Thetownend.com

Not sure how many people are aware of this lot?

https://www.ebico.org.uk/

My brother works for the CAB down in Kent and recommended switching to this lot as they are the only not for profit supplier of gas and electric (when hard up folk go to him for advice on being in debt he usually gives them their details). Based on what they told me I will be saving a fortune.

One tip, they never asked me, but if they ask If you are a church goer then a simple yes will cover it.

Happy Saving  :)

Excellent, thanks. I hate energy companies, especially as they've doubled my bills and they had the gall to tell me that it's fairer and benefits me. Fuck you, you price fixing scum.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I think Scottish Power are behind it and it brings great inner warmth to me knowing that I will be paying their net buying price give or take a few quid  ;D  It seems that people on meters pay up to 40% more than those that are billed monthly or quarterly which is a scandal in itself as more often than not these people are society's most vulnerable.

Just used their 'how much can I save?' calculator and their electricity is actually more expensive than my current deal.

It looked good and fluffy with the 'not for profit' thing, until I saw they charge a standard 16.485p per kWh inc VAT for electric, which is quite a bit dearer then Southern electric, but is no surprise I suppose as they are just resellers using their service.  

Try ringing them Samdy

Can't be arsed with these 'cheap' alternatives. The utility warehouse knob jockeys do my head in too. I'm with southern electric and can afford my bills so don't want the hassle of changing over to some company I've never heard of.

Cheap is cheap for a reason, as long as what you pay is perceived value for money then that'll do me.

It would appear that those on a lower income are likely to benefit the most from this lot

But do they? What's their customer service track record like for example? Think that's the problem with some of these cheaper alternatives.

Made the mistake of switching to nPower a few years ago because they were offering the cheapest tariff at the time. Worst decision ever.

I've dealt with SE, British Gas, nPower and their customer service is fucking terrible.

British Gas were my favourites, kept phoning my mum and asking for my dad who had been dead for 4 years. It took half a dozen angry phone calls to stop them doing it.

British Gas are awful, I left them because their telephone customer service was so bad. I'm sure a lot of people are still with them because of the word 'British'. Same applies for BT.

If they are recommended by The Citizens Advice Bureau to people I would assume they are checked?

I thought you said your brother, who works for CAB, recommended them to you? Or are the CAB officially recommending them to people?

Yes, my brother works for them and it was him that said contact them as this is what he tells his 'clients' to do.

So it's your brother doing the recommending, because they're cheap, not the CAB recommending on an official basis.

Just checked and they're 20% more expensive for me.

Yes, I don't think The CAB officially endorse many products or services. Whether this is standard practice amongst people who volunteer for them I really don't know, the wife says they have saved us about £140 combined, which in the current climate is a fortune to me! Consumer watchdog Which? has some stuff on them.

I did a switch from Southern to NPower using Quidco (see other thread) and got £40 back after three months and should get another £100 when the fifteen month contract reaches the end. All in all seems quite good but recent bill tells me that my monthly debit will increase by almost 40% based upon their "guesstimate" of my next six months usage! Then on another page their "guesstimate" of my 12 months usage decreases by 5% on what I currently pay!

I am going to pay the increase as the contract only runs until March and cannot be bothered with the hassle of trying to get the figure re-evaluated having spoken to NPower in the past and getting nowhere.

Will be looking at swopping supplier in March via Quidco or similar.

I'm with npower and just switch to their cheapest deal when the contract expires. Their rates are competitive I've found.

Same as Arriba, never had any problems with npower, just switch to their cheapest deal when it's renewal time.

Also find it handy I can send them regular meter readings via the website so I don't get any surprises.

 

nPower usually have an internet only deal that is cheaper than they can offer over the phone. It's always the cheapest for me.

I've been with Southern Electric and British Gas for years - in fact never been with anybody else.  I got very pissed off earlier this year then SE dropped the price of their gas, whilst BG dropped the price of their electricity - fix I cried, no sir, market forces!!  So I threatened them with market forces and changed suppliers a couple of months ago going with EDF on a fixed price tariff until April 2014 (this was just before they all announced further rises).  SE immediately contacted me offering a fantastic deal, sadly too late as I reminded them of market forces.  Turns out SE owed me over £100 whilst BG paid me back just under £200 last week.  And I am going to be saving about £300 per year on present prices.

Npower took an additional DD payment of £265 out of our account last month. I queried the payment and they told me it's additional usage on top of the £50 per month we're paying by DD over the past 6 months! We're not aware of any additional usage so can only assume their costs have doubled. Time to look for a new supplier!

Out of interest what do people pay?

For a family of three we pay £77pm. That's on npower and its high cos last year we only paid £44pm.

50 down from 63

Just gone up from £105 to £146 for a four bed semi. (but I do like to be warm!).  :nod:

What the fucking, fuck. Single male, small 2 bed flat, just gone up to £83 per month. No gas though. I'm guessing that's a lot?

yes that's a lot. i paid £46 and have moved to npower for £33pm

Probably average about £80 a month for a two bed with no central heating.

Baz - heating with electric is more expensive than heating with gas (per kWh), so relatively speaking it's going to be a bit more expensive.

£33 per month?! Do you sit in the dark in the freezing cold?

See that's where npower stung us even though we were giving meter readings every 3 months. They left it as it was then stung us with over £200 bill but was lucky to spread over 12 months. Be wary.

maybe not the dark, i've got the heat of the flats underneath me to steal

I thought it'd be something like that. I think it's going to be worth considering saving to have gas installed, but then the cost of having gas installed is so expensive, it wouldn't pay itself off for a very long time.

Likewise, I think I pay combined £43 for gas and electic, although I'm really anal and turn absolutly everything off that we don't use.

It's something I considered too. You're probably looking in the region of £2k to £3k to have a boiler and radiators fitted.

Worse still, the flat doesn't even have gas, so it's also about £4k to have a gas line to the property.

Is that gas and electric? There are five of us in a four bed detached, I will start an insulation thread soon  :wink:

Edit: keeping loads of stuff in the loft helps retain some heat!

we switched 2 months ago to EDF's Blue Price Promise. Just before everyone upped their prices so was a very good move for us.

our bill has gone down from EON's £146pm to EDF's £88pm. 4 bed detached with 5 living here or 6 if you include the dog.

We'll see over the course of 12 months if they turn out to be that much cheaper.

Only just recently moved, so nPower have us paying a combined £85 to begin with... imagine I'll be in credit by some margin.

My only gripe with npower is that they don't automatically offer their best deals to customers. I just go online near the contract renewall date and change it so its not too bad. I send regular meter readings and don't get silly bills from them.

I wouldn't go back to them, it took a lot of calls and hassle to refund my credit balance when I stopped using them, over two months!!