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I've been with eon for the last 8 years and my 2 year fixed tariff is coming to an end so was wondering on sticking with one of the big six (British Gas cheapest on Martin Lewis site) or whether to go with a smaller company like Bulb or Octopus who are slightly cheaper with no buy out clause so any feedback would be much appreciated

Bulb and Octopus (and Ovo and Good Energy, who we've used in the past) all tend to have better customer service and prices than the big companies. I'd have no problem recommending any of them over EDF and the like, but look at the price comparisons as it's a pretty similar service whoever you're with.

If you do have a smart meter, check if it works with any supplier - ours didn't, which was annoying. We can still change supplier, just lose the smart features.

Octopus for us.

I'm with bulb.have been for 2 years now. Can leave when you like with no penalties and have 1 simple tarriff. Find them really good. If anyone wants 50 quid for signing up I can send you a link. I'd get 50 quid too as that's how it works with them and referrals.

Cheers Nemo, we don't have a smart meter although eon message every few weeks telling me I need to book it in. I don't think there's much between any of them regarding what they charge for gas & electricity although the standing charge does vary a little. Out of curiosity who are you with and do you tend to change very often?

Bulb is one that I have been considering and nice to know that you've been happy with the customer service etc. If I go with them I will send you a PM
Cheers

We're with Good Energy now and have been for a few years, but we picked them on green energy rather than price, I'm sure it would have been possible to shave a few quid off with regular changes.

Perhaps you should try our ground sponsors Energy Check!

😁😁 I do want to get away from the big suppliers

Many of my friends use Bulb, I'm with Green Energy, and was with Octopus then Igloo before. Igloo raised their prices about 3 months in to the deal, so I did another search and found something cheaper, then switched easily and without any penalty costs. All found using Martin Lewis' MSE site. All been great. Went with Green because it was a fixed tariff and cheap too.

I'll  check them out and thanks for the info

Octopus are good. Joined them for cheap overnight EV charging and stayed when the car went back because it's still cheaper than most standard tariffs, we run the dishwasher and washing machine cheaply overnight now. Wouldn't be without the smart meter now. Octopus have some really innovative pricing methods. The link up with their investment arm means they use their own solar energy too. I think they're 100% renewable if that makes a difference to you, it's a nice to have for me.

I met one of the founders early last year. Nice guy.

Can give you a referral code to get a £50 discount.

Hi Samdy many thanks and I will check them out

Switched to Octopus last November, their communications have been good and we are saving about £4per month compared to the fixed tariff deal I was on with EDF - although to be fair I had a decent sum to come back when that deal finished

I switched to Green Network Energy last July, decent saving and they’ve always been helpful when I’ve contacted them

Just renewing now, will stick with British Gas.

I check on Money Savings Expert. I'm currently with People's Energy coming to the end of a 1 year contract. Just about to look around again.

After being automatically put with iSupply on moving into my place, I immediately shopped round for cheaper (there is still an ongoing dispute with iSupply which is laughable beyond) and found Yorkshire Energy (YE) under Daisy Energy. They were great as they, like Octopus and some other smaller providers, use 100% renewables and/or green energy. They also had several fixed green tariffs so your tariff was always called "Green...something of other", like Potato, Badger, Pennine...they also had an excellently low standing charge too.

Anyway, due to the pandemic (I think) they have unfortunately gone under. A shame as they were great and no fuss. The issue I now have (to go with the previous one) is that OfGem have kindly instructed one of the big six to take over all YE accounts. This has started a process of being transferred to bloody Scottish Power and onto their "Standard Tariff".

Seeing as I haven't chosen to be with this provider, how do I stop the process or do I just have to go and head to a different provider, submit my closing readings and then go from there? I'm only a little jaded, as although my previous switch and provider (YE) was fine, there is still ongoing dispute with the provider originally in situ (iSupply, which has also gone under now).

Hmmmmppph.


Alsom sorry JQ, I would've suggested YE as they were always great service, cheap, and green. Octopus would likely be my next choice. Just want to get this conundrum clear first.

Look After My Bills - recently switched me to Green.

I've been with Eon for over ten years, and not bothered to change to a slightly cheaper supplier because I always received reliable service in billing and their offers of changing to a lower tariff when appropriate was very useful. I have been persuaded to accept a Smartmeter on condition I take their lowest tariff, which is a Fixed rate and fairly comparable with other suppilers I believe.  I didn't really want the Smartmeter, but it's installed now.

With Igloo Energy via uSwitch. Been very good so far.

