Before I make the energy supplier switch I would like to hear other 
people comments and experiences.

Am I one of the few people who has not switched away from the British 
Gas and their local supplier of electricity (at or time or another)? 
Additionally, why do people appear to be switching back to British Gas 
(according to their TV adds) are there problems with the other suppliers?

I understand the reasons for price increases due the whole sale price, 
but there does seem a price gap across all the providers, and the 14% 
rise by British Gas (forth this year) has now pushed me over the top.

When I looked on the British Gas site today I saw the following


Now you can freeze your energy prices until April 2010. And, unlike most 
of our competitors, if you are an average dual fuel customer, there's no 
extra cost for the privilege.

Freeze your energy prices with British Gas and:

we guarantee your prices will not rise above our new rates until 2010
you may not pay any extra if you freeze both your gas and electricity
you'll be getting a first - we're the first energy supplier to offer this


There's no need to miss out

If you only get your gas from us, you can still enjoy the reassurance of 
freezing the price for a small premium of 2.8%. And if we only supply 
your electricity, we'll actually give you a discount of 4.8% for 
freezing your price until April 2010. And should you change your mind, 
you can un-freeze again at any time for a variable cancellation charge.


This has now made my mind up, either I have to move my electricity to 
British gas or move every thing away.

Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
importantly service.

What experiences have people had with different suppliers and switching?

Thanks
Andrew

-- 
To reply via email, first reverse the address below then replace the 
(at) with @ and the (dot) with . moc(tod)xepip(tod)lsd(ta)spuorgswen_werdna

"Andrew Welham"  wrote in message 
news:4322a79a$0$12179$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com...

> Before I make the energy supplier switch I would like to hear other people 
> comments and experiences.
>
> Am I one of the few people who has not switched away from the British Gas 
> and their local supplier of electricity (at or time or another)? 
> Additionally, why do people appear to be switching back to British Gas 
> (according to their TV adds) are there problems with the other suppliers?
>
> I understand the reasons for price increases due the whole sale price, but 
> there does seem a price gap across all the providers, and the 14% rise by 
> British Gas (forth this year) has now pushed me over the top.
>
> When I looked on the British Gas site today I saw the following
>
> 
> Now you can freeze your energy prices until April 2010. And, unlike most 
> of our competitors, if you are an average dual fuel customer, there's no 
> extra cost for the privilege.
>
> Freeze your energy prices with British Gas and:
>
> we guarantee your prices will not rise above our new rates until 2010
> you may not pay any extra if you freeze both your gas and electricity
> you'll be getting a first - we're the first energy supplier to offer this
>
>
> There's no need to miss out
>
> If you only get your gas from us, you can still enjoy the reassurance of 
> freezing the price for a small premium of 2.8%. And if we only supply your 
> electricity, we'll actually give you a discount of 4.8% for freezing your 
> price until April 2010. And should you change your mind, you can un-freeze 
> again at any time for a variable cancellation charge.
> 
>
> This has now made my mind up, either I have to move my electricity to 
> British gas or move every thing away.
>
> Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
> importantly service.
>
> What experiences have people had with different suppliers and switching?
>
> Thanks
> Andrew
>
> -- 
> To reply via email, first reverse the address below then replace the (at) 
> with @ and the (dot) with . moc(tod)xepip(tod)lsd(ta)spuorgswen_werdna






have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities

Andrew Welham wrote:

> Before I make the energy supplier switch I would like to hear other
> people comments and experiences.
>
> Am I one of the few people who has not switched away from the British
> Gas and their local supplier of electricity (at or time or another)?
> Additionally, why do people appear to be switching back to British Gas
> (according to their TV adds) are there problems with the other
> suppliers?
> I understand the reasons for price increases due the whole sale price,
> but there does seem a price gap across all the providers, and the 14%
> rise by British Gas (forth this year) has now pushed me over the top.
>
> When I looked on the British Gas site today I saw the following
>
> 
> Now you can freeze your energy prices until April 2010. And, unlike
> most of our competitors, if you are an average dual fuel customer,
> there's no extra cost for the privilege.
>
> Freeze your energy prices with British Gas and:
>
> we guarantee your prices will not rise above our new rates until 2010
> you may not pay any extra if you freeze both your gas and electricity
> you'll be getting a first - we're the first energy supplier to offer
> this
>
> There's no need to miss out
>
> If you only get your gas from us, you can still enjoy the reassurance
> of freezing the price for a small premium of 2.8%. And if we only
> supply your electricity, we'll actually give you a discount of 4.8%
> for freezing your price until April 2010. And should you change your
> mind, you can un-freeze again at any time for a variable cancellation
> charge. 
>
> This has now made my mind up, either I have to move my electricity to
> British gas or move every thing away.
>
> Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and
> importantly service.
>
> What experiences have people had with different suppliers and
> switching?
> Thanks
> Andrew


Swaping has been quite trouble free.  except that is the first time i moved 
from BG...they tried to over charge me.  hence i will never go back to BG. 
I check to see if i'm on a good rate about once a year by using 
www.uswitch.com people retuning to BG are proberbly only doing so because of 
thier adverts or door to door salemen.

