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ELECTRICITY SUPPLIERS.


cicero
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Always good advice. People should definitely look at USwitch and some of the other comparison sites available when they are looking at changing a supplier or insurance. I have for a couple of things and saved a lot of money in the process.

 

 

Use your internet and go to U Switch its that simple.

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Try Bulb. Very good company. There electricity is from green sources. If you get an existing customer to introduce you they get a £50 credit on their bill and so do you. If you do the same thing through USwitch or the like then they get the £50 and you get nothing.

 

I have been with them a couple of years and they have been great. Really quick to answer any problems. The best thing is that as soon as the price of electricity goes down the put your bill down. My other half is with them too at her house. She was with NPower and their customer service was dire when she needed the meter changing. She made money out of them though when they kept failing to turn up for appointments.

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Many houses have two meters, not all though. Just look in your electric cupboard. Not sure why USwitch can't deal with that though, because I used it to look up for a cheaper supplier and I have a meter for storage heaters and the other for general purpose electric. BUT that was a while back so maybe this is a new thing.

 

Whats this 2 meter system your talking about ?

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I had SSE remove my dual tariff meter (no charge) and replace it with a standard one before leaving them and joining Extra Energy over a year ago. The daily charge is high (57.54) but the standard tariff is unbeatable! Its 10.689 Now all my units are one price and the saving is second to none!

I should mention I do not know what their charges are for people with a standard meter and a separate one for night storage.

 

No meter reader comes - Sometimes they are reluctant to accept my reading when it's considered too high so I take a photo and attach it in an email to them.

 

Whenever I do a comparison check online it always shows Extra Energy as charging a much higher rate which gives a false outcome.

 

It's worth ringing them direct.

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Mine is 23.5p a day and 13p per unit on Bulb. My bill this month was £13.50. This is my only source of heat, light and power. I left SSE as they charged me £52 for replacing a pre-payment meter, left by the last tenant, to a standard meter.

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> The daily charge is high (57.54) but the standard tariff is unbeatable! Its 10.689 Now all my units are one price and the saving is second to none!

That sounds great !

But when I checked on their website just now, the prices they gave was nowhere near 10.689 with the cheapest at 16.5585 :-(


Economy Heating Prices:

Sunrise Fixed Price Oct 2019 v2

Unit rate day = 18.0464 p/kWh
Unit rate night = 10.8854 p/kWh
Standing charge = 20.4750 p/day

--------------------------------------
Clear Fixed Price Oct 2020 v1

Unit rate day = 18.5934 p/kWh
Unit rate night = 10.6523 p/kWh
Standing charge = 28.8750 p/day

--------------------------------------
Reliance Fixed Price Jul 2020 v2

Unit rate day = 19.8702 p/kWh
Unit rate night = 11.9847 p/kWh
Standing charge = 22.5750 p/day

Just single unit pricing:

Sunrise Fixed Price Oct 2019 v2

Unit rate day = 15.4907 p/kWh
Standing charge = 24.1500 p/day

--------------------------------------
Clear Fixed Price Oct 2020 v1

Unit rate day = 16.1175 p/kWh
Standing charge = 28.8750 p/day

--------------------------------------
Reliance Fixed Price Jul 2020 v2

Unit rate day = 16.5585 p/kWh
Standing charge = 22.5750 p/day


I also notice they don't provide all of the tariff's that SSE provide when comparing, eg."Standard Economy & Heating Load" these figures are including 5% VAT:

Off-peak energy is 10.101p per unit

Day energy is 20.496p per unit

Night energy is 10.983p per unit

Standing charge is 16.443p per day

Giving our own bill for the last 6 months (3 bed semi - super insulated.) as an example:

Off-peak energy 10.101 * 2,543 units = £257
Day energy 20.496 * 1,663 = £341
Night energy 10.983 x 889 = £98
Standing charge 16.443 x 183 = £30

Total = £726 / 6 = £121 per month.