Sent from my XQ-AD51

ditto.

the only thing is that Igloo don't currently support smart meters , so I need to do manual readings.

then again, shell energy also only used to do electric, so I always needed to read the gas manually anyway.

if anyone wants a £50 igloo referral code...

https://refer.igloo.energy/dawnb2103 (https://refer.igloo.energy/dawnb2103)

(no I'm not "regards dawn")

Switched over to Pure Planet recently, they have been fine so far, had Bulb and Ovo previously and they have been equally fine. They took over our electric smart meter which was great, one slight ball ache is that they are not fitting smart gas meters at the moment so we are stuck with the dumb one, put its a small gripe! Tend to change every couple of years via the MSE Energy Club, takes about 10 mins each time.

Got my Dad onto Pure Planet via MSE, he's happy with them too.

Here's a link for a £50 welcome credit in your account if you fancy a switch to Bulb.

https://www.bulb.me/adams7721?utm_campaign=app-referral-share&utm_medium=copy-link&utm_source=copy-button

Many thanks for the link

Utility Point are coming up as the best suggestion from MSE - Anyone have any experience?

Are smart meters worth having? I seem to remember when they first came out that people said they were actually getting charged slightly more using them so didn't bother switching, has that improved now?

The charge per kwh shouldn't be any different unless a supplier has specified a different kwh charge if you have a smart meter.

Surely the point of smart meters is
   a) to provide a way for you to see how much electric you are using
   b) save having to read the meter

If they are suddenly more expensive, that's just a problem with the new/old meter.


exactly

Unless there's a little fella in there pedalling a dyno  :)

I've been with them, they were fine

Fair enough, might have another look then. Certainly be handy not to having to plough through the pile of lockdown shite in the garage to get to the meter!

Mine isn't with People's Energy as I can't get it to give a meter reading and Peoples Energy keep asking me to provide one. So, out in the ice today to do it. All that I can do is see how much I am being charged per day, week, month. Set a budget for it to warn me when I am spending more. And see what my electric tariff (but interestingly not my gas tariff) is.

Thanks Jay. £253 saving over what I think Peoples Energy will move me over to at the end of my Fixed Rate tariff next month. So worth doing.

Utility point are decent - website is really decent, easy to upload your readings etc. which they ask for monthly

I think in the past there was a ball ache that smart meters could not be taken on by new suppliers, however I think thats been changed and all smart meters installed now are interchangeable between suppliers, I know that Pure Planet were able to take over and use our smart meter installed by Bulb early last year.

Cheers Boo Octopus seems favourite

I’m with Octopus. When you submit your monthly readings online you get a chance to spin a wheel with money prizes. Woo hoo. Today I won. £1. Off my combined bill. Small wins, small wins.

The next prize on the wheel, next to that £1 off your bill was a romantic meal with John Sheridan - legends lounge, legends lounge, legends lounge fuck, fuck, for fuck sake 😀

It's like fruit machines and all about percentages in their favour!

Well of course, no one gives money away for free, well except governments. That said, it’s a pound more than British Gas ever gave me and Octopus are considerably more cost effective.

Another vote for octopus. Rates are good and their admin seems easy. Send in monthly readings and you get an updated bill within the day. If you miss a monthly reading they seem chilled.

Dukey, I have read this over and and over and I’m still scratching me head. I’d suggest a long holiday and come back in August but you can’t go away sadly.

Do they let you overpay so you can be in credit

I bet badgered for my readings and tend to do this about once every three months. 🤫

Haven't tried it. They've got my monthly payment right from the start. They did once ask me for £60 as I was in the red but other than that I pay 101 a month combined on their standard tarrif. I can't see it as a problem to make a payment to keep you in the black.
Also they're not pushing smart meters.

Cheers for the info and like you I don't want a smart meter

I’m paying £157 for combined on their standard tariff......Though I’m sure I’m in credit by about £500 if I understand the statement correctly. I reckon an email after the next statement to confirm and ask for a rebate if correct. I’m sure if I was £500 in arrears they’d soon be after a one off payment.

£157 :yikes:
That's alot to pay per month unless you live in a mansion

Well I’m according to the wisdom of some on here I’m a far right Tory, facist, gammon, racist cunt. Of course I live in a mansion.

I'm with Eon, I wouldn't recommend.  Customer service is woeful, I have a smart meters from my old supplier but they don't work and I couldn't submit a reading for 6 months and now they want to put my DD up from £50 a month to £192 (for context in Feb I owe them about £30).

