Yet another energy provider

I have lived at my current address for last 6 years and started of using Swalec as my electricity and gas provider. Then found out they were ripping me off so I switched … only after I clawed back the money they owed me. Switched to EDF which had its own little scams. They failed to clearly explain that they will be increasing my bills by switching me to a Standard tariff if I used their smart meter.

So then I moved the lot to Atlantic, which had a nice standard tariff and must say I was quite pleased with them although this was technically the same company as Swalec, as they are both part of SSE.

Now, with the recent price hikes that have been going on (October 2013) I have decided to have another look for a cheaper deal before my bills go up. Partly because of the winter, partly because of the before mentioned price hikes. Now I know I was quite cross about the whole issue and I didn’t think switching providers would help but it seems it can help. I was listening to the uSwitch guy speaking on BBC’s Watchdog programme and there are apparently tariffs on the market that will be frozen for quite some time.

Turns out there was something for me. For the last year I have paid about £460 for electricity and gas. Switching to npower’s tariff I will not only save about £60-£80 (depending how if I calculated the new tariff based on my previous kW usage or £££ spent). Plus the tariff is frozen till 2017 but no penalty charges if I leave early.

Not bad as now I won’t be affected by the price hike but if, by some miracle, the prices come down or there is a better deal elsewhere I will be able to still switch.

So as the final message I would advise you to not wait for the government to impose any price restrictions on the energy companies anytime soon. Get yourself a better deal and shop around.