switching Gas and Electricity could have me money BUT???

A question about : switching Gas and Electricity could have me money BUT???

I'm currently on the standard variable rate with British Gas and standard energy plan with E-on (Yearly usage is 11610 KWH for gas costing Ј610 and 2,456KWH electricity costing Ј400).

3 different comparison websites all suggest switching would save me approx. Ј265 a year (roughly Ј220 saving on gas and Ј40 on the electricity)

HOWEVER - NPower and Scottish Power are the two names that are being suggested as the alternatives to switch to on a duel fuel basis but I keep seeing these two companies have poor customer standards ratings (people on this webite are highlighting anumber of different issues i.e. incorrect meter reading, DD payments not set up properly, being owed money and not yet receiving it almost 1 year later etc.....)

Am I stupid to do nothing and hope that the 5% reduction which is about to be implemented by BG might help soften the blow.

Also I have this idea that BG will be launching a really good 1 year fixed deal (why do I think this, coz their so expensive compared to the other energy providers they must need to do something to be competitive

Best answers:

• HOLD ON............
  Ive just looked at the bills a little closer and the comparison quotes as well.
  The cost of the gas and the electricity is not the issue (BG are charging me 5p and someone else is offering me 3.5p etc.....)
  Its the standing charge that the issue (BG charging me 24p aday compared to NPower charging 9p)
• I've been with Scots Power twice and had problems with them both times so never again. Just moved to N Power and not too bad so far. Ovo are excellent in my view, would have used them again but cheaper options available.
• thanks for the response (certainly food for thought)
  I have to do something in the next few days as I cannot afford to save circa Ј265 (basically 25% less than what I'm currently spending).
  I might not change the electricity provider as I would rather not have the hassle of poor customer service to save just Ј40, however the gas does need to be addressed.
• Singhini how are you using the comparison site?
  Are you making comparisons based on your monthly Direct Debit?
  Or are you comparing based on your annual kwh use which you have worked out yourself?
  The latter could give you more accurate results. If you want some help in calculating this, feel free to ask.
• I left npower on nov 14 2014 went to Scottish power. disaster!! They got the electric reading wrong. still not sorted!! no bill yet 3 months on. no refund from n power they cant do anything till Scottish power send them a correct reading. been on the phone at least 10 times for many and I mean many hours thank god its a free phone number
• As above really pleased with Ovo .
  But over the years i have been with many suppliers without any problems .
  Many of the negative posts are from users that join and post just to complain rightly or wrongly .
• If you are happy to pay 5p per kWh for gas, why not just switch to E.On for both gas and electricity? After the switch, check that you get dual fuel discount. Unfortunately you missed the cheap one year fixes recently. I think V13 to V15 were good, but V16 is a shocker.
• I am disappointed that Martin Lewis, being a consumer champion, is perpetuating a comparison site energy switching SCAM.
  I know that fuel price comparison Companies must work to the Government guidelines, but the guidelines are WRONG, it is a SCAM and the Money Saving Expert site should stand-up and say so.
  MSE, and other Companies, keep pestering me saying that I could save money by switching to higher tariffs, simply because my plan ends in October and all assume, quite wrongly that I will then allow my energy supplier to switch me to their standard rate. Not only will this not be the case, but it assumes me to be stupid. When my current plan ends I will then switch to the cheapest available plan.
  If I follow MSE advice, as I'm sure many of it's loyal followers will, It will cost me more. How does that square with Martin Lewis being a Consumer Champion?
• Agreed. The whole point of a comp site is not to find out what you are paying now (you already know that), but your prices for the next 12 months. i.e. future data, not historical data.
• Agreed, but not if the comparison site says that I will save Ј100 and in truth I will pay more.
• Cashstrapped - ive used the actual Kwh consumed last year (got the figures off the bill).
  Nada666 - Err.......err.....err....yeh......yeh.... obviously I knew that (I honestly can't believe I made such a boo boo). I just saw 24p v 9p and jumped onto it without thinking.
  JJEgan - I've never heard of OVO but their getting good reviews.
  im going to look into this a bit more and report back (gut feeling is im going to switch the gas and im going to switch to the cheapest KWH rate irrespective of who the company is - I had previously focused on switching to one of the other big6 from BG but they all sound unreliable, so I might aswell go for the cheapest).
• When I finally get my bills sorted out with my current supplier I'm going back to Ovo no matter where they are in the comparison tables. It's not worth being with a big company that has terrible customer service for the sake of a couple of quid a month. Not if you need to be able to budget for your bills, and need to know that your energy provider will actually bill you properly!
• You spend a lot on electric!?
• Hi AndyPK
  Quick question - are you telling me I spend a lot on electricity or are you asking (just that you have put both an exclamation mark and a question mark in your post)
  All I know is that I use 11,610 KWH of gas and 2,456KWH of electricity (according to my latest bills. but I confess I didn't find the bills easy to understand)
  According to Cheap Energy Club the average usage for Gas and Electricity is 13,500kwh and 3,200kwh respectively (so I guess im using below the UK average)
  Having taken on board other peoples suggestions I now have found a Ovo plan that looks good. Inshort Scottish power are Ј61 per month compared to Ј62 for either Npower or Ovo).
  My new question is, having read the finer detail it looks like Ovo are reducing their variable rate by 10% on 1st March so should I be waiting to switch post 1st march under the impression that they must be launching a fixed plan to reflect this reduction (surely their not going to just reduce their variable plan by 10% and not launch a new fixed rate to reflect this reduction.
  fellow members over to you for your thoughts and suggestions please