Energy Suppliers

Psycho Sonny · 16 Aug 2018 at 11:13

HungryHippos said:
I use about twice as many kwhs of gas over electric, and I use a fair bit of electric (8 bay Nas on 24/7, big tv with 5.1 speakers, powerful pc etc?. Are you sure this checks out given most of your bill is gas?

i have several big tv's (55inch, 50 inch and a 43 inch, I also have 2 x 27 inch pc monitors), i also have monitor audio 5.1 surround system with a bk xxls 400 subwoofer and a top of the range yamaha amp, etc. i also have yamaha soundbar in bedroom, etc.

i have led grow lights. smart lights. smart thermostat. smart smoke and carbon monoxide monitors. i have wireless speakers in kitchen. i have 2 powerful pc's. a console. 2 tablets, 2 smartphones, etc. basically i have a shedload of electronics. i have 4 powerline adapters, a router, a modem, a wireless extender. 2 laptops.

the reason why my bill is so low is because of smart thermostat. smart plugs. led lights. energy efficient appliances.

everything in my home is top of the range most energy efficient model (fridge freezer, washing machine, etc.). all lights are dumb led's bar 2 smart led's. smart led's consume more power than dumb led's.

the 2 most expensive things in the home are heating air/water and lighting.

heating air/water - minimise kettle use to what is needed. minimise use of electric heating. use eco cycles on dishwashers and washing machines. avoid use of tumble dryer if you can. i gave mine away and now i dry clothes in the spare bathroom on a drying rack. it has a duct to the roof which lets humidity escape.

i also have my samsung fridge set to 1C whereas most set them to 5C and i still use little leccy because it's efficient. I like my beers ice cold.

basically you need to go round your home and make it more efficient. you also live in fareham i live in glasgow. here it's around 5C colder all year round. so I should be using more gas than you. i live in a detached home built around 97-99.

is your loft insulated? cavity wall insulated? is your hot water tank insulated?

HungryHippos · 16 Aug 2018 at 12:50

Sorry maybe you misconstrued my question it wasn't around how well insulated or not your house is, but you mentioned your new bill was 1p more per kwh of gas and 3/4 of your bill was gas usage, so you made a saving on standing charges but are spending more per unit, and if 3/4 of your usage is gas the cheaper electric won't have as much impact on your costs.

I worked out last night that I had used around 3000 kwh of electric for the year, and around 5300 kwh of gas (500 odd m3). Not all that surprising as I have gas CH and a hot water tank. 3 bed link detached house but I think my gas usage is reasonably low compared to national averages for a similar property size.

Psycho Sonny · 16 Aug 2018 at 17:56

HungryHippos said:
Sorry maybe you misconstrued my question it wasn't around how well insulated or not your house is, but you mentioned your new bill was 1p more per kwh of gas and 3/4 of your bill was gas usage, so you made a saving on standing charges but are spending more per unit, and if 3/4 of your usage is gas the cheaper electric won't have as much impact on your costs.

I worked out last night that I had used around 3000 kwh of electric for the year, and around 5300 kwh of gas (500 odd m3). Not all that surprising as I have gas CH and a hot water tank. 3 bed link detached house but I think my gas usage is reasonably low compared to national averages for a similar property size.

so 5300 x 1p = £53

£53 / 12 = £4.41 per month if i used the same amount of gas as you

in fact my deal is ending so i'm using the wrong prices.

if i use the new prices i can get then i am paying 0.47p more per kwh of gas than i would elsewhere. however i am 5p per kwh cheaper on leccy. i am also around £5-8 cheaper a month on standing charges.

it works out £4 a month cheaper for me than elsewhere. however i have no exit fees. so if their gas increases a lot i can switch gas to elsewhere.

jpaul · 16 Aug 2018 at 18:11

going fixed can be judicious, and short term savings on a variable can be wiped out.
Bulb currently offer to buy you out, so cynically can gamble on a long term fixed and revert to bulb if necessary.

the fixed (pre-brexit) npower I had unitl last month was better than they all are now, wish I had taken out a longer fixed term;
are there any long term projections on winter severity ?
I suppose these would be accomodated in the gas/electric futures market, if that is accessible to mortals.

HungryHippos · 16 Aug 2018 at 18:15

Psycho Sonny said:
so 5300 x 1p = £53

£53 / 12 = £4.41 per month if i used the same amount of gas as you

in fact my deal is ending so i'm using the wrong prices.

if i use the new prices i can get then i am paying 0.47p more per kwh of gas than i would elsewhere. however i am 5p per kwh cheaper on leccy. i am also around £5-8 cheaper a month on standing charges.

it works out £4 a month cheaper for me than elsewhere. however i have no exit fees. so if their gas increases a lot i can switch gas to elsewhere.

