As per title – is the MSE Cheap Energy Club good, and faff free?

Been with npower for 5 years, due to apathy tbh, but just had a gander at a comparison site. couple of big-6 deals which could save me around £150/yr, but terrible service, and a load of these new companies i’ve never heard of…

as i’ve not changed supplier since i bought my house, i’ve never had any customer service issues with npower, but understand they’re terrible – it’s the switching that seems to cause issues too. that, along with my general apathy to saving a tenner or so a month, is why i’m still there!

anyway, Cheap Energy Club – would you recommend?

Yes. I’d stick with companies that have a good customer rating though. I’ve gone with Pure Planet this time and seem very good so far.

Just gone to bulb in the last 6 months and saved £240 a year over SSE. No issues so far.

was that via the MSE club Hopk1ns?

MSE has been owned by Moneysupermarket for a few years now so it’s safest to regard it as another price comparison site rather than anything consumer led or especially consumer focused. Having said that, I’ve used them for energy switches a couple of times without any issues and will happily be using them again in the next week or so if their deals look good!

Moved SSE to Bulb a few months ago with no issues whatsoever. Tariffs are considerably cheaper as are the standing charges. Did a referral with a mate and we both got £75 credit and currently on track to be £400 a year cheaper.

At worst you could just phone npower and make sure you’re on their best deal, then just phone them periodically to recheck.

In all honesty tho, switching supplier isn’t that bigger deal. The only thing that could put a spanner in the works when switching is if you’re in arrears to your current supplier then they can refuse the switch until you settle up. I’ve used MSE for years, I also use the Citz Advice Bureau one. It might be the same, but I don’t think so as there’s usually a few different deals on CAB v MSE. I sometimes look at Uswitch as well, just to see if there’s any different deals.

I’ve had mixed experiences with the new crop of small start ups, Eversmart was chaotic and just far too much hassle to manage, but very cheap deal which they tried to cut short until ofgem intervened (now gone bust I just noticed). Utility Point have been great.

On the MSE forum under Energy, there’s usually a post for every supplier titled “Add your feedback on energy supplier xxxxx”. If that post is on the front page and there’s pages and pages of feedback on that supplier, then you can probably assume it’s not good news.

So MSE is good, but faff free? well, it pays to put a bit of research effort in and you might have to make a few phone calls.

thanks dude
having an admin day and saved £18/month on my internet just now, so should probably bite the bullet and get on with it..!

Another happy Bulb customer here.

thanks – mebbe i’ll just go bulb then – their quote was fairly good (tho eON and BG were better). have asked for a referral code 🤓

Moved to Bulb 6 months ago from Sainsbury’s energy/BG (supplier when we moved in, I wouldn’t have chosen them).

It’s been consistently £30-40 cheaper each month.

OVO here, through MSE. I’ve just renewed with them for another year. It’s the first energy company I’ve ever used that hasn’t chucked a huge bill at me at the end of the contract. That also pay 3-5% interest on credit balances. 3% year one, 4% year 2 and 5% year 3 onwards.
My Lloyds cash ISA pays 0.6%…

Moved to Bulb after First Utility got swallowed up by Shell. Had a couple of hiccups but could always get through to someone quickly and they resolved the problem and been more than happy ever since.

I could do you a £50 referral for Octopus if they are on your radar. Customer service is highly automated online and works really well. You’ll have to PM me if you want it because not allowed to post them up here.

I’ve been with OVO for two years and they have been excellent. Only moved to Pure Planet as their new tariff wasn’t competitive.

Bulb are good as the rates are decent and they only have 1 tariff so you’ll never get bumped on to a more expensive standard tariff.

Almost always cheaper to switch annually tho IME (I do several tariff checks per week for clients).

Presently with Out Fox the Market.

No idea re MSE thing. I’d be very surprised if npower had been anywhere near the cheapest for 6 years.

Switching is fine 99 times out of a hundred as are direct debits, so customer service is only significant when something technical goes wrong (rare, and usually related to an issue with MPAN/MPRN or meter registration, unrelated to supplier).

I’ve made the effort to pick up the phone and try and ring the customer service number of the supplier I’m planning to move to.

Although, as Al says above, the majority of switches are fine, I want to know I can get in touch easily if necessary.

My two other tips:

1. Photograph the meter(s) when you switch and check the finishing/starting values the two companies use

2. Don’t rely on being refunded any credit that’s built up without asking, and probably don’t have a big credit built up prior to a switch.

hungrymonkey, you have mail, pm’d you

Could someone hook me up with a bulb referral please?

You have mail re bulb referral 🙂

If anyone else wants a Bulb referral feel free to get in touch.

If anyone else wants a Bulb referral feel free to get in touch.We’re all at it !

Don’t forget with mse you can topcashback aswell.

Just signed into tcb today to find 28quid from them has matured

I am with Bulb.

Good customer service so far as I have called them a few times to explain my energy bill, as I didn’t know how billing system work in this “modern” world.

I have never had to deal with energy company all these years because rental was all inclusive but now I pay my own bill …

Also I set my total bill to £30 per month (early 90s rate that I can remember paying in those days) for both gas and electricity and ended up with them emailing me to up the monthly payment 😅, due to outstanding previous payments …

But my total bill for last month was still below £30 for both.