Gas Cooking
The news this week that British Gas is going to
charge customers a fiver if they fail to pay their bills on time should come as
no surprise. After all, it has to find the money somewhere to keep its promise
to cut gas prices this spring, writes Paul Lewis
The fine, which starts on March 1, will apply to any of its five million
customers who pay their quarterly bill by cheque or cash if they are more than
28 days late with the payment.
But dont get mad, get even. Anyone who still buys their gas from BG is throwing
money down the drain every day. It is the most expensive supplier of gas
though not of electricity for almost all its ten million customers. Changing
to another supplier is easy.
According to Energywatch, the consumer watchdog for gas and electricity, people
who have never changed supplier could save £100 a year on their gas bill and £45
on their electricity by finding the cheapest service for them. The biggest of
the companies that make their living helping us to switch say it is rather more
up to £325 a year altogether. But whatever the figure changing supplier saves
money.
Energywatch has recently tightened up its code of practice for the switching
service companies so you can rely on any of the twelve services the watchdog has
approved. It lists them
here . www.TheEnergyShop.com
has commented in Saga about energy prices and you can get a £20 cashback by
using its service. But they should all give you the same result and help you
change.
The advice they give is most accurate if you have electricity and gas bills for
the last year and put in the details of what you have used. All the services
will encourage you to pay by monthly direct debit that always gives you the
most savings. If you want to pay quarterly you can make that choice but you will
end up with a bigger bill than if you agree to monthly direct debit.
The new supplier will take over in six to eight weeks. The gas and electricity
is of course just the same, it comes through the same pipes and wires and there
are no safety issues. The only thing that changes is the name on the bill and
the amount at the bottom which will be less.
But whatever you do switch soon. The cold weather may be just beginning.
PS. In case you feel sorry for British Gas, consider this. The company was
itself fined £5000 this week by the telephone watchdog ICSTIS for keeping
customers of its Click Energy tariff on hold on a premium rate line, which cost
them 75p a minute. It has been told to refund them, behave better in future, and
pay ICSTIS £5000. Ah.
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