http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/finance-news/british-gas-launces-new-tracker-style-websaver-1-energy-tariff/ The latest personal finance news and information Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:04:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/finance-news/british-gas-launces-new-tracker-style-websaver-1-energy-tariff/#comment-598 British Gas launches new WebSaver 2 energy tariff | MoneyHighStreet.com Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:22:59 +0000 http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/?p=841#comment-598 [...] new energy tariff replaces the current WebSaver 1 tariff and it has to be said is not as [...] [...] new energy tariff replaces the current WebSaver 1 tariff and it has to be said is not as [...]

]]> http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/finance-news/british-gas-launces-new-tracker-style-websaver-1-energy-tariff/#comment-513 Nick G Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:17:50 +0000 http://www.moneyhighstreet.com/?p=841#comment-513 The comparison with tracker mortgages is bit ridiculous! Mortgages offer the benchmark of a Bof E rate. The benchmark here is the BG standard rate, which is whateve they want it to be!. It went up 20% in July and hasn't come down despite a 40% drop in wholesale prices since then (for each month September 08 through October 09, not just spot prices). BG's rate in turn is about 20 higher than anyone elses, so web tracker rate still puts you 10% worse off. If BG did a monthly price reflective (up or down) of wholesale rates then that would be equivalent to a tracker mortgage. Why won't they give you one? One, the metering is from the steam age. Two, switching sites wouldn't make any money telling people to stick to the default option of a transparent index price. So suppliers have confusopoly pricing, with discounts for DD, discounts for dual fuel, discounts for even numbered Tuesday in months with an R in them etc etc. But who enables this pricing: switching sites who confuse customers into thinking that buying energy is like comparing mortgages, or credit cards or phone bills. So they collect a commission that you don't see on their web site! And BG don't give customers a discount for going direct, how odd is that? Do an internet search for a switching site in the US. None exist! Why? Because the price goes up and down each month. Energy prices are no different from petrol prices: the same everywhere and frequently changing. The comparison with tracker mortgages is bit ridiculous! Mortgages offer the benchmark of a Bof E rate. The benchmark here is the BG standard rate, which is whateve they want it to be!. It went up 20% in July and hasn’t come down despite a 40% drop in wholesale prices since then (for each month September 08 through October 09, not just spot prices). BG’s rate in turn is about 20