Powergen gas price increase coming. Who to switch to?

disclaimer: I am not an expert on this.... The main problem is that right now, all the suppliers are in a state of change, Powergen being the 6th to raise it's prices. The others will have to follow suit soon.

I'd advise waiting before switching, as the process can take 6-8 weeks, during which time your chosen new provider will increase prices, then you might be worse off :-(

Personally, I've asked Powergen for their new unit prices. I'll take meter readings on the 9th March, and submit them to Powergen (then they can't sting me based on estimated usage etc). I will then review all the providers based on my past year's actual usage of gas and electric.

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for that.

Does anyone know of a list of suppliers that shows whether or not they have yet raised ther prices?

Jake

Jake S wrote

Tonight's Watchdog programme on BBC1 gave a resumé on switching supplier, try:

I`ve seen mention of

in a couple of places - some of the comparison sites do list it, but they hide it well because they don`t get a kickback off them. They "sub" your supply from SWALEC or Scottish & Southern at present, but they`re run as a non-profit organisation with "christian ethics" with no standing charge. They`re geared more towards providing affordable supplies for low income / low users.

I did some price comparisons and i`m quite a high user - £60/month each for gas / elec - and although I wouldn`t save a lot, the standing charge element alone makes a difference in my case.

I can`t comment on their service levels, but I believe from the bumpf you deal direct with the supplier for any queries, not through them, so although uswitch tries to scare people away from them with dire warnings about it being small, you`re actually dealing with the big boys, not them.

To find it on uswitch, I think you need to select the social tariff option only, and pick one other specific option (can`t remember what it was) - otherwise it remains "hidden".

Use uswitch.com...or ukpower.co.uk but as another contributor has suggested wait until spring (when energy demand falls) for a steadying off of prices. Unfortunately at the moment energy prices are rising due to us buying on the world markets which are volatile. If you want someone who is responsible for this (without getting too political!) the buck stops with Margaret Thatcher who decided that coal was no longer needed. North sea gas was a premium fuel that should only have been used for domestic and some small business users. She frittered away the stocks by using most of it in generating electrical power in power stations. She got her CO2 emission targets and SO2 emissions reduced but as usual with politics (of any persuasion) short termism rules the day...and we live with the consequences. I just wish, for once, we would have someone in power who makes the right long term decisions affecting all of our futures.

(I have no doubt that this reply will create some reactions?)

biggirlsblouse wrote

Yep. My only regret is that the old bitch is now so far gone that she can't even understand the consequences of her actions whilst in power. She ought to be made to live in a rented house on the state pension (plus pension credit) and face the heating bills which are about to hit the poor. I know someone in that position, and she has just spent the £200 on two bills alone. She survives because I help her out. 8-(

Without Thatcher, the coal miner would now be on strike, demanding even higher wages, and the dockers would be refusing to unload foreign coal, while the poor OAP's were freezing in their houses without electricity. Breaking the miners' strike was a good thing, they had to be shown that they do not run the country.

Breaking the power of trade unions is not exactly the same as closing all the pits. A job that was finished off IIRC by Heseltine & Major.

OP: - for pricing comparisons, a good starting point is

Regard

Simon Clark Business Telecoms

Powergen just told me (1 week after asking) that this price rise does not impact Energyonline customers. Shame this is not clear in their information.