I have changed supplier about 3 times now.  not had any problems, i've been 
with Npower,Seaboard and Scottish Power so far.

steve

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:30:00 +0100, Andrew Welham
 wrote:



>
>This has now made my mind up, either I have to move my electricity to 
>British gas or move every thing away.
>
>Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
>importantly service.
>
>What experiences have people had with different suppliers and switching?
>


I wouldn't set too much store by the term "service"

I've done several supplier changes and none set the world on fire for
that.  If you mean service in the sense of somebody coming out to fix
the supply if it it leaks or fails, then that's Transco anyway, so it
doesn't matter who you deal with.   If you mean service in the sense
of sending someone to read the meter, not much difference there
either.   

If you mean you want to talk to somebody in a call centre, then that
is one factor in choice, but not a very big one. The name of the game
is to minimise cost. Suppliers who still have call centres don't
employ the best cards in the pack whoever they are.    Generally the
online ones are cheaper because although they still have help lines,
they manage with fewer staff.  I've found these pretty OK.

One thing to definitely watch is if you pay by monthly direct debit.
The suppliers love this because they don't have to chase for payment
so much but also they can set the payment at a figure over the usage
rate.   Ending up at the end of the year having paid 20% over the
figure that it should have been is not uncommon.   Their next trick is
to carry that forward into the following year and reduce the payment a
touch.   Of course, all the time you are lending them money and the
amounts involved are substantial.    I deal with this by working out
my consumption from the previous year and offering them a payment that
will cover 90% of that, perhaps negotiating up to 95%.   That way,
they have lent me money for the year, in effect, and the shortfall is
carried forward instead.    Threatening to take business away or a new
account is a strong negotiating point and I've found that they always
accept it.   I suspect that very few people do this, so when they run
the numbers, it's better to have an account than not.

Of course it doesn't make any difference to whether I stay with a
given supplier.   This is an industry which encourages people to be
tarts, so I am happy to make sure that I get as much of the jam as I
can.


    

-- 

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

"Andrew Welham"  wrote in message 
news:4322a79a$0$12179$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com...

> Before I make the energy supplier switch I would like to hear other people 
> comments and experiences.
>
> Am I one of the few people who has not switched away from the British Gas 
> and their local supplier of electricity (at or time or another)? 
> Additionally, why do people appear to be switching back to British Gas 
> (according to their TV adds) are there problems with the other suppliers?


Note that they don't talk about net gain of customers...

BT used exactly the same advertising campaign about 3 years ago, claiming 
that x number of thousands are coming back to them every month. 
Conveniently they forgot to mention that more 3 times that were leaving them 
every month...

I would hazard a guess that the story is not much different here.

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:49:26 +0100, Andy Hall <andyh@hall.nospam>
wrote:


>On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:30:00 +0100, Andrew Welham
> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>This has now made my mind up, either I have to move my electricity to 
>>British gas or move every thing away.
>>
>>Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
>>importantly service.
>>
>>What experiences have people had with different suppliers and switching?
>>
>
>I wouldn't set too much store by the term "service"
>
>I've done several supplier changes and none set the world on fire for
>that.  If you mean service in the sense of somebody coming out to fix
>the supply if it it leaks or fails, then that's Transco anyway, so it
>doesn't matter who you deal with.   If you mean service in the sense
>of sending someone to read the meter, not much difference there
>either.   
>

It has to be said that British Gas have the best laid-out bills (for
gas at least). Almost all the others seem to have very confusing ways
of calculating/displaying the information, obviously designed to make
comparisons difficult for the 'average' consumer.

-- 
Frank Erskine

Frank Erskine wrote:

> 
> It has to be said that British Gas have the best laid-out bills (for
> gas at least). Almost all the others seem to have very confusing ways
> of calculating/displaying the information, obviously designed to make
> comparisons difficult for the 'average' consumer.


