David Cameron's Diary

How would you like to earn the equivalent of ~£500 per hour?

Unfortunately, you can't earn this every hour or even every day, but by spending around 30 minutes of your time, you could make savings of up to £300 per annum on your Utility bills, earning the sorts of money I opened with here....and all tax-free.

By now you will realise that the free cash I refer to in the title starts off as your own, but if you are not with the cheapest supplier, you are paying more than you need to.....start today to take control and get your money back in your mitts.

Continuing an editorial I started with late last year, I told you to forget the pessimism being shown by Utility analysts talking of higher gas and electricity prices for some time to come; instead I suggested that prices would fall if there was sufficient consumer pressure. I also anticipated the reduction in spot prices arising from changes to the supply\demand mix.

For those that don't understand why prices rose so high, this has come about because of :

(a) a squeeze on our supply versus the demand creating volatility and record high prices in the wholesale spot markets.

(b) Supplier long-term contracts (25 years+ ?) with producers will have other various price indexes and adjustments built into their pricing mechanism and of course needed to recover these costs. I would anticipate that although contract base prices would have been fixed at historically lower prices, particular pricing mechanisms would have taken account of available spot prices, oil prices and a whole host of other potential factors from the commercial environment

(c) Utilities are not always secured 100% through long term deals and there is reliance upon the spot markets to provide fuels to all consumers - the high prices in that market passed through to customers and potentially created upward pricing spirals in the long term deals.

(d) Movement away from Coal-based Electricity Generation to Gas exerted further pressures on supply versus demand.

Recent changes to the supply arrangements whereby new interconnector pipelines are bringing additional Gas into the UK from Continental Europe have eased the pressures on supply; therefore wholesale spot pricing has fallen dramatically from its highs - as a comparison 32p/Therm on the coldest day of winter 2006/7 compared to 70p/Therm the previous year. The major players have now started responding to this and there is now scope to take advantages of the cheapest rates applicable to your own usage patterns and postcode - it is not necessarilly a universally cheaper provider.

Here are the most recent announcements:

British Gas

Announced a 17% reduction for gas and 11% for electricity on 8th February with its new prices effective from 12th March. It has also reduced prices twice on its online plan “Click Energy 2”.

npower

Announced a 16% reduction in gas and 3% in electricity prices on 19th February, effective from 30th April. Offers an additional £21 discount to its online dual fuel plan for new customers, which is available immediately.

Powergen

Launched four new plans on 15th February, which it guaranteed would be cheaper than British Gas’s standard plans until September 2008. It also reduced its online plan “Energy Online Extra Saver” with immediate effect. This has been followed on 27th February by a 16% reduction in gas and 5% reduction in electricity prices. Prices are effective from 30th April for standard plans.

Scottish and Southern Energy

(includes Scottish Hydro Electric, Atlantic Electric and Gas, Southern Electric and SWALEC) Just announced a 12% cut in gas prices effective from 1st March and 5% in electricity from 1st April.

Now that the major players have shown their hand, it is a good time to review your own circumstances by visiting one of the readily available pricing comparison engines on the internet ... just do a search on google.co.uk for "price comparison"...There are many around.

Remember to price Electricity and Gas separately as well as looking for a Dual Fuel offer with the same supplier...it could be cheaper to take your fuels from different suppliers.

My own personal favourite price comparison engine is Uswitch. The reason for choosing Uswitch over others for me is that it is a portal covering all sorts of household opportunities to save e.g. Broadband Internet, Digital TV, Credit Cards etc.. and for many of the suppliers will have actual customer reviews if that is a consideration in your switching decision.

Many of the price comparison services will allow you to switch directly through their own internet sites when they have a direct relationship with the supplier. Uswitch is no different, but will also allow you to look at additional suppliers and for a little more time and maybe greater savings you might need to switch outside of the price comparison site.

So, David Cameron says - Earn Fat Cat Wages for yourself and if you do one thing this weekend, whether you use my recommended comparison service or search google for another, use one of them at least and dig out your fuel bills to check what savings you can make and start switching to a cheaper provider now - you will be switched in around 4-6 weeks as the lower prices come in to force. If everyone did that, the prices would fall even further.

