Energy Suppliers

SilverTongue · 16 Feb 2016 at 10:00

bloodiedathame said:
When you say smart meter, are we talking Hives, Nests etc? I was under the impression that you could use a smart meter regardless of which energy supplier you have.

No, they are smart thermostats

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/smarter-living/control-energy/smart-meters.html

bloodiedathame · 16 Feb 2016 at 11:03

Got me thermostats and me meters mixed up clearly.

Pulsedriver · 16 Feb 2016 at 12:45

I see... Is it the actual meters that are on the gas and electricity boxes themselves that no longer work, or is it just the plugin readout thing that gives the real time info? The latter is probably not much of a pain to turn off, but if it's the meters themselves, I can imagine that being a total PITA

SilverTongue · 16 Feb 2016 at 18:59

Pulsedriver said:
I see... Is it the actual meters that are on the gas and electricity boxes themselves that no longer work, or is it just the plugin readout thing that gives the real time info? The latter is probably not much of a pain to turn off, but if it's the meters themselves, I can imagine that being a total PITA

the meters will still record usage but will not send reads automatically so would need to be read yourself. Also the plug in monitor won't work

kaktus · 17 Feb 2016 at 12:10

Ovo here as well. It's not the cheapest but I consider them to be the Zen of energy suppliers - if you have an issue it just gets resolved without question.

And that's worth the extra pennies imho.

Vanquish-Storm · 17 Feb 2016 at 16:30

kaktus said:
Ovo here as well. It's not the cheapest but I consider them to be the Zen of energy suppliers - if you have an issue it just gets resolved without question.

And that's worth the extra pennies imho.

I would say the same except they have spent 4+ months trying to fix the online Smart meter readings.

But they always answer the phone quickly and the person you speak to can solve your issue.

I might miss that when I switch to British Gas.

2013 · 29 Mar 2016 at 18:33

Has anyone used Flow Energy, isupplyenergy, Bristol Energy, Avro Energy or GnERGY ???

rodders · 13 Apr 2016 at 21:20

OVO question - where does it show the 3% you get on money you have in credit? is it paid monthly or only yearly?

I'm in credit, but I see no 3% payment?

Vanquish-Storm · 14 Apr 2016 at 08:34

rodders said:
OVO question - where does it show the 3% you get on money you have in credit? is it paid monthly or only yearly?

I'm in credit, but I see no 3% payment?

You should see it on your monthly statement.

It gets knocked off your bill as a credit underneath the heading of "other transactions" along with the online discount (if your on that plan)

IvanDobskey · 14 Apr 2016 at 09:07

I have been with first utility for two years and they have been good and very cheap. However, they are now trying to rip me off, so I will be moving. Scottish Power seems the cheapest at the moment for me.

booyaka · 14 Apr 2016 at 09:45

Vanquish-Storm said:
You should see it on your monthly statement.

It gets knocked off your bill as a credit underneath the heading of "other transactions" along with the online discount (if your on that plan)

yeah it's called - Ovo Interest Reward and shows as a credit on the bill (57p thie month for me - currently £350 in credit!)

joeyjojo · 14 Apr 2016 at 11:50

BadMojo said:
Yesterday, I got the ball rolling on a switch to GB Energy as they were the cheapest acccording to MSE's Cheap Energy Club.

This is the answer for cheapest.

Personally I'm a big fan of ecotricity.

rodders · 14 Apr 2016 at 16:19

Its odd, on my statements im owing, but on 'My Balance' im in credit. But I don't get a 3% payment cause I owe on the statement date I guess.

Its such a small amount I would make it doesn't really matter, I was just curious.

Azza · 16 Apr 2016 at 09:00

Currently with SSE on their standard tariff and they come up on MSE as the cheapest available on their 1 Year Fixed v6 so switching to that for a year.

Since we've only been in the house 6 months I've been having to use a monthly average to estimate the year total so from that switching to this tariff will save about £400 based on the current usage, but it probably wouldn't be that much since we won't have the heating on during the summer.

garak112 · 16 Apr 2016 at 09:45

Just came out of my fixed period with Scottish Power and an switching to First, my dual fuel is going to be £15 a month cheaper which is not to be sniffed at.

On the flip side Thames Water have put my bill up £10 a month without explanation and are not answering the phone to tell me why.

ron3003 · 16 Apr 2016 at 17:29

I looked at the MSE Cheap Energy Club last October when they were recommending I took part in their 'big switch' to E.On even though it was way dearer than my deal with Scottish Power which was coming to an end.
You need to try different switching services to get the full picture as they don't all list the best deals available, only those that they're aligned with for commission.
I eventually went for Robin Hood Energy which is a not for profit supplier run by Nottingham City Council. You don't need to live in Notts to use them. We're E7 all electric only and it's Day rate 11.152 p/kWh Night rate 6.203 p/kWh.

Azza · 3 Aug 2016 at 22:54

Azza said:
Currently with SSE on their standard tariff and they come up on MSE as the cheapest available on their 1 Year Fixed v6 so switching to that for a year.

Since we've only been in the house 6 months I've been having to use a monthly average to estimate the year total so from that switching to this tariff will save about £400 based on the current usage, but it probably wouldn't be that much since we won't have the heating on during the summer.

So since this switched I'm still doing a meter reading every month. Just had the latest bill come through and I feel like I need to use more gas! £51.26 in credit, and the original DD after switching changed from £39 to £26 after the 1st month. :eek:

£15.40 in credit with the leccy as well and I haven't turned my NAS off in months. :cool:

Pulsedriver · 10 Aug 2016 at 18:40

nPower keeps coming up cheapest for me, apparently £264.35 cheaper a year... And if I am comparing the unit rates, I currently pay on British Gas;

Gas 3.83p / 26.01p standing charge
Electric 12.20p / 26.00p standing charge

nPower say

Gas 2.31p / 17.60p standing charge
Electric 10.58p / 17.60p standing charge

So they are clearly cheaper, although exit fees of £20 per fuel, It is not massively difficult to find a lot more cheaper suppliers than my British Gas tariff looking at those figures, I don't have an exit fee on current tariff so can just switch but worried about nPower given they get so many bad reviews, anyone on here using them? The app they made looks decent.

I have a smart meter for electric and gas so I know i'll lose the smart functionality by swapping to anyone other than Sainsburys Energy, who would still save me a bit as they have the same standing charge as BG that I pay now, but unit rates are a bit cheaper.

Basically, top 3 in the 'saving' are nPower, SSE & Places for people energy.

nutcase · 10 Aug 2016 at 18:59

nPower really aren't worth the stress!

joeyjojo · 10 Aug 2016 at 19:14

ron3003 said:
I eventually went for Robin Hood Energy which is a not for profit supplier run by Nottingham City Council. You don't need to live in Notts to use them. We're E7 all electric only and it's Day rate 11.152 p/kWh Night rate 6.203 p/kWh.

Interesting, I thought Ebico (Equigas & Equipower) were the only non-profit supplier. Edit: Robin Hood are quite a bit cheaper too from the quick quotes I just got.