Energy Suppliers, Suppliers of Energy. Gas / Electric

Can't see a topic for gas and electricity suppliers please merge if I've missed it.

Looking to switch suppliers, low gas usage high electrical usage. Any recommendations for a good trouble free supplier. I've been with SO Energy for about 4 years but they won't refund me £400 credit I've built up over time, so going to change and get some cash back. I've been very pleased with them to be fair. No issues at I can remember.

I'll post up my current charges for comparison purposes.

Tariff Name: So Alder - Electricity - 1 Rate
Start Date: 31 Mar 2020
End Date: 30 Mar 2021

Unit Rate: 13.32p per kWh
Standing Charges: 22.05p per day

Tariff Name: So Alder - Gas
Start Date: 31 Mar 2020
End Date: 30 Mar 2021

Unit Rate: 2.55p per kWh
Standing Charges: 22.05p per day

Not sure what rates they are offering for the next contract but if anyone can recommend a supplier they've been happy with let us know. Green Energy would be preferred.

I'll obviously take a look at a few comparison websites but which ones do you trust these days, there are so many and some have hidden affiliations hidden in the small print.

I’ve been very happy with Bulb for a couple of years now. Big on green and easy to deal with.

If you do go for them, we both get £50

http://www.bulb.me/davidr9988

Weve been with Bulb for couple of years, i really like them but they have been nagging me to switch to a smart meter quite a bit recently. Beside that theyre great

Why not switch? We did it last year, easier for all involved, and it’s easier to switch suppliers down the line.

Green Energy and Octopus both have pretty low electricity costs, I think just under 13p.

Green Energy are a bit cheaper for both gas and electric, been with them a year no probs

You need to know your annual usage before you make a switch, ideally. You need that to be able to work out what it’s going to cost you.

Some tariffs are a flat rate, others are tiered, others are based on a standing charge and a reduced usage rate. All deliberately confusing unless you’re good at maths. Only your usage will be able to tell you which is best.

have the last 2 or 3 years summaries detailing how much i've used
i usually plug those numbers in the price comparison sites

Recommend bulb. App is good and communications about price changes are all very clear.

On bulb currently but looking at this with interest:
https://lookaftermybills.com/

I’m on that. Definitely saved some dosh. They don’t necessarily put you one the cheapest, they factor in which is more ethical too. So currently with green energy and LAMB will potentially switch it next year

which are the best comparison sites ? lamb seemed to want me to sign up fully right away with no hints about the savings i'll be getting, even wanted bank details on the first pass not 100% sure i want in without any idea of what i'm signing up for

I’ve been very happy with Octopus for the last few years. Contract was up for renewal recently and looked at Bulb... both looked great but prefer a fixed tariff so stayed with Octopus.

Got a mate who works for Ovo. He says bulb and most other providers are basically a ponzi scheme, priced cheap to get new customers in but unsustainable so eventually will have to jack your prices up otherwise when they stop growing they will go bust and take any credit balance you have with them.

He says Ovo are by no means the cheapest but won't rip you off the longer you stay with them.
Also says you will always get a better deal by shopping around every year no matter who you are with. He says the only other supplier he would recommend is Octopus and says they are good.

(For transparency I'm with bulb. Girlfriend signed us up to it when we moved in a couple of months back, before it even crossed my mind).

Been very happy with Octopus so far - recommended provider by Which? for the last 3 years.

share.octopus.energy/silk-emu-550

is my referral link seeing as no-one has shared one yet - which saves you (and me!) £50.

Bulb seem to have appeared out of nowhere and suddenly seem to be massive. I just looked them up to see if they were just one of the other energy suppliers re-branded, but they're a venture capital company. Wikipedia says: Attracting venture capital, Bulb runs at a financial loss while achieving rapid growth in customers. Hmm.

There are smaller companies that legitimately offer cheaper energy. There are (or at least there were) a number of not-for-profit and ethical trading companies who would buy and sell energy at cost. One of them, I forget their name but we were with them for years, was a Christian not-for profit company but was swallowed up by Southern electric about 4-5 years ago. Then we were with Gnergy, ethical principles run by Ghurkas from an office in Hampshire (allegedly). Both of those companies, somebody just picked up a phone in the office if you rang them; there was no switchboard or call waiting with options. They recently got swallowed up by Bulb who, presumably, are currently trying to gain customers left right and centre.

not-for profit company

swallowed up by Southern electric

wonder if they gave themselves away for free...

I think they both went bust, actually.

I know Gnergy did. They only had something like 8000 customers.

All my family have signed up to Utility Warehouse and keep badgering me to join it.

I think it might be a cult.

they will go bust and take any credit balance you have with them.

Just for anyone worried about this, my provider (Tonik) stopped trading recently - not sure if they went bust or not but I assume so.

It seems the process is that Ofgem steps in and appoints a new provider, with your credit balance intact.

Not that it improves the ethics of running at a big loss to acquire customers and jack up prices later.

I just remembered, the other company was EquiPower/Equigas run by a Christian charity. Looks like they were supplied by SSE who then wouldn't guarantee their energy prices. On my bills it became Ebico and eventually just SSE. Looks like their parent company went bust and it was handed over to SSE by Ofgem.

Edit: fuck me, look how cheap electricity and gas was in 2006!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/152699/anyone-with-equipower-equigas

It seems the process is that Ofgem steps in and appoints a new provider, with your credit balance intact.

Yes, it's completely seamless. It's happened to me twice. You get some letters saying you don't need to do anything and that it's going to switch to new company's xxx tariff and your bill just changes one month. Your credit carries over.

In fact, I just got a string of emails that I assumed were phishing, saying that I was owed £2.38 by Shell. Just ignored them. Then I got a physical cheque in the post. I don't know how this works but, presumably, Shell now owns one of those company's accounts and has found I overpaid or wasn't refunded £2.38 and for whatever legal reason has tracked me down and is refunding it.

when you switch does the balance get transfered or do you get it returned to you by the company you were with and start a new balance with the new company

On manual switches, my balance has been refunded/settled.

When the supplier has gone bust etc, the balance has transferred over.

If anyone is interested in Bulb I’ve got a referral code which gets us both £50.

I would double check you don’t get a better deal through the comparison sites first though. Sometimes they offer cashback.

https://www.bulb.me/aaront6947?utm_campaign=app-referral-share&utm_medium=copy-link&utm_source=copy-button