Dooyoo pay too much for your gas and electricity? (Choosing a new gas or electricity supplier.)

Member Name: SueMagee

Product:	Choosing a new gas or electricity supplier.
Date:	26/01/02 (2217 review reads)
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Right! Hands up. Who's still with British Gas and the local electricity company?

If you are there's a very good chance that you're actually throwing a lot of money away, possibly a hundred pounds or more a year and you need to be looking for a better deal. Changing suppliers is relatively simple although it will take a little time (usually between 28 and 45 days) for all the changes to go through, but once they have done you'll be saving money. The changes are all paperwork ? there are no pipes or wiring to be altered and there's no interruption to your supply. Your new supplier will even contact your old supplier to arrange the transfer of the contract and the only change that you will see (apart from lower costs!) is that your bills will come from a different company. Strictly speaking you don't even need to contact your old supplier although I've always made certain that they had a final meter reading and ensured that they cancelled any Direct Debit once the transfer of the supply has been confirmed. The change to the new supplier can even be done on the Internet in a matter of moments, but more about that later.

You're not stuck with the new supplier either - once they become uncompetitive (and I'm sorry to say that they all seem to, eventually, in my experience) you can change to get a better deal. I've had three gas suppliers and three electricity suppliers in as many years. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (otherwise known as Ofgem) tell us that some quarter of a million consumers change their gas supplier each month and more than 400,000 are moving to a new electricity company.

It doesn't matter either if you're renting your property rather than owning it. If you're the one buying the gas or electricity you're entitled to change your supplier. Just about the only thing to stop you changing supplier is if you're in debt to your current supplier or you
9;ve had a bill outstanding for more than 28 days, in which case your old supplier will most likely object to the transfer until such time as the bill is paid.

Now this isn't just me telling you that you ought to be considering a change. It's also the advice that's been given recently by the Consumers' Association who are positively urging consumers to switch suppliers following the announcement by British Gas that they intend to increase prices by an average of 5.3%, which is above the rate of inflation AND it's the second time that they've increased prices in a year. Powergen is to increase prices by 8.9% and London Electricity is planning on increases of 5.2%.

The Consumers' Association say that a lot of people are put off changing suppliers because they've heard stories about all the problems that can be caused, but apparently 97% of people who have made the switch have never experienced any major problems. Certainly in the six switches that I've made I've never had the slightest hitch and there are more than seven and a half million people a year who have the same experience as me!

It's nearly four years since the gas market was opened up to competition and three years for electricity and we've been plagued by salesmen ringing the doorbell and wanting us to sign up with them ever since. Some of them were using (and I'm afraid still do use) less than honest tactics to get us to sign a contract. 'Will you just sign here love to show that I've called' and 'If you just sign here they'll send you an information pack. It doesn't commit you to anything.' The latest one around here is the man who appears at the door in a fluorescent yellow jacket calling 'to ask if the gas and electricity supply is OK and to see if you could qualify to get it any cheaper.' One of the other tricks is 'You get your Gas (or electricity) from us. Did you know that
if you bought your electricity (or gas) from us too it would work out cheaper?' Yes, it might, but I'm afraid it doesn't mean that you're getting the best deal; it just means that you're getting a slightly BETTER deal than the poor one you were getting before.

If you've been pushed into signing a contract by a door-to-door salesman, or indeed anyone else, you have legally got a seven day cooling-off period. During that time you can get out of it if you change your mind.

There's a strange thing, you know. The people who come round door-to-door selling gas and electricity (or most other things for that matter) are rarely offering you the best deal, mainly because the people who are offering the best deals have no need to send people round door-to-door. So how do you find the best energy supplier? Well, you look at a web site called www.uSwitch.com. You'll find links to it on dooyoo and it really is worth a visit.

Before you go, though, collect some information together. Have you got your last year's gas and electricity bills? If you have, just add up the total number of kWh that you've consumed from each bill and jot it down somewhere convenient. If you haven't got the bills and pay by Direct Debit make a note of the total amount paid over the last year. Even a rough idea of how much you've spent can help. If you don't even have these available, don't worry, uSwitch will simply ask some questions about the type of property you live in and some questions to enable an estimate of fuel consumption to be made. Obviously if you have accurate figures it is better but it could be that you're moving house and you might not even know who the name of the current supplier. If this is the case you should ring the Meter Number Helpline on 0870 608 1524 to find out the name of the gas supplier and the local electricity company (number in the phone book) who will advise on the current
electricity supplier.

Now uSwitch doesn't only offer advice on the best gas and electricity deals; they can also offer details of the best deals on home telephone, mobile phones and digital television, but leave those for the moment and don't be sidetracked! Click on the blue tab "Gas and Electricity" on the home page and you'll be prompted to enter your post code to establish which suppliers are active in your area. You'll then be prompted to enter the names of your current suppliers, your payment method and the type of plan you are on. There's no provision as yet to offer the best deals on prepayment meters but that is coming soon.

You will also have the option to specify that there are other essentials for you, such as an Internet service, a call centre open seven days each week with extended hours, a single bill for gas and electricity, an environmentally friendly company, no standing charge, or the ability to pay bills by credit or debit card over the phone. Or you can just ask for all options to be searched to give you the best deal. You will be asked to specify your preferred payment method and the cheapest prices usually go to those who pay monthly by Direct Debit.

Your final choice will be whether you wish to search on the basis of best price or the service rating. This is a system devised by uSwitch to impartially rate the service offered by each company and how it deals with both old and new customers

Now the best deal for you might be a "dual-fuel" deal where you buy both gas and electricity from the same supplier, or it might be that it's better for you to get supplies from different companies. I'm on a dual fuel deal at the moment, with Amerada, but it's the first time since competition began that it's been beneficial. It all depends on your level of consumption.

You can then complete the change of supplier online!

For the sake of impa
rtiality I will mention that there are other web sites which calculate the savings to be made if you change your energy supplier. You might wish to look at www.saveoneyourbills.co.uk, www.unravelit.com, and www.switchwithwhich.co.uk but I'm happy to recommend the uSwitch site because I've changed my supplier through them on several occasions without experiencing any problems.

If you do decide to change suppliers please remember:

1 If you have been paying by monthly Direct Debit and are underpaid you will have to settle the full amount of the bill when the transfer is made. This could be quite a large bill, particularly if the transfer is made in the winter and you will have to budget for this as there is no way to carry forward the outstanding amount.
2. Any interruption to the electricity supply after the transfer will need to be reported on the 24 hour emergency helpline which your new supplier will give you.
3. If you suspect that you have a gas leak or other problems with the gas supply after the transfer you should telephone Transco on 0800 111 999. This is the same number that you would use if you were buying your gas from British Gas.
4. If you wish to change to an Economy 7 meter you will need to contact your existing supplier to arrange for the change of meter - and there may well be a charge for this.

Whilst you?re thinking about saving money on your fuel bills you might also like to visit the Energy Efficiency website at www.est.org.uk where you'll find valuable tips on how to consume less energy, so you could be using less fuel and paying less for what you do use. There are even some grants available.

There, that didn?t hurt too much, now did it?

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