Energy Companies

[Ric.ror]

Now please bear with me but surely if energy company A charge £1 per kilowatt and energy company B charge £1.50 per kilowatt everyone is going to switch to A and we should all be advised to do so.
Or am I missing something?

[ummmm]

I think they rely on folk not getting round to it.....

[Tilly2]

The problem with switching, as we keep being told to do, is that all the companies seem to be raising their prices. How do you choose?

[davetuc]

It gets confusing when you add standing charges, peak/off-peak rates, discounts, fixed terms etc. I'm pretty sure they make it as confusing as possible to put people off switching.

[gingejbee]

Well, for a start, most of them have many different tariffs which are difficult for a consumer to compare!

[Ric.ror]

But, technically speaking, I should be able to google 'cheapest energy supplier per kilowatt' and that SHOULD save me pounds
Or, again, am I missing something?

[doctordb]

I think the cost of energy is cheap. I know I'm in the minotiry on this one.

[Ric.ror]

Can I ask why you think so doctorb?
I thought we all had to be up in arms about it

[doctordb]

To heat my house, to light my house (in and out), heat my water, use my oven, gas hob, dishwasher, kettle, tv, etc,etc all year and 24 hours a day whenever I want for less than I pay for sky tv.

[chelle7272]

tariffs and eals do differ as said. Also whether you are duel fuel, fixed etc. I think they definitley make it overcomplicated so we struggle with the sums yes! heard a discussion on the news the other day about how energy companies will be expected to explain there tariffs, they were saying this is not what is wanted, cheaper bills is what is wanted. I could do with both personally :)
I check on the Money Savng Expert site, enter your usage and they list your options. You can also sign up so that if a deal comes up cheaper than your existing one, they email you.

[factor-fiction]

It's not that simple- it depends on where you live, whether you are an above average or below average user, whether you have Economy 8, whether you pay by DD or quarterly, whether you have a fixed price deal, whether you have a standing charge or a dual rate system , whether you have dual fuel or two separate providers, whether some have put their prices up yet,....

There are comparison sites but these will give different answers depending on what you want and what your circumstances are.

I change every year but it's a pain and I can see why people don't- I can;t persuade my mother and MIL to do it. I have paperless billing but I can see why some don't want it. I pay by DD but my mum refuses to do so and I know some on here won't do it. I use Economy 7 but I do all our washing, ironing, charging up laptops before breakfast which know would drive some people mad.

The energy companies like it to be complicated and know that the majority of people never switch suppliers

[chelle7272]

Blimey doctorb you must pay a lot for Sky!

[doctordb]

Couldn't be without my cricket chelle. :)

[chelle7272]

Like to watch a bit of Graeme Swann myself ;) but my fuel bills are still a lot higher than my Sky bill, but I take your point about we get for our money.

If only there wasn't the huge profit margin to take into account.....

[chelle7272]

tut *what we get for our money...distracted myself there :)

[Ric.ror]

Well when you compare it to sky I guess its not that much
I just think it would be so much easier if we had a fixed rate per kilowatt price to then work it out - but I guess that would be too easy.
BTW - I have both with British Gas

[ummmm]

Our gas DD has gone up by £75 per month (it was only £3 though)

And out Electric has gone down from £141 to £30.

[chelle7272]

I was paying £111 a month for both gas and electric from May as we used the heating a lot last winter, they've reduced it to £94 since September. Before May it was around £70 -80.