First Utility.
Oh, and avoid N Power, over 20x more complaints than any other supplier!
There's almost certainly a better deal to be had, but yeah, it's not uncomplicated! Worth heading to moneysavingexpert.com or similar and using the switching calculator.
I've recently switched to one of EDF's Blue Price Promise tariffs. Fixed price for 18 months, they tell me if anyone is cheaper, and there's no exit fee, so not locked in if somewhere else is cheaper. Can't say their customer service is the quickest to get through to though...
If you decide to switch, remember quidco/uswitch to get cashback.
Good luck.
try some of the smaller suppliers as well, the only one I have heard negative things about is First Utility.
Wer'e with 1st Utility, we were paying £117 a month for gas & leccy based on the figures I'd submitted based on guesswork cos my Mrs pays the bill normally (but hadn't kept the previous years bills)
They've just told me theyr'e reducing the monthly DD to £84, so I'm not complaining.
(3 bed detached house, 3 people inc an extravagant 27 yr old)
Try this [url= http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ]MSE[/url]
Yeah, I'm with that Money Saving Expert collective buying thing.
Just changed from £67 a month for gas/elec with EDF to £55.
That Blue Price Promise thing is useless as it's not based on your particular usage but just some national 'average' and considering how complicated the deals are (1st xKw = £y, 2nd zKw = £v etc) then it's not very relevant unless you fit that average.
A mate had serious problems* with First Utility. I've had none, and would recommend them. The nice part is entering your meter reading (just the one, now) once a month, so you're paying for exactly what you've used.
The change to them came about after a Which magazine article.
*I do wonder if my mate's natural heavy-handedness extends to entering data via a keyboard.
I had some shocking bills with First Utility. Readings submitted, ignored, then huge excess amounts stolen from my account by direct debit.
I pay when bills arrive via CC now.
My mate is in Yorks as well. I wonder if that's significant.
So far so good with First Utility for me.
Submit the readings every month and despite telling them my old usage was £50/mth, they've reduced my monthly bill to £39/mth. Not paid any extra yet.
Have you looked at one of the new entrants - OVO are one of the bigger small ones.
I haven't encountered any problems with First Utility yet either.
I was with NPower and we switched 4 months ago. We have just received a letter from them saying that they are behind with doing final accounts calculations but will send it through soon. It was sent to our old address despite us moving out 18 months ago - I have no idea how because surely the account is linked to the meter serial numbers which are, in turn, permanently fixed to a specific address. (All bills from NPower came to the correct new address up until the final bill letter).
as with all things, you have to keep an eye on it to make the savings work, keep giving readings, check the statements and phone them up if you start building credit to reduce the DD
Also when doing the switch reviews, check multiple comparison sites as some deals don't appear on all of them and the calculation methods vary slightly...
Just in the middle of switching via Uswitch. Never moved any utilities before so hoping it's not too much hassle. Going from British Gas and SSE to combined tariff with Eon saving 20%
Biggest saving we had was from last year's mild winter, our Gas DD dropped by 1/3 this year!