Makes sense, but your kwh usage may differ from mine, I believe my bill is roughly 60% electric 40% gas. Have you worked it out based on your actual usage figures?

Psycho Sonny · 16 Aug 2018 at 18:20

HungryHippos said:
Makes sense, but your kwh usage may differ from mine, I believe my bill is roughly 60% electric 40% gas. Have you worked it out based on your actual usage figures?

i popped them all into MSE energy saving club and it says outfox is the cheapest by £4 a year for duel fuels. but my usage last year was high due to crazy 3 feet of snow. it was a bad winter.

i can save around £30 a year if use 2 different suppliers for gas and leccy. which i don't want to have the hassle of. i'd rather have both from the same place.

Kautya · 18 Aug 2018 at 10:39

Just completed a few days ago and looking for a new energy supplier. Bulb seems to be cheapest at the moment as per MSE. Can someone please trust me a referral link ? Presuming the £50 off for referral is still going.

jpaul · 18 Aug 2018 at 11:11

Kautya said:
Presuming the £50 off for referral is still going.

I've sent a link .. if it's still going

Kautya · 18 Aug 2018 at 11:38

jpaul said:
I've sent a link .. if it's still going

Thanks, will take a look in a moment.

jpaul · 22 Aug 2018 at 07:56

unbelievable .. anyone see this joke of a programme dragons den -

some online company automatically switching people once a year amongst the subset of energy companies that company chooses to do business with. (probably not bulb)
.. and they injected £150K for 3% of their business, after usual farce/pseudo 'bidding' 'war'

I thought better energy companies were already telling you about better deals, and, although the compare energy sites may not be the best designed
(need a seprate excel to see what's what imhop) do we need additional middle-men. ?

Also - interesting article http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...G-customers-trying-switch-cheaper-rivals.html
substantiating some of earlier switching problems posts

Some 837,000 switches were delayed for 'invalid reasons' last year, says Ofgem.
One of the big reasons for failure is out-of-date record keeping by energy suppliers. Separate research suggests this causes more than 500,000 switching failures a year – leaving customers stuck paying more than they need to for longer. There are two central databases holding meter numbers for every household in the UK – one each for gas and electricity.

pastymuncher · 22 Aug 2018 at 10:48

I have had my first monthly statement from Utility Point and have saved £12.63 compared with what I would have been billed with Bulb. Same number of days and slightly more units of electricity too so I am very happy with my move. I got £25 for switching as well. Utility Point's current fixed deal is more expensive than the one I signed up on so the timing was good.

Martini1991 · 22 Aug 2018 at 13:53

Well I've just had a great time changing from British Gas to First Utility.
The electricity reading from the smart metre that was being sent to British Gas was 200KWh less than the real physical metre when I checked it.

They tried billing me 48 pound for 3 days of electricity as I supplied the real reading to First Utility completely unaware that there was an issue.

Managed to get British Gas to refund me 35 quid.

The reason for having a smart metre is to avoid something like this entirely surely?

At least, that's the only way I can perceive what I've experienced as I went from using ~150KWh in 17 days to ~300KWh in 3 days.

Kol · 22 Aug 2018 at 14:28

Anyone want to fling me a Bulb referral? I can get £30 going via topcashback, does a referral benefit us both?

PiKe · 22 Aug 2018 at 14:31

Yes the referral benefits both, Bulb are still really competitive compared to other energy providers.

Kol · 22 Aug 2018 at 14:33

Thanks @PiKe ... trust received. Thank you.

SuperOwl86 · 22 Aug 2018 at 22:20

Kol said:
Anyone want to fling me a Bulb referral? I can get £30 going via topcashback, does a referral benefit us both?

You will not get the cashback if you use the referral.

bloodiedathame · 22 Aug 2018 at 22:21

There was talk of Bulb being sold this week, they've done a massive customer grab with good rates and good incentives...

Kol · 22 Aug 2018 at 22:55

SuperOwl86 said:
You will not get the cashback if you use the referral.

Aware of that, it was either £30 through TCB without or request a referral to get us both £50

jpaul · 23 Aug 2018 at 07:52

bloodiedathame said:
There was talk of Bulb being sold this week, they've done a massive customer grab with good rates and good incentives...

so as you pre-empt, any rationale to leave ?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/08/19/bulb-energy-goes-sale-could-fetch-500m/
single source article though ????

edit : we don't know how much new increase is yet, either.

bloodiedathame · 23 Aug 2018 at 08:42

jpaul said:
so as you pre-empt, any rationale to leave ?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/08/19/bulb-energy-goes-sale-could-fetch-500m/
single source article though ????

edit : we don't know how much new increase is yet, either.

Time will tell. I did see a reply from the owners that they'd 'never sell' but one should never say never.