If we compare that to the cheapest other option, assuming "Unit rate day" = "Off-Peak energy" + "Night energy":

Sunrise Fixed Price Oct 2019 v2

Unit rate day = 18.0464 p/kWh
Unit rate night = 10.8854 p/kWh
Standing charge = 20.4750 p/day

Off-peak energy 10.8854 * 2,543 units = £277
Day energy 18.0464 * 1,663 = £300
Night energy 10.8854 x 889 = £97
Standing charge 20.4750 x 183 = £37

Total = £711 / 6 = £119 per month.

So about a fiver cheaper. :-)


If we compare that to the second cheapest other option, assuming "Unit rate day" = "Off-Peak energy" + "Night energy":

Sunrise Fixed Price Oct 2019 v2

Unit rate day = 15.4907 p/kWh
Standing charge = 24.1500 p/day

Off-peak energy 15.4907 * 2,543 units = £394
Day energy 15.4907 * 1,663 = £258
Night energy 15.4907 x 889 = £138
Standing charge 24.1500 x 183 = £44

Total = £834 / 6 = £139 per month.

A difference of around £20 more expensive than SSE.

Though I can imagine if you used more day time units than us, and less night time, then it could be cheaper for you.

Next for me to check is Bulb. :-)

Is it going to be higher or lower..

FX [ Goes to check . . .   ]


Bulb

Vari-Fair Electricity Tariff
Unit Rate = 13.755p per kWh
Standarding charge = 24.56p per day.

Off-peak energy 13.755 * 2,543 units = £350
Day energy 13.755 * 1,663 = £229
Night energy 13.755 x 889 = £122
Standing charge 24.56 x 183 = £45

Total = £746 / 6 = £124 per month.

So about a fiver more expensive than SSE, for us at least.
 

Edited by Nigel Bridgman-Elliot
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Is Bulb not just a virtual company though, a broker making money by creaming a percentage off the top by agreeing a buying price with someone who has some, and reselling it at a slightly higher price to those who want it. They don't actually ever own anything at any time unless computers and phones to make it all work  All fine and well as long as their bean counters get it right every time, but not so fun if something goes pear shaped and producers won't give them any to sell.

 

At least sticking with companies who actually have generating infrastructure, there's a bit more leeway when things go a bit udders up - they have more options to survive, a broker can go down the tubes literally immediately on one bad deal.

 

If it wasn't Bulb, it was some other broker doing exactly the same thing, folk were complaining about concerning the change over period and how they set monthly payments. Basically the problem folk were getting upset over was that with most conventional suppliers you pay in arrears, whereas whoever the broker they were with demanded payment monthly in advance - So anyone changing from a payment in arrears supplier to the broker was faced with paying two bills at one time, the final in arrears from their old supplier, and the first in advance from the broker.

 

Also, whoever the broker was, set monthly payments for one year at a time, initially based on your usage based on the last six months with your previous supplier. Which, as numerous folk were pointing out, if you changed over in say June, after a very cold winter when you had high usage, your first years payments were all excessively high, especially if the next winter was a mild one. By the time your monthly payments were reviewed at the end of one year, you'd potentially overpaid by several hundred pound. Obviously by the end of year two it all evened out again, but folk were understandably a little miffed at having to pay a good chunk of year two's power during year one as well as that year's usage, and having to wait until as far in to year two to see the effects of the lower unit price tariff in their wallets - especially as they sole reason they'd changed over was to benefit from the lower cost.

 

Like I said, it may not have been Bulb, I can't remember, but if it wasn't, it was also a recent start virtual broking outfit, using virtually the same business model as Bulb does.

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I have no idea what Bulb's set up is, but I have had no problems and only good service. I can't bring to mind the name of the company that failed, but it wasn't Bulb.

 

As far as having your own generating infrastructure is concerned, NPower constantly have a very bad customer service record. Tesco don't own any apple trees, but they are perfectly capable of flogging apples.

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