Energy suppliers

octatonic

I'm with SSE and they are raising prices again so I am bailing to someone else and locking a price in for 2 years.

Who are good?

I am considering the Co-operative ATM.

johnnyurq

Same here and it is an 8.2% rise I think.

Just in time for Winter and Christmas too, what a surprise.

Yep time to look around so would be interested in where is best too.

bertie

Im just in the process of going from B-Gas to N-Power  (fixed  to 2017)   as recommended by Mr Lewis

AlbionLass

Would never have anything to do with N-Power as several years ago they signed me up without my knowledge or consent even forging a signature on the paperwork. The only contact I had had with them was closing the door and saying 'No thanks' to one of their salespeople who knocked on the door. 

It was something they seemed to be in the habit of doing at the time as BBC Watchdog investigated it not long after it happened to me.

octatonic

AlbionLass said:

Would never have anything to do with N-Power as several years ago they signed me up without my knowledge or consent even forging a signature on the paperwork. The only contact I had had with them was closing the door and saying 'No thanks' to one of their salespeople who knocked on the door. 

It was something they seemed to be in the habit of doing at the time as BBC Watchdog investigated it not long after it happened to me.

That is good to know.

I would avoid SSE too- they are always door stepping me to get me to move my phone to them (I don't actually have a landline).

Despite asking them to stop doing it they continue to come.

I'll be glad to see the back of them.

Edit: I just checked Which- N Power come bottom of the pile.

Good Energy are rated top but they aren't cheap (they are 100% eco)

Ebico are rated pretty high, then Ovo Energy, then Co-Operative.

bertie

I think they've  "moved on" a bit since then because of that..................turns out Ive been paying quite a bit over the odds over the last year or so to B-Gas, and their fixed rates arent that good in comparison to others.

The other choice was EDF, and Ive a couple of mates that have had bad experiences with them 

I also "trust" what Martin Lewis tends to say,  he's normally pretty good/fair....................

ICBM

I doubt it makes any difference in the long run. Whichever one you choose has to buy the same electricity and gas at the same prices as everyone else and supply it down the same wires and pipes - the 'market' for 'suppliers' is a fiction, the most you're doing is changing the office the bill comes from.

After the amount of hassle I had the one and only time I changed - I can't remember the exact reason now, even (it wasn't actually to do with price) - I won't ever bother again.

If you want to really save money on your home energy bills, improve your house insulation.

octatonic

ICBM said:

I doubt it makes any difference in the long run. Whichever one you choose has to buy the same electricity and gas at the same prices as everyone else and supply it down the same wires and pipes - the 'market' for 'suppliers' is a fiction, the most you're doing is changing the office the bill comes from.

After the amount of hassle I had the one and only time I changed - I can't remember the exact reason now, even (it wasn't actually to do with price) - I won't ever bother again.

If you want to really save money on your home energy bills, improve your house insulation.

We're already very well insulated- I put down new floors a year ago and insulated then & did the loft.

I'm mainly looking to change to someone else and lock it in for 2 years, then we go back to Oz.

The changeover process is supposed to be automated now- you tell your new supplier and they move it over for you with no loss of service.

When did you change last?

If it is more than 18 months ago (I think) then it will be different now.

AlbionLass

ICBM said:

If you want to really save money on your home energy bills, improve your house insulation.

Agreed. We had new central heating and some new insulation just under two years ago and our energy bills have quite literally halved.

ICBM

octatonic said:

I'm mainly looking to change to someone else and lock it in for 2 years, then we go back to Oz.

The changeover process is supposed to be automated now- you tell your new supplier and they move it over for you with no loss of service.

When did you change last?

If it is more than 18 months ago (I think) then it will be different now.

More than 18 months ago - but the same applies, the energy market is a fiction created by the government (I forget which one, I assume the last Tory one) in order to give the illusion of 'choice' and 'competition' when there really is none. If you're only going to be here for two years save yourself the time and hassle. If Putin doubles the price of gas you can be certain those "locked in price" guarantees will be covered by some sort of small print so they can be reneged on anyway. There is no way any energy company - or government for that matter - can possibly guarantee future prices when the true suppliers are outside the UK.

Cirrus

Yep, ICBM gets two wisdoms here. I thought it was a shame a few years ago when I learned that because we don't have enough in the way of gas storage facilities, we sell gas we don't use in the summer at lower prices to other countries, then buy it back from them at higher prices in the winter as our demand goes up when we could just have kept and stored said gas.

Preferably somewhere up north, like, but still...

I don't know if that's still the way of it today.

Myranda

I'd avoid nPower they signed me up with promises of great prices - what they actually did was drastically underestimate my energy usage, so later after a meter reading they simply sent me a bill demanding £300

I'd avoid British Gas as when I moved in here I set up a direct debit with them - they for some reason only billed me for one fuel, not both so a year an a half later presented me with a bill for £800+ which was apparently my fault because somehow I must have asked them to only set up direct debits for gas and not electricity.

Deadman

I send my own meter readings electronically to npower every month, the programme they have is ace and my bills are ultra-consistent.

Having said that, I hate all energy companies.

holnrew

They're all Jeremy Kyles.

Scottish Power seem to be the cheapest, for prepay at least.

Myranda

Deadman said:

I send my own meter readings electronically to npower every month, the programme they have is ace and my bills are ultra-consistent.

Having said that, I hate all energy companies.

I tried this recently - they billed me three times in that month - all different amounts... given that our heating was off while we waited for the engineer come and replace the condemned and disconnected for about two months it's unlikely we were using a lot of gas... so I called them - they basically told me it was tough.

gilby

Hmm, energy suppliers. One thing I'm not looking forward to dealing with once we move back on land.
Perhaps I can convert the house to 12volt, a battery bank and some cheap solars. Sort my own cooker with bottle gas supplies and burn more Catholics when I'm cold.

Fretwired

Go to Utility Warehouse - the company is listed on the Stock Market, is ethical and tops the Which awards. It also has a high customer satisfaction rating. They simply get 1 million plus people and buy services in a large block and pass the discounts on to customers. I saved 20% of gas/electric.

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/home/index

breakstuff

Fretwired good call on Utility Warehouse.Been with them for two years now.I pay around £120 per month for gas,electricity,landline phone and broadband.Was the equivalent of getting the phone and broadband for free when I swapped from British Gas.

AlbionLass

breakstuff said:

Fretwired good call on Utility Warehouse.Been with them for two years now.I pay around £120 per month for gas,electricity,landline phone and broadband.Was the equivalent of getting the phone and broadband for free when I swapped from British Gas.

That's what I pay for those services through British Gas and Virgin.

monquixote

I'm with Ovo as they are usually close to the cheapest and have various policies about not being arseholes. (They came top on the Which survey IIRC)

N-Power are evil, avoid at all costs. 

bertie

monquixote said:

N-Power are evil, avoid at all costs. 

why ?    examples please