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SAVEMEONBILLS LATEST NEWS E.ON Age Concern : Update to customer benefits - Wednesday, October 08th 2008: As of today, 8th October 2008, E.ON have amended the customer benefits for those customers signing up to their Age Concern tariffs.
These now include: * A Carbon Monoxide Alarm worth £20
* 2 energy saving light bulbs
* A card hypothermia thermometer
* A voucher to claim a free personal computer Powerdown worth £12
* Other energy saving appliance offers
* Energy saving advice
* Safety advice
* A leaflet regarding free or discounted loft and cavity wall insulation
| E.ON - new fixed price tariff - Thursday, October 2nd 2008: E.ON launched a new fixed price energy tariff called Fixed Price V3 – Fixed until 1st July 2010 - Single electricity and dual fuel product
- Available for MDD and QCC payment methods
- Customers can receive a Tesco point for every pound spent
- Not available to Prepayment meter customer
- IGT charge is applicable
If customers leave before the end date of 01.07.2010 there is a cancellation fee of £50 for a dual fuel customer and £20 for a single electricity customer
The tariff is went live on all our platforms at 0001 today and is available for signup now.
At the same time Price Protection v18 has been withdrawn for sale.
| New EDF Energy Tariffs - Wednesday , October 1st 2008: The new latest EDF Energy tariffs were launched today.
These are:
Price Protection 2010
This is a price protection tariff where prices are held until until 30 September 2010.
It is available for dual fuel and electricity only.
Online Electricity only Tariff V6
This is an electricity only Online tariff available over 10 areas.
Both standard and E7 tariffs are available.
Payment is by monthly direct debit only.
| British Gas Click Energy 6 - launched Tuesday , September 30th 2008: British Gas Click Energy 6 has been launched today.
This means the immediate withdrawal from market of Click Energy 5 and this has been removed.
This will launched across all platforms at 1900.
Also being launched at 1900 is Click Pay as You Go.
| Are you wondering whether the tariff you want may be going up in price? - Wednesday, September 17th 2008:Have you ever wondered whether the savings shown on some comparison services like savemeonbills.co.uk are too good to be true? To help consumers switch with confidence, this service now warns about tariffs that may be due a price increase - another unique feature you won't find anywhere else. Tariffs that may reasonably be due an increase are labelled with a big exlamation mark and explanatory content. Tariffs that have recently been adjusted are shown with a green GO sign. The Price Increase warnings are not based on advance information of price changes by the energy suppliers, but represent this service's longstanding experience in gauging the direction of the energy market.
| Energy fuel measures - the government's missed opportunity - Thursday, September 11th 2008: The government today announced a package of measures to help the country cope with soaring fuel bills. These measures include: - A partial reversal of previously announced cuts for the government?s warm front scheme, which provides support to households on pension credit with the installation of central heating
- Doubling of winter fuel payments to pensioners. Help for disabled and families with children under five - but only if the coming winter is severe
- Free or half price insulation offers for all families and a price freeze for the remainder of this year for the poorest families
The measures have already been criticised as being overly focused on inducing long-term reductions in energy consumption, while providing little help for average families struggling to pay their bills this coming winter.
The current vagueness around the implementation of the longer term measures does not help. For example, it is unclear how the insulation offers will be marketed by the energy suppliers, and what the take-up will be.
The value of offering a price freeze for the poorest for the rest of the year (a period of a little over 3 months!) is also in doubt. The consensus is that suppliers had no intention of raising prices this year anyway, but that they will probably put through further increases in the New Year.
The measures also don?t seem to include any new energy tariff initiatives that might help incentivise UK energy consumers to reduce their consumption, for example by introducing attractive fixed rate one year packages with usage limits.
We are also sorely missing any new initiatives to make bills more useful to the consumer ? for example by forcing suppliers to clearly show the last 12 months? of usage on every statement, within the context of the national average.
Most importantly, we are missing any special help for customers who use Prepayment meters - the most expensive way to purchase gas and electricity - and which are present in about 10% of UK households.
We were hoping that suppliers would be forced to offer their customers a free meter replacement, so that those willing and able to pay quarterly or by monthly Direct Debit, could benefit from cheaper prices, but this was not part of the package that was announced.
So unfortunately, the government?s efforts are not going to help you this winter with the 25-35% extra that you will have to pay for your gas and electricity. This is the sad fact.