Fuel bills are definitely where most people can make savings, but don't forget to look at other areas where you can save.

Labels: Electricity, Fat Cat, Gas, Price Comparison, Uswitch, Utility

Following on from a couple of my recent articles discussing the recent high costs of Gas and Electricity and movements in the spot markets, I thought that reader might be interested in a Motley Fool article which suggests that there is some sleight of hand with some of the announcements.

I don't think that this takes away any of my thrust that there will be more price reductions in the offing if we as consumers can create the competitive pressure and switch to the cheapest supplier at this time.

If others then want to reclaim their lost share, they will be forced to drop their prices still further.

In terms of switching, it could not be easier with price comparison engines checking the market on your behalf based upon your postcode and consumption patterns - Motley Fool has one.

My own personal preference is USwitch, having completed a painless change of supplier managed by them last year to NPower for a dual-fuel offer on Gas & Electricity.

I checked through there last week again to confirm that my existing tariff with NPower still remains competitive at this time. But it is probably worth while checking month on month to see how prices change.

Remember, don't change just when prices may be subject to seweeping change across all suppliers - you will lock yourself into a 4-6 week transition period and may delay the opportunity to move to an even cheaper supplier who has been a little slow to review their pricing.

Somwhat surprisingly, you can often go for a Green source of fuel without paying a hefty increase either....something you way want to look at

Labels: comparison, Electricity, Energy, Gas, Green, Prices, save

There is an interesting article under the BBC News banner looking at the short to medium prospect for UK energy prices as new inter-connectors come on line bringing new gas supplies to the UK from the continent.

The latest interconnector was brought on stream at the start of December from the Netherlands into Bacton (Norfolk) and can provide for 8% of the UK Gas demand.

Because we use considerable volumes of natural gas to generate Electricity, the volatility of the Gas prices has also led to massive increases in both Gas & Electricity prices.

The BBC News article suggests that prices will not fall immediately because the Wholesale buyers will have bought at the higher prices and will need to recover their contract costs and we as consumers should not get our hopes up for custs in our fuel costs.

I take a slightly different view - much of the North Sea supply is likely to have been contracted for periods of 5,10,15, 20 years or even more and would not necessarilly have been renegotiated during the current high prices. I would expect someone to break away from the pack with lower prices and irrespective as to whether a company has bought at the higher price, then unless he brings his price down to the leading level then he will not sell his gas (or electricity) to astute buyers.

Therefore if we always buy astutely, then we can help drive down the fuel costs.

Of course, if you don't have a look now again and compare the prices being charged in the Energy Markets, then you are helping to sustain the higher prices for longer.

So.....keep an eye on the prices, compare other suppliers prices to that of your current supplier and make the switch. There is no different quality of gas or electricity arriving at your house, it is just a different billing arrangement whereby the new supplier agrees to put your energy into the network to keep it in balance.

That sounds hard to go around all the different suppliers websites and compare prices, but in practice the hard work is removed by using one of the Energy Price Comparison websites that have pulled all the information together in one place. You enter your details once and it will advise what the best offers are for your consumption pattern.

There are others out there, just 'google' for "energy price comparison". The site that I recommend is Uswitch who say that the average household could save £140 off their energy bills if they changed supplier. Click here to find out how much you could save.

Remember, don't wait for your own suppliers prices to fall. The likelihood is that you could start saving on your Gas and\or Electricity today. There is no obligation by using Uswitch, but only an opportunity to start saving now when our fuel consumption is at its peak and you have the maximum potential to save.

If you have wondered about how to buy "Green" energy from renewable sources, then Uswitch can provide comparisons for that too. Even paying a premium for "Green" energy, you could still be paying less than you are today.

Therefore ..... go be an empowered consumer and do your bit to drive fuel prices down as quickly as we can and if you can buy "Green", then the planet saves something too..

Labels: comparison, Electricity, Energy, Gas, Green, Prices, save

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