Comparison Web Sites

A question about : Comparison Web Sites

I am with Scottish Power on a Fixed Rate until Dec. 15 and as energy prices are falling I decided to do a comparison.

I went onto Gocompare and entered my actual readings for gas and elec off a bill with dates of the bill - starting and ending, and the quotes came back staggered me ! All the quotes stated my usage was projected from the bill I had supplied of Ј535 pa. My actual bills work out to over Ј900 !

I deliberately used a bill before I went off on holiday so as to get an accurate quote as I had been out of the country from the end of August until the end of October so used a bill from the previous quarter. The quote said that it was worked out based on the dates of readings and seasonally adjusted, so how can this projected usage be so far out ? They stated my usage with Scottish Power who I am with cost Ј619 based on my bill quoted whereas I am paying Ј78 per month so again this is confusing as I appear to be paying more than I should.

Has anyone else had problems with comparison sites like this and are they accurate ?

I used Gocompare as I googled comparison web sites that include smaller companies but it still came back as Eon being the cheapest.

Best answers:

• if you have your last year's bills / readings, you can enter in your "actual" usage for the entire year as a more accurate measure of your consumption, rather then guestimating from a 3 month window.
• They are as accurate as the information that you put in. If you input the correct consumption figures in kwh they will calculate what the price will be and divide it by 12 to indicate what the direct debit should be
  However a lot of the energy companies either don't believe it or adjust the standing orders to try and "seasonally adjust" the dd figures, especially if you change tariff just before winter to ensure that you don't get too far in arrears.
  It really is up to you to make sure that your estimate is as accurate as possible based on your consumption in kwh.
  You can then easily check the calculations to decide what your direct debit should be and then tell your energy company what you should be paying and argue if they try and tweak it either up or down.
  You should also then track your consumption, check your bills and make sure that they are accurate. Any estimated readings should be corrected by reading the meter yourself, phoning the reading through and requesting the bill to be reissued. Most importantly check that your direct debit is or will cover your consumption by the time of the annual review.
  The fact that SP are taking a lot more than the comparison site suggest is probably down the SP taking more than they should or that they are trying to anticipate your consumption based on the last quarter. so they are always three months behind
  My DD used to go up & down like a yo-yo (between Ј150 and Ј50 per month) depending at what time of the year it was as they tried to track my consumption. I use about 70-75% between November & March and so will be in arrears during Feb & March but significantly in credit by July. I would have to argue with them to get it corrected to the Ј75 that it should have been to average out during the 12 months