From time to time and probably after just receiving a hefty energy bill, your thoughts go to switching to a different energy supplier. For many that’s as far as it goes and the acceptance of perhaps paying a higher bill than necessary is seen as the price to pay for what you feel is the likely switching hassle.

That’s understandable but with many suppliers subscribing to a voluntary scheme called the ‘The Energy Switch Guarantee’ there is more confidence that any switch will go through smoothly.

Under the guarantee, the providers make clear that you can switch your energy account from one energy provider to another in a simple, safe and hassle-free way. It is also made clear that in the event of any problems, the new provider will contact you as soon as possible and will be responsible for putting the matter right.

Assuming you have decided to find out whether switching energy providers will save you money, you have the following options:

You can contact energy providers directly and find out what tariffs are available. This is very time consuming and you will not necessarily save as much as you could.
Contact an energy advisor, details of recommended advisers may be held by your local council or community organisation. This is a good option for anyone that doesn’t have a computer or feels confident about whether they are doing the right thing.
Use an auto switching service. If you fancy the idea of switching but don’t like the hassle of regularly have to check whether there are better tariffs out there, then this could be for you. They do the work on your behalf but as you would expect there are pros and cons. Check out the auto switching article from ‘Which Magazine’ before you go down this route.
Use an online energy switching comparison website. There are lots to choose from, but you should be aware that you may not always be given the tariffs of all energy suppliers. This is usually because the company that owns the energy switching comparison website, may only list suppliers that offer commission.

We currently use the ‘Which Magazine’ and ‘Citizens Advice’ energy switching comparison websites. And this is partly to with the fact that ‘Which’ is an independent social charitable enterprise, whilst Citizens Advice is a registered charity, and from either comparison site you will be given details of all tariffs that can reduce your energy bill. Also included are tariffs from energy providers that don’t offer commission.

Importantly, there is no request to input your telephone number or email address. This means that you won’t receive any follow up calls or emails.

Whichever of the above options you choose, you will need some information that can be usually found on your latest statement. If you don’t have your statement to hand, you can still obtain a quote based on your existing regular payments, but it’s difficult to know for sure what the possible savings are.

To obtain an online quote it will be useful to have the following:

Your address including postcode: for example, 30 Any Street, M5 5ZZ
Your current energy supplier: for example, EON
The name of your current tariff: for example, EON Energy Plan
How you currently pay: for example, monthly or quarterly direct debit, pay on receipt of bill, prepayment meter.

Note: paying by Direct Debit usually saves money.

Whether you have an economy 7 meter: Answer, Yes or No. If you answer yes, then you will be given the option of inputting the percentage of energy used at the cheaper night time rate or the exact amount of energy used both during the night and day.
Your gas and electricity Consumption: you will be given a choice as to what to input. The choices are:

How much you spend in pounds per year/ month/quarter or how much energy you are estimated to use (calculated in kilowatt hours) over the next 12 months.

What type of tariff do you want to be on. For example, tariffs you can switch today, variable rates, fixed price tariffs, tariffs with no exit or termination charges, online only tariffs, paper bills, mobile, direct debit or pay on receipt of bill).

As mentioned earlier, all of the relevant information to obtain a quote will be found on your most recent statement.

Your final step is to click the ‘Compare now’ button.

You will now see a list of energy plans that could save your money. It’s tempting to go for the cheapest but if something goes wrong then you may want to give any energy suppliers with poor review ratings a miss.

Green tariffs will also be illustrated and if you switch to a truly 100% renewable energy tariff, your carbon footprint for home energy use will be nil.

Also shown will be exit fees, customer service ratings and whether the energy supplier participates in the Energy Switch Guarantee scheme. The Citizens Advice website also lets you filter the options to only include those energy companies that are part of the ‘Warm Home Discount’ scheme.

If any of the tariffs seem right for you, then you can usually choose to proceed online or switch by phone. If those options are not available then you will need to contact the energy provider directly.

Note 1: As with other energy switching sites, no information is included as to the financial stability of a particular energy supplier. Although customers are covered in the event of an energy supplier going bust, it may a while before you are transferred to another supplier (unlikely to be your choice and may also be more expensive).

Note 2: If after receiving various quotes you are still vary of switching over to a new energy provider, then it is worthwhile checking up on whether any cheaper tariffs are available with your existing supplier.

Your most recent statement will inform you as to what the cheapest tariff was at the point in time your statement was issued, but of course there may now be a cheaper one on offer.

Anything else

Whether you decide to switch energy providers or not, our advice is to note down how much energy you have used in the 12 months. This is sometimes shown on your most recent statement, but if not, you will have to make the calculation yourself.

The information is useful as in 12 months’ time you will be able to compare your usage. If you have made an effort to reduce your usage by carrying out a few energy saving measures, you will see what energy savings have been made. If utility prices haven’t increased, you will also reduce your bill. That’s got to be a good thing.

Good luck