I've been with eon for seven years and just coming to the end of my last 2 year contract so compairing everything at the moment. They pester me about every six weeks but until now I've managed to put it off. Ref customer service I only ever use the live chat which isn't too bad as calling was a nightmare.

As others have confirmed, try octopus.

Couldn't care less about that to be honest. Each to their own. You're overpaying if you're in a normal home with normal usage, so your provider should be reducing them for you or at least advising you to reduce them.

I seem to recall that there was a previous post that resulted in some enforced time away from this forum.

Eon are the John Sheridan of energy suppliers. Absolute cunts. I ended up taking them to the ombudsman and won. Numerous phone calls where they misled me. Got a forced apology from them and a few quid. Their customer service is like our to ram, demotivated, endless mistakes and couldn't give a fuck.

Who you with now

Octopus.

Cheers Charlie

I’ll be chatting to an octopus under the sea in an octopuses garden as soon as my statement drops into my inbox. Maybe I can invest a rebate in a season ticket.

Sounds like you had similar experiences that I had with N Power.
Probably the worst Customer service experience I have ever encountered. At one point I started to think it was one big wind up and the door would be opened with a TV crew.

Just transferred to Utility Point early January. I always have a look around for companies that have a good consumer rating, competitive prices etc. and they came out well. Obviously it is early days, but appear easy to deal with as said earlier in the thread.

They put their prices up just before I could change.

We had E.ON at our old flat in London and the previous owners of our new house had E.ON so we thought it made sense to stick with them but they made such a balls of setting up our account (including sending us a bill of £183 for TWO DAYS electricity/Gas) that we have now switched to Octopus, who on the face of it seem very competent (who wouldn't be compared to E.ON)

I know generalising is not good, but I've really struggled with the customer service from some of the bigger companies, we had awful problems with both BT and Virgin (Virgin win the gold star for inept Customer Service) before and E.ON were also not very good, in the short period of time we were with them until we lost patience.

The amount of "customer service" teams that just read from screen is frightening. I had an experience that was like "computer says no" from Little Britain. I lost my shit.

£400 coming back from Octopus and Payments down £37 per month. To be reviewed by me in six months. No fuss no quibble straight onto it. Excellent customer service.

Wow £37 a month is cheap! Did you originally set the amount you wanted to pay monthly?

I'm guessing down by, not down to.

That sounds more realistic 😀

Still paying £120 a month which in my opinion is quite high. I'd also say that a company that cares about their customers wouldn't have let overpayments get that carried away in the first place to build up such a surplus.

Who you currently with?

That’s for a large 3 bed detached and both gas and leccy. Let’s see where we are in six months. However, I do agree that they should have come to me regarding the surplus and monthly payments.

£85 a month combined for me. B Gas.

I'm about to sign up with B Gas as they are the cheapest on comparison sites. What size house do you have as I have 4 bed so was wondering how your price compares

Wow, some of you have got your energy costs low. We pay £150 a month - 3 bed mid-terrace. Although we are about £300 in credit currently. It is an old cavity-less house that leaks like a sieve though. 

Do you leave your heating on overnight

Neighbours have probably turned their heating off,  using yours that is creeping through the adjoining walls !!.

Large 3 bed detached (similar in size to a 4 bed).
Combi boiler, led light bulbs, good insulation and modern windows. All helps. Oh, and me moaning about stuff being left switched on  :)

Barry replying in his vest and boxers  :D

This thread is quite interesting for me as we have just moved into a 4 bed detached property that is 150+ years old so requires the heating on a fair amount given the recent cold weather. Our bill with Octopus is £130 per month I think.

I think the key is to take monthly meter readings to stay on top of your usage regardless of your provider. I currently pay bulb £80 a month and they regularly contact me to alter payments. The most it's ever been is £85.
I do not scrimp on gas/electric and live in a large 1970s 3 bed semi (family of 4 with a fridge freezer + a deep freezer and also a fridge in the converted garage. No cavity wall insulation but loft is done) My actual usage bill for January was £120 but overpaying other months offsets this. I don't get rebates but don't get into the red either.

Beer fridge Arriba?  :)

It is. It's my man cave after all  :D :pint:

No. If it's really cold it might come on during the night, but it's kept in the warmest part of the house, so rarely does.


Funny you should say that. Some of our internal walls that we share with one side are only single skin and in one room only a stud wall (the house was split in along it's length some time in the early 20th century). Neighbours had a leak once and it came along their floor boards and under our shared stud wall.


It's my default look these days.

Cheers Barry