Energy Supplier

[MatthewL]

I'm on a fixed tariff with British Gas which is due to expire at the end of September. I have been with them since I bought this house and maybe its time to change?

 

I spent about £1000 a year for gas and electric for myself in a 1950's semi detached ex local authority house.

 

I've had a look on some of these comparison sites and they say they can save me £200 a year but I've not heard of half the companies that are offering services. I can stay with British Gas and fix my tariff till June 2021, if I did it would cost me more and there is a £40 exit fee if I moved in that time. If I stay with British Gas other than one fixed tariff until 2019 its going to cost me anywhere between £10 and £40 more a year.

 

Just after some recommendations from you all on here, any good/bad experiences, companies to avoid, companies recommended etc.

 

Thanks

[ZeroHour]

I am with Bulb.co.uk and they are pretty good, you can enter your last bills number for an estimate.

If you so desire I can refer you and we both get some bill credit (PM me if you want a referral)

[MatthewL]

Thanks, will take a look. Do you have a smart meter with them?

[ZeroHour]

Thanks, will take a look. Do you have a smart meter with them?

Not currently, they are planning to roll out the v2 smart meters as the v1's only work with the provider who installed them. The v2's should be able to move from x provider to another.

[speckytecky]

Good Energy and Ovo are ‘Green’ providers also worth considering.

[Linfit]

I use Flow Energy for Gas and the Coop for Electricity and both have been very good and not raised prices in line with the big players recently.

I used to be with two of the big firms which was a world of pain, and when I decided to change got the tariff tables from various suppliers web sites and did the calculations on what I might save myself - its easy enough to do now that suppliers have to provide you with an annual summary of usage. I found that made things clearer than using a comparison site - and I think there have been issues with how supplier netural some of those sites are. I didn't just go on price though - I didn't look at some of the really small suppliers as I was concerned about how stable they might be, especially if their prices are much lower.

[synaesthesia]

Bulb here, they've been really good. I was with Ovo previously and they were also good but started having a few billing issues with them.

[Disease]

I moved from SSE to Bristol Energy which is run by Bristol City Council, Fixed Tariff no minimum term and no release fee.

[MatthewL]

Ovo has popped up else where but so far Bulb is the only one that can make any significant savings. My local authority have energy auctions from time to time and just missed out on one so not sure on their offerings.

 

Will take a look around, wanting one supplier for both, ideally with smart meters to make life easier.

[mikeprice]

I switched to Bulb last time and they seem great

 

 

As usual the wonderful new Smart meter that BG had just installed doesn't work with the new supplier but that is standard

[nicholab]

I moved from Eon to Scottish power and saved £200 pounds on the quote. I then moved to Octopus energy as the price was going up with Scottish power. Octopus energy are not the cheapest but they aim to not rip of existing customers.

[sippo]

I pretty much change every year using quidco.

 

No loyalty anymore in business.

[techy32]

bulb here. No contract... only one tariff ... leave whenever you want..... saved £216 ( hopefully ) as compared to npower....

[jtotheb]

Another +1 for Bulb.

[MatthewL]

I know there is no loyalty, just stayed with them as it was easy and had no issues plus been on a fixed one it wasn't an issue.

 

Bulb does seem to be getting highly recommended, only downside is no smart meters which I do like having. Can save quite a bit with them by the looks of it.

[bald_pig]

I use this to monitor prices:

 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

[southhamster]

We've used good energy for many years without problems. They also deal with our solar PV meter readings. Maybe not the very cheapest but they don't seem to have joke customer service or random billing like the big firms!

[sarahstacey]

+1 for Bulb too. Seamless switch and we are saving about £200 p/a Excellent service and 100% renewable energy

[jinnantonnixx]

Another vote for Bulb here. There's no tie in, and there's just one tariff (which is cheaper than the big six).

[Cache]

I moved to Utility Point a month ago on a 15 month fix, while early days so far I haven't had any issues. Doesn't work with my Smart Meter though.

 

If you want to stick with British Gas, take a look at Sainsbury's energy - the smart meter kept delivering the meter readings to them, just didn't have all the info that British Gas used to display. Sainsbury's Energy is run by British Gas and normally has a cheaper tarrif.

 

+1 for the Cheap Energy Club linked above as well.

[mikeprice]

I used to be with Sainsburys

and as a result British Gas installed a Smart Meter for me

 

so swicthed from BG to Sainsburys or visa versa shouldn't be a problem

 

as with any supplier - switching will possibly stop your smart meter sending data to the new supplier

Which is kindof the main point

 

if only it was possible to send the data over a common cabley type thingy over a commonly agreed standard and then sort all that out before implementing it nationwide

 

still - I like to dream of the impossible:rolleyes:

[MatthewL]

Apparently there is a v2 smart meter due out soon which you keep when changing suppliers rather than the ones that are fixed to the current suppliers.

[mikeprice]

Apparently there is a v2 smart meter due out soon which you keep when changing suppliers rather than the ones that are fixed to the current suppliers.

 

Well yeah

 

but why in the name of $deity is that V2

 

I mean - who sorted out the success criteria for V1

[DrCheese]

Yarp, had the same. Given an e-on meter when moving in, have switched supplier 3 times since then (Change to the best deal yearly) even tho the ones the other suppliers provide look the same as my existing one, the existing one doesn't work anymore.

 

It's a huge amount of e-waste for no reason

[ZeroHour]

BBC just covered smart meters: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44903471