British Gas have a very bad system for paying the bill by debit card 
over the phone. It takes twice as long as it does to do the same with 
London Electricity (EDF). Lots of transferring the call and hold music 
and an infuriating sequence of "if you are ... press n"


-- 
David Clark

$message_body_include ="PLES RING IF AN RNSR IS REQIRD"

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:05:03 GMT, DJC
 wrote:


>Frank Erskine wrote:
>> 
>> It has to be said that British Gas have the best laid-out bills (for
>> gas at least). Almost all the others seem to have very confusing ways
>> of calculating/displaying the information, obviously designed to make
>> comparisons difficult for the 'average' consumer.
>
>British Gas have a very bad system for paying the bill by debit card 
>over the phone. It takes twice as long as it does to do the same with 
>London Electricity (EDF). Lots of transferring the call and hold music 
>and an infuriating sequence of "if you are ... press n"


I always pay futility bills by DD.

-- 
Frank Erskine

Andy Hall wrote:

> One thing to definitely watch is if you pay by monthly direct debit.


Yes, the 12 a month for G and E combined that the online thingmy 
suggests can morph into something like 20 a month for Gas and 25 for 
electricity if you're not looking. I phoned up London Electricity and 
the pleasant girl who answered the phone very promptly said "well we 
have put our prices up by 15%". I don't think so, love.

Owain

Andrew Welham wrote:

> Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
> importantly service.


ScottishPower's call centre uses an expensive revenue share number and
has long waiting times. Their music on hold contravenes the Geneva 
Convention. Their website is unusable in Opera and they
don't care.

London Electricity have a free phone number and answer it.

Owain

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:30:00 +0100, Andrew Welham wrote:


> If you only get your gas from us, you can still enjoy the 
> reassurance of freezing the price for a small premium of 2.8%.


It is a gamble that the price will rise above 2.8% by enough, and 
early enough in the fixed price period, such that you save more than 
you pay as a premium in the preceeding part of the period. I wouldn't 
trust 'em to not "fix" the pricing such that you either break even at 
best or loose. In the mean time I'd rather have the money not them. 
And why pay more for something than you have to? 


> And should you change your mind, you can un-freeze again at any time 
> for a variable cancellation charge.


Ring Ding A Ring...


> Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and 
> importantly service.


I switched to Scottish Power for the main house as they had the 
cheapest per unit cost. I choose the online only paid via DD. I rarely 
if ever contact a supplier so the level of service from their help 
desks isn't particulary relevant. If I have trouble I write...

The other very low useage meters are with Equipower. A true no 
standing charge tarrif(*) and fairly cheap per unit costs (6p ish).

(*)That is *all* units used are charged at the same rate not first few 
hundred at Xp and any more at Yp. The difference between X and Y 
multiplied by the number of units at X strangely being equal to the 
previous standing charge...

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice"  wrote in message 
news:nyyfbegfubjuvyypbz.immld20.pminews@news.howhill.com...

> On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 10:30:00 +0100, Andrew Welham wrote:
>
>> If you only get your gas from us, you can still enjoy the
>> reassurance of freezing the price for a small premium of 2.8%.
>
> It is a gamble that the price will rise above 2.8% by enough, and
> early enough in the fixed price period, such that you save more than
> you pay as a premium in the preceeding part of the period. I wouldn't
> trust 'em to not "fix" the pricing such that you either break even at
> best or loose. In the mean time I'd rather have the money not them.
> And why pay more for something than you have to?
>
>> And should you change your mind, you can un-freeze again at any time
>> for a variable cancellation charge.
>
> Ring Ding A Ring...
>
>> Looking on uwitch.com Scottish Power looks good for both price and
>> importantly service.
>
> I switched to Scottish Power for the main house as they had the
> cheapest per unit cost. I choose the online only paid via DD. I rarely
> if ever contact a supplier so the level of service from their help
> desks isn't particulary relevant. If I have trouble I write...
>
> The other very low useage meters are with Equipower. A true no
> standing charge tarrif(*) and fairly cheap per unit costs (6p ish).
>
> (*)That is *all* units used are charged at the same rate not first few
> hundred at Xp and any more at Yp. The difference between X and Y
> multiplied by the number of units at X strangely being equal to the
> previous standing charge...
>
> -- 
> Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
> Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail


At the end of last November I asked a similar question. I decided to pay an 
extra 2.25% on my electricity and 3.5% on my gas. I was then "price locked" 
until April 2007. I believe that I made the correct decision in doing so.

Adam