Energy Suppliers

Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2009
Posts
4,320
with the seemingly decline of gas prices versus electric, I do wonder if getting out of an electric hob and into gas would be economic ?
2 years ago ( thread ) - it was about £40 p/a to the benefit of gas, not even considering the purchase premium for an induction hob ...
I need a loop energy meter on the hob.
(notwithstanding the governments low-carbon - ban gas 'plan')

If you can't use it for heating the unit saving cost will probably be used up and more by the daily standing charge.

If I don't have the heating on I only use an average 6 kWh of gas a day and over half of that will be for water heating daily showers and 1 bath a week.

So cheesyboy's propane gas makes more sense if you only use it for cooking, as the standing charge alone would cost more in most cases than what he's using.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2016
Posts
9,440
I'm on first utility they have low daily standing charge it's moving to shell and standing charge is multiple times more from 7p to 25p

What other supplier has low daily charge? I'm using uSwitch and compaarethemeerkat but can't seem to find any
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,058
Why are you worried specifically about a low daily charge? A low daily charge isn't always the cheapest way to go, you need to balance it against your usage. I would let the comparison sites do the hard work for you by:

Looking at your bills over the last 12 months, input your usage in Kwh to a comparison site, they will tell you what supplier is cheapest for your usage and location. Google or post in the big supplier thread for a referral code or use quidco/topcash back to actually sign up - don't go any further than just doing the search on the comparison sites otherwise you will not get any other perks like cash back or referrals.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2009
Posts
4,320
There won't be may, if any with a single digit standing charge as your level of usage is extremely rare and the eneergy rates would likely be very high.

If you know your yearly usage, just go with the lowest total quote from the comparison sites. After checking if the company isn't a customer service fail.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
Posts
9,393
Location
Heckling for change
The last month we have used about 65kwh. Mostly because we have solar power. I have looked into low standing charge suppliers, the savings are so small its not worth it. In fact with the money we have been credited from Bulb referrals (im not fishing here) we hardly pay any anything overall for electricity, never mind FIT payments..
 
Associate
Joined
3 Aug 2006
Posts
1,292
Yes in my experience they all want to charge you a fixed amount regardless of what your bill is. This way my account stays at £0 and i pay for what i use.

I was on a variable direct debit a couple of years back with First Utility and really liked it.

I am now with Octopus but haven't been offered the option, before I give them a call to ask for it could you let me know if there was a specific reason they moved you onto it? are you on a smart meter etc ?
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,453
I was on a variable direct debit a couple of years back with First Utility and really liked it.

I am now with Octopus but haven't been offered the option, before I give them a call to ask for it could you let me know if there was a specific reason they moved you onto it? are you on a smart meter etc ?

I asked for them to allow me to alter my direct debit as there system had blocked me because i was in credit.
Each month i would send my reasons and get billed for say £62 this would put my account into -£62 credit, and i would say the direct debit for next month to £62.

They then offered my the variable.
I send readings off and it bills and debits me the exact amount.
Was sick of building up so much TogetherEnergy built up about £350 and it took them months to pay it back.
 
Associate
Joined
3 Aug 2006
Posts
1,292
I asked for them to allow me to alter my direct debit as there system had blocked me because i was in credit.
Each month i would send my reasons and get billed for say £62 this would put my account into -£62 credit, and i would say the direct debit for next month to £62.

They then offered my the variable.
I send readings off and it bills and debits me the exact amount.
Was sick of building up so much TogetherEnergy built up about £350 and it took them months to pay it back.

Thanks for the info, I'll have a word with them and see what they say.

Cheers
 
Associate
Joined
3 Aug 2006
Posts
1,292
In case anyone else with Octopus is interested I dropped them an email to ask if they would change my direct debit to be variable based on the actual usage the previous month.

I've just had a reply to say that's fine.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
33,887
I've just got an alert to say I can save money by switching to Bulb. I have SMETS 2 meters installed by BG, are they compatible with Bulb?
 
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