These smaller energy suppliers.

[MountainMutant74]

I'm with Bulb. Seamless switch and they are 100% renewable energy which makes me feel better about driving the RS6 😎

Was £50 cheaper a month than NPower. No exit fees etc.

If you use my link to sign up you get £50 credit and I also get £50... everyone's a winner!

bulb.co.uk/refer/philip2519

MM

[Speed 3]

MountainMutant74 said:

I'm with Bulb. Seamless switch and they are 100% renewable energy which makes me feel better about driving the RS6 ??

Was £50 cheaper a month than NPower. No exit fees etc.

If you use my link to sign up you get £50 credit and I also get £50... everyone's a winner!

bulb.co.uk/refer/philip2519

MM

Quite like the look of that (would save about £300 vs ScottishPower) but they only do a variable rate so the customer carries all the risk. Funnily enough their T&C's refer to fixed plan which they don't currently offer. I assume as a small start up just acting as a middleman with minimal customer support infrastructure they can't afford to buy fuel hedges. Same problem for all these small guys over the Big 6 but some do offer fixed rate plans like the Tonik one. I guess its a case of risk management, if they get their sums wrong and go bust its a whole heap of admin, if its variable you get the downside or upside risk and they still trade.

Overall I think this is good disruption for the industry but you will see consolidation amongst this myriad of recent start ups. Utilities is a pretty rare case where the customer experience is so limited, the network supplier is giving you steady infrastructure and these guys just trade invisibly in the background. You should never need to engage their customer support unless you have a problem with billing or transfer. Only other consideration is how green you want to be.

[BoRED S2upid]

btcc123 said:

I have been with Sainsburys for about 3 months,their exit fees are reasonable and cannot see why I would want to leave as it is only a yearly contract with fixed prices so they cannot increase them during that period.

Just make sure you exit as soon as that 12 months is up as it’s BG and there non fixed contracts are a fortune.

[hyphen]

BoRED S2upid said:

btcc123 said:

I have been with Sainsburys for about 3 months,their exit fees are reasonable and cannot see why I would want to leave as it is only a yearly contract with fixed prices so they cannot increase them during that period.

Just make sure you exit as soon as that 12 months is up as it’s BG and there non fixed contracts are a fortune.

How does this work? Can you ask to switch on a particular day, as my 12 month contract is up soon and normally I leave it a week before switching online.

[Speed 3]

hyphen said:

BoRED S2upid said:

btcc123 said:

I have been with Sainsburys for about 3 months,their exit fees are reasonable and cannot see why I would want to leave as it is only a yearly contract with fixed prices so they cannot increase them during that period.

Just make sure you exit as soon as that 12 months is up as it’s BG and there non fixed contracts are a fortune.

How does this work? Can you ask to switch on a particular day, as my 12 month contract is up soon and normally I leave it a week before switching online.

Unless you have no exit penalties you have to wait until contract expiry before you can initiate an application with a new supplier as they'll contact your current provider within days of you applying. Unfortunately there is no way of lodging an application to complete on the day after your contract expires (certainly not if the Big 6 are involved), the processing time is variable depending on how awkward and intransigent the incumbent wants to be.

[RicksAlfas]

EON gave me plenty of warning (think it was 50 days) that my contract was ending. You can tell the new supplier when you would like to start, so there is no reason why you can't have a seamless change over. Don't leave it just one week before moving. I would work on 30 days.

[Speed 3]

RicksAlfas said:

EON gave me plenty of warning (think it was 50 days) that my contract was ending. You can tell the new supplier when you would like to start, so there is no reason why you can't have a seamless change over. Don't leave it just one week before moving. I would work on 30 days.

I did look for small print on my SP account and came across this interesting nugget, contrary to what I said previously:




In this case I'm better off waiting until I've actually expired before transferring, especially with rising prices all round.

[outnumbered]

Well, I ended up binning Ovo, in favour of Zog for gas, and Octopus for electricity. That'll save £90 a year on standing charges as well as 4% on the electricity and 9% on gas which is about another £80-100.

[Charlie Boy]

MountainMutant74 said:

I'm with Bulb. Seamless switch and they are 100% renewable energy which makes me feel better about driving the RS6 ??

Was £50 cheaper a month than NPower. No exit fees etc.

If you use my link to sign up you get £50 credit and I also get £50... everyone's a winner!

bulb.co.uk/refer/philip2519

MM

Seems like all the fixed price plans jump up in cost over the winter so I've just used Philip's refer link as Bulb don't have any exit charges so will grab a better priced fixed plan come the summer.

If anyone else is thinking to switch then my refer link is below so £50 credit for you and me and then you can post your refer link up for the next person.

https://bulb.co.uk/refer/charles4278

[Sheepshanks]

RicksAlfas said:

You can tell the new supplier when you would like to start, so there is no reason why you can't have a seamless change over. Don't leave it just one week before moving. I would work on 30 days.

I wanted to pick a change-over date but was told I couldn't - once the switch was requested it would just take its course.

It was suggested I could delay things by delaying giving a final reading, but to my surprise I wasn't asked for one - the new supplier had visited to read the meter about a week before changeover and then estimated the changeover readings.

[Risotto]

We're with Flow. Not tiny but nor are they one of the big suppliers. They've been great - smooth switch over, barely hear from them (a good thing) and when we shopped around at the end of our initial deal with them we couldn't find a better price elsewhere, so renewed.

[dazwalsh]

I was with first utility and when it came to the end of the plan they were still at the cheap end of the table so got put onto a fixed 3 year tarrif with the option of switching onto a cheaper tarrif if it came available with them with no exit fees.

Win win. I think a few others were 40-70 quid cheaper at the time per year so not worth the hassle switching really.

[Charlie Boy]

Risotto said:

We're with Flow. Not tiny but nor are they one of the big suppliers. They've been great - smooth switch over, barely hear from them (a good thing) and when we shopped around at the end of our initial deal with them we couldn't find a better price elsewhere, so renewed.

Im currently with flow until I get switched over to Bulb. Flows fixed rate at the moment is 16.1p per Kw Vs Bulb at 13.9p per Kw although Bulb is variable I don't expect it to jump up to 16.1p per Kw before I switch again in the summer.

[peterperkins]

I think something to watch with the we pay 3% on interest on your DD balance brigade,
is that i assume they are not UK banks and offer no protection on your stored 5k built up by the overpayments.

If they go belly up bye bye money?

[mickmcpaddy]

I changed to Avro energy, cheapest I could find. Its a good idea to change about September time like me because you never build up a credit with them, I use more than I've paid in the winter and catch up just as the 12 month deal is coming to an end.

It is a piss take though that you have to trawl the internet every 12 months just to stop being ripped off just like you have to with car insurance, home insurance, phone contracts etc. etc.