Most of us have many suppliers to choose from, regardless of where we live in Great Britain. You can choose separate companies to supply your gas and electricity, or you can choose one company to supply both – this is known as a dual fuel contract.
To compare the prices being offered by different suppliers with the price from your current supplier, you will need to work out how much you are paying for your fuel each year. You can do this by looking at your bills for the past year. To make sure the comparison is accurate, try to use bills based on real meter readings, not on estimates.
There are a number of questions you might want to ask before deciding to change to a new supplier.
Questions to ask
How much will the new supplier charge?
All suppliers have to publish their prices. They will send you details of their prices if you ask them. To make sure you get the best deal, it is worth shopping around and making comparisons between the prices offered by different suppliers in your area.
You can also obtain a factsheet from the Consumer Focus website or find pricing information on price comparison websites.
How can I pay?
Suppliers usually offer a variety of payment options to customers, such as paying weekly or quarterly, and paying by cash, postal order, cheque, direct debit or in a prepayment meter. Ask suppliers to tell you about all the options so that you can make the best choice. You may also want to make sure that there are no penalties for cancelling a contract once you have signed it.
Which ‘tariff’ should I choose?
Be aware that some payment methods may be much more expensive than others. For example, it is usually cheaper to manage your fuel bills online or pay by monthly direct debit, than to pay by cheque or cash on a quarterly basis. Different tariffs (or prices) are offered to different consumers according to their circumstances.
Whatever price you are quoted, you should make sure that it includes VAT, which is charged at 5% on electricity and gas bills.
Do they have any extra or hidden charges?
Some suppliers add a daily standing charge to your fuel bill and others do not. Those companies that do not add a standing charge may instead ask for a higher unit price for the gas and electricity you use.
Do they have a high number of complaints about their service?
If you are interested in the quality of service you are likely to receive from a new supplier, as well as the prices they will charge, it is worth asking about their performance.
Changing your supplier
Once you are happy that you have selected the supplier best suited to meet your needs, changing is a fairly simple process:
- Get in touch with the new supplier and agree a contract with them. After this the transfer process should take about six weeks to complete. Your new supplier will tell you about the progress of your transfer.
- Pay any outstanding bills owing to your existing supplier. If you do not, they may prevent you from transferring.
- Take a meter reading on the day you change supplier. If your old supplier does not use it to work out your final bill, or your new supplier does not use it as the starting point for your first bill, let them know the meter reading you have taken.
Problems switching supplier
If something goes wrong when changing supplier you have rights that should make sure the problem is resolved quickly and easily. The most common problem is something called an ‘erroneous transfer’. An erroneous transfer occurs where a consumer is transferred to a new supplier before they have signed a contract.
In order to protect consumers, a charter was drawn up to ensure energy companies resolve erroneous transfers as quickly as possible. Essentially the charter requires all suppliers involved to work together – regardless of who is at fault.
The normal resolution of an erroneous transfer is for you to be returned to your original supplier. This means that, regardless of how long you had been with the wrong supplier, you will still need to pay your original supplier for the energy you used.
This information can be downloaded and printed in a leaflet format.