Comparing electricity prices should be nice and easy. All gas and electricity price comparison services should provide identical results via a swift process. But because energy price comparison companies are usually profit-making firms like any other and work to ensure their competitive advantage, so it is no surprise some differences do show.
Many newspapers and web portals have commercial deals and promotions with one or other comparison services and promote them as "finding the cheapest electricity supplier". That just isn't true; there are major differences between the various electricity price comparison companies, as you can easily discover for yourself by reading the article below:
Electricity Suppliers Included
Energywatch regulations mean utility comparison companies must include all major energy providers, whether or not they pay lead fees, yet some electricity suppliers which don't meet Energywatch's own standards do not have to be included in the comparisons.
This leads to confusion in the marketplace, as most of those missed out are the electrical companies that rarely pay comparison services lead fees if people switch, so the gas and electricity comparison companies tend not to include them. While the larger electricity suppliers such as British Gas, Eon, Scottish Power, Npower, EDF Energy and Southern Electric are adequately covered, electricity comparison sites usually miss out the following three main energy suppliers:
- Telecom Plus. Multi-utility provider Telecom Plus is for some people the cheapest electricity provider. It is a "network marketing" organisation, which means it's sold by current customers, who are paid commission, to their friends and family.This means its customers often evangelise about its pricing unbeatability, based on marketing info. Yet, this simply isn't true. The pricing structure involves discounts the more utility services are taken. However, Telecom Plus's home phone service especially should be avoided as it is uncompetitive. This doesn't mean Telecom Plus isn't sometimes cheapest just for standalone gas and electricity. It is; just not always. Telecom Plus has three different tariffs. Some energy comparison services include only one of its three tariffs, others include all three.
- Equigas & Equipower. These electricity suppliers charge prepayment meter customers the same as their other customers – a great advantage for many people.
- Staywarm. Staywarm is a fixed price energy provider for the over 60s. Whilst all the gas & electricity price comparison services allude to notifying customers of StayWarm the truth is none of them do it correctly; it doesn't appear in their comparison results.
Electricity Usage Assumptions
To accurately do a price comparison the KiloWatt hours (energy usage) from an electric meter reading is needed. Most people don't input this figure though, they use the 'billed price'. This leaves electricity comparison services having to calculate the KiloWatt hours data based on a number of assumptions.
These assumptions are not constant. For example, some assume the bill is for the last quarter and add in seasonal adjustments. Others have differing power usage patterns. All of these mean that unless the KiloWatt hours figure is used, there are some variances in the results of different electricity price comparison services. Usually, however, these differences won't be enough to affect the recommendation of which electricity provider is cheapest, which is the most important thing.
Electricity Tariffs Updates
Most comparison companies are fed tariff changes by energy providers in advance of the public announcement. This gives them time to update the information in time for the day of the announcement.
Many gas and electricity price rises are announced a couple of months before the prices are actually changed but the early updating is a good thing. It means when you compare electricity price the 'who is cheapest' result is based on the new not the old prices; useful as that's the price you will actually pay.
Yet dig beneath this and there is a problem, one which Energywatch enforces, as it requires gas and electricity price comparison companies to change their data as soon as possible after announcements. This means energy usage numbers are made more incorrect.
For example, tell an electricity comparison company your bills are £400 for the last quarter. It then uses this to calculate an assumed usage in Kilowatt hours. Yet, if that company has announced, but not yet implemented a price rise, this means your assumed usage is being calculated based on the new electric tariffs, not as is correct the old ones – which widens the error.
Presentation of Electricity Price Comparison
There are many desirable features of an electricity price comparison service; the ability to view the comparisons for both dual fuel and single fuel separately for one comparison, the ability for it to estimate your usage if you don't know your bills or your electricity meter readings, the speed info is updated, being able to select green energy and service ratings.
In this one area sites tend to be more uniform and, where there are differences, they are subjective based on how individuals like to work.
Compare Electricity Prices: Summary
The only perfect solution is to manually calculate your existing electricity bill, using Kilowatt hours into the electrical pricing tariff of every energy company in your area. This is a hefty job, but for those with the inclination it does provide the ultimate solution, yet the time taken will for most outweigh any savings in your quest for cheap electricity.
For 99.9% of people – whether you are in England (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Southampton, York), Northern Ireland (Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Lisburn), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee) or Wales (Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, Newport) – using the right gas and electricity comparison service is the correct solution, if not the perfect one. Though for advanced money savers, there's nothing wrong with comparing electricity prices by double checking the costs you will pay using your own data and the most recommended electricity supplier's tariff.