Switching energy ---- experiences?

I had a similar experience this year. Last year they claimed they would save me over £500 which it did, they quoted me a monthly payment and stuck to it. That was Sainsbury's energy. This year I went with Together energy who claimed they would save me £300 but several months in they decided to increase the monthly payment by 50 quid a month. Making it more expensive than the previous supplier. I argued with them refusing to pay the increase and they've agreed we will pay the outstanding amount whatever it may be at the end of the term but they've been an absolute pain to deal with and with hindsight I wished I'd stayed with Sainsnbury's so we'll see what happens when the term ends.

They bamboozle you telling all about different tariffs etc. In May I was told I had to increase my direct debit to pay off an excess incurred over the winter. It was a big increase. Now, 2 months later I'm considerably in credit. Frustrating phonecall for me tomorrow. At least I can call the fogeys hotline direct and no faffing about pressing buttons.

I’ve only switched once and it saved us about £50 a month. I was very sceptical and thought the direct debit payment agreed wouldn’t cover our usage, but three years on, after one increase and one decrease, we’re still paying what we started off with and we’re building up credit for the winter.

We are thinking of switching in September. From your experiences, I will do my research thoroughly to make sure I get the best deal.

It seems we were just very unlucky! But we are being real meanies at the moment! When we went on holiday we turned everything off (including the boiler) apart from the f/f and alarm system! It's made us look at our habits, which we have had for years n years.

We're looking at Avid Energy. You pay as you go. My Dd is with them. They give you £40 welcome credit. My Dd has an energy meter. She tops up her credit in the summer & so far there's been no nasty winter shocks.

I promise I'm not an agent for this supplier. I'm just really tempted. You get an app through your smart phone. It's connected to your meter and your bank details. We're mulling it over.

I find that it can be quite difficult to get an accurate comparison when looking to change suppliers, because such comparisons often compare new tariffs with the expensive tariff you will be automatically moved to if you don't do anything when your current contract ends, rather than the tariff that is about to end. For that reason, before choosing a new supplier, I do the maths for myself (based on the same annual usage figure that their or the comparison site's supposed saving is based on) to check that we are arriving at roughly the same amount.

A month ago, I had to do this for both myself and also for my mum (I can think of more enjoyable ways to spend a week!)
Given that wholesale energy prices have risen a lot recently, I was amazed to find my mum a much better deal than the one that was ending, and with a well-known company too (Eon).

Usually, I am quite risk-averse, but in an attempt to keep our own energy bills down, I have taken a risk with our supply, by going for a new company (Outfox the Market) with a different way of selling. It is not fixed-price (and there has already been a price rise only a few weeks in!), but we can leave at any time. Only time will show if it was a good decision or not!

Well we are with EOn!!!, but lots of comments, advice and suggestions to mull over ---thanks everyone

I think there is a lot of luck involved, with some new tariffs only available for a very short time. I might just have struck lucky with the timing regarding the Eon deal for Mum.

You're right there, MamaCaz. I dithered for a few days and missed a good 2 year fixed deal with my current supplier. Then left it another fortnight or so and lo and behold, another decent deal appeared (not quite as good, but I felt a little bit better!). I snapped it up before it disappeared. I'm not going to look to see if there's anything better on offer now, I'll only get cross if there is!

I changed from Eon last year and saved a lot by goibg to Sainsbury's which is actually part of British Gas but was considerably cheaper. I must admit I thought the D/D was fixed for the year and was quite shocked when they put it up by £50 a month with over 6 months still to go. They wouldn't listen when I said my consumption would be less in the summer and insisted the £50 raise stay, so I cancelled the D/D until they would speak to me. I'm always told my consumption is quite high, I'm not bothered by that but refuse to pay more than I have to.I have no plans to change how much energy I use just how much I pay for it. I will however be asking next time if the D/D is set for the year or will they try to raise it part way through the year. Especially as the consumption was based on the actual usage the previous year not some random figure grasped from thin air.

Am I the only one who thinks this whole having to switch energy suppliers every year a huge unnecessary con and that energy shouldn’t be profit making companies most of which are foreign owned. I do switch because otherwise I’m lining shareholders pockets, at the moment I’m with Bulb which is a small online company, my bills have gone down and it’s supposedly green, so I am happy as far as it goes.

I’m with Bulb too. I have had my tariff put up over the winter, but fair enough, we did use more gas. I find their customer service quite good.

I think you have to look at what you pay over a whole year, factoring in thing like a bad week meter (using higher heating) and hot summer (fans going throughout the night)

I’d avoid the big 6 and go on recommendations eg such as Martin Lewis’s site.

Bad winter... not week.

I think of doing it, but then the thought of all that searching and checking puts me off.

It’s pretty straightforward, Annie, and the switch is done for you, so it’s much easier than it used to be.

I considered switching to Bulb, crystaltipps, but was put off by their marketing. They have fantastic scores on the review sites, but every review includes a link for new customers, who get £50 if they sign up. So does the existing customer, so I didn’t feel I could trust the reviews or the company. I’m with First Utility. We pay £74 a month for dual fuel, and our usage is well above the average. We were paying £130 to British Gas years ago.

Worth doing though, Anniebach, as you will often pay hundreds a year more if you don't!
That said, once I have done the comparisons, I would probably not bother changing supplier if there was only a very small saving to be made.

I have tried switching and can't find another provider to take over my meters. The meters are old ones from when the house had storage heaters, when they changed the house to gas they didn't change the meters.
So for some reason no one will touch them. I even tried going down the smart meter route with the supplier I have at the moment and they refused due to the meters. So stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Really annoying when you are told to switch suppliers -- wish it was as easy as that.

CassieJ I won't pretend to know the solution to your problem, but I was just wondering if you had tried contacting your distributor - the company that is responsible for the network itself - rather than your supplier, about this? If you haven't already tried that approach, it would be worth doing. I did read somewhere that they are the ones who actually 'own' the meters, though I don't know how true that is.

Bulb do have good customer service. Easy to talk to a real person and emails answered promptly. Plus I’m paying around £50 a month less than we were with SSE.

We did have a rouge gas meter reading, i.e. They read the meter, then 3 months later when we came to read it the units were less. The online reading we did had to be adjusted down before it would accept it, but I'm not convinced they believed it until it was read again. I'm determined not to use any central heating (gas) before we switch again mid September. But I will check things out better next time!
Our current annual bill will be double what it was the previous year. I cannot believe that unless their price rises have been frequent, particularly when there was an alleged £300+ saving to be had. So if the winter was exceptional then that saving would have taken care of it at the very least.
Basically I cannot believe that you can double a dual full bill and sai it was because of a harsh winter.

BillieW Something a bit like that happened to us a few years ago during our switchover to a new supplier. Our old supplier ignored the correct reading that I had given them, and seemingly made up one of their own to use as our final reading. You can imagine the problems we had when I next gave a reading to the new supplier which, even months later, was still lower than the made-up figure!
That took some sorting out, in fact I am not sure if the two companies ever did sort it out between themselves.

MamaCaz
I'm not sure after switching from EOn that we will ever switch again.
We have never switched bank accounts, but at least you get your benefit as soon as you switch!
These privatised energy companies just can't loose it seems

I've switched several time and am now with OVO.
Saved about £100 a year, not much but better in my account than someone else's.
BillieW
I think I've been with every bank there is