For the average family. the only way to save money on the energy bills is to somehow use less energy in the future and to switch to a cheaper tariff deal from another supplier, this can easily save up to 20%, so we do recommend that consumers take this step first.
| Eat or Heat? What to do if you cannot pay your energy bills - Friday, August 29th 2008: Together with the terrible weather, shock increases on the price of gas and electricity have been distasteful features of this summer. And while we may yet enjoy a sunny autumn season, there is unfortunately no end in sight to spiralling energy prices, as energy providers are already setting their sights on further hikes of about 20% by early next year.
So if you have just come home from your summer holiday ? here is the dismal picture of what you can look forward to:
Supplier | Date announced | Gas Increase % | Electricity Increase % | British Gas | 30th July | 35 | 9 | E.ON Energy | 21st August | 26 | 16 | EDF Energy | 25th July | 22 | 17 | Npower | 28th August | 26 | 14 | Scottish and Southern Energy | 21st August | 29.2 | 19.2 | ScottishPower | 28th August | 34 | 9 | Average |
| 28 | 14 |
From now on, UK consumers will have no option but to pay attention to their energy bills, or else these increases - when taking into account the rising cost of living overall ? will end up causing real hardship. So here is what to do if ?Eat or Heat?? could be a question for you this winter.
Get a capped rate or the cheapest discount alternative
You may be thinking that you have missed out on signing up to the cheapest fixed price energy deal ? these are limited availability tariffs that come with a guarantee against price increases.
The good news is that some suppliers have now re-entered the ring by offering between 1 to 3 years fixed Price tariffs, which are available from our comparison service
If you cannot find a capped rate that works within your budget, switch to the cheapest deal overall using our service ? there are savings available of up to ?300 on an annualised basis, but be prepared to switch again in 4-6 month?s time when you are notified of a price increase. So be an aware consumer and keep your eyes peeled for deals ? that means know where your bills are and have them ready so you can act when that price increase announcement comes through
Contact your supplier. If you are already struggling with your bills or are in arrears at this time of year (when consumption is low), then that is a sign of trouble ahead for the winter. Contact your supplier and discuss your options ? here are the hard and fast rules about being in debt to your supplier
- If you are in debt as a result of inaccurate billing, then the repayment of that debt should take as long as it took to run up the debt. For example, if you have not been billed correctly for a number of years, then your repayments should take just as long.
- Several Trust Funds exist to help people in serious difficulties ? your supplier will know about these and will be able to tell you about your eligibility. Ask your supplier for an ?entitlement check? to find out what help is available.
- If you believe you are at risk, and someone in your household is of pensionable age, disabled or chronically sick, ask your supplier to add you to the ?Priority Services Register?, which can be useful if you find yourself in debt later (if you are on that list, the supplier should offer you additional assistance).
Dealing with Disconnection
Suppliers can disconnect a home if no agreement is reached about debt settlements. The exceptions are: - Elderly or chronically sick customer may not be disconnected during the winter months (October to March)
- If a debt is with a previous supplier, not the current supplier
- If a debt is not related to your gas and electricity consumption (for example if a customer defaults on the repayments of a boiler bought from the supplier)
- When a customer is officially declared bankrupt
There is no disconnection exception for families with small children.
In the event of disconnection, suppliers will provide instructions on how to get a household reconnected. Here are the things to note:
- Reconnection charges usually apply, and reconnection is usually made only after a debt settlement has been reached.
- The supplier may suggest to install a pre-payment meter at the property in order to reconnect ? and while this may be tempting, customers should know that getting your energy via prepayment meters costs about 20% more, which will not help in reducing energy bills
- Reconnection can take a week or more, as an engineer will have to come to the property, so customers are advised to keep engaging their suppliers to avoid disconnection in the first place
You may be able to get a Crisis Loan from the Department of Work and Pension if you cannot afford the reconnection fee. Click here for more information http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/sb16/crisis.asp. This is an interest free loan from the Government. You will have to prove that you genuinely cannot afford to pay the reconnection fee, so this really is an option of last resort only.
Reducing your consumption
Paying more for each unit of gas and electricity is unavoidable given the recent price increases, but by using less energy, it is still possible to take the edge of price increases. The key is to act now, and take the necessary steps before the onset of colder weather. We recommend that you trawl through www.energysavingstrust.org.uk for ideas and also to check whether you may be eligible for a free home insulation improvement grant.
To keep in touch about future free energy benefits, you can sign up to the energywatch newsletter service. To register with energwatch click here http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/free_services/index.asp
Most important in dealing with the issue of energy debt is not to ignore it. Your supplier must offer you options if you are in trouble, and just by contacting them to talk about the problem you will be buying yourself valuable time.
| Come out as a winner in the energy wars - Tuesday, August 12th 2008: Looking back, 30th of July 2008 might well be marked as a watershed date for Britain?s energy consumers. On that date, British Gas announced an unprecedented increase on the price of gas - an astounding 35% - marking the single biggest increase ever announced by any of the big six suppliers in the UK.
Because most consumers already pay about 60% of their household energy bills on gas, British Gas? decision to raise electricity prices by ?only? 9% at the same time will do nothing to undo the damage that has been done.
The energy markets are still struggling with the aftermath of this shock. Four of the ?Big 6? energy suppliers (E.ON, npower, ScottishPower, and the Scottish and Southern Group), which together supply about 70% of the UK?s households, are furiously working their calculators, deciding by how much to up their own standard rate prices.
So while this is going on, what should energy consumers do to protect themselves?
First of all ? get angry. Suppliers are not about to reward you for loyalty. If you have not recently switched tariff or supplier, you will gain nothing by doing nothing.
Come early November, the effect of these recent price increases will be felt. And the effect will be massive ? if you have been paying ?70 a month on your gas direct debit ? the average of what we see go through our service ? then your new annual gas bill will suddenly be ?1,130. You need to ask yourself: can I really afford that? Secondly ? start looking. You may be thinking that you have missed out on signing up to the cheapest fixed price energy deal ? these are limited availability tariffs that come with a guarantee against price increases.
The good news is that ScottishPower has now re-entered the ring by offering an attractive one year price fix tariff which is available from our service (if you are currently supplier by ScottishPower you will need to contact them directly).
So now is a good time to look again. The ScottishPower offer does generally compare favourably against the current British Gas 2011 offer and the EDF Fixed Price 2009 offers (both available from the suppliers directly, but shown on our service for comparison purposes).
Thirdly ? switch tactically. If you cannot find a capped rate that works within your budget, switch to the cheapest deal overall using our service ? there are savings available of up to ?300 on an annualised basis, but be prepared to switch again in 4-6 month?s time when you are notified of a price increase. So be an aware consumer and keep your eyes peeled for deals ? that means know where your bills are and have them ready so you can act when that price increase announcement comes through.
Finally ? use less energy. When energy prices increase by 35% in one hit and there is no end in sight to future price increases, something has to give. Just visit the Energy Savings Trust website (www.est.org.uk) and follow their excellent advice ? the Energy Savings Trust really does offer the UK?s one-stop shop for energy savings advice.
And be a little sceptical about some of the advice that is being given at the moment. We have noted with great concern that the self-appointed UK consumer champion Martin Lewis (also known as the Money Savings Expert) has recently told people not to switch energy supplier.
This advice has left us scratching our head ? the last time Mr Lewis told the country not to switch early in 2008, suppliers like npower and ScottishPower were offering generous 3 year capped rates that are now long withdrawn. Customers who followed Mr Lewis? advice then totally lost out on those offers! With ScottishPower now offering a good capped rate it does not make sense to wait.
| Ecotricity increase energy prices:Ecotricity, the green electricity company has today, 1st August 2008, announced prices increase in three distribution areas. Ecotricity offer two tariffs. New Energy
Ecotricity's popular New Energy tariff offers a growing percentage of green supply offset from their own turbines, currently around 25%, with the rest coming from conventional sources. The more customers Ecotricity has, the more investment they can make in building new renewable electricity. With New Energy you pay the same as the standard price of your regional supplier.
New Energy Plus
New Energy Plus tariff is derived of green supply offset from their own wind turbines, plus additional green electricity purchased from elsewhere, making this a 100% green supply tariff. There is a small premium of 0.5p per kilowatt hour to cover the extra costs of supplying additional existing green supply. As a result of EDF Energy's recent price increase Ecotricity has reviewed electricity prices in the London, Seeboard and SWEB distribution areas. If you wish to see how these prices compare with the rest of the UK renewable energy tariffs click here. Regardless of what energy supplier you are with it is definitely worth comparing the entire energy market, especially in light of the recent price increases and the fact that many fixed and capped price deals are being quickly removed from sale. Now really is the very last chance to get yourself any kind of bargain in the energy markets. If you have gas and electricity click here. If you only have electricity click here Remember Savemeonbills.co.uk is totally free to use, 100% impartial and lists every single supplier in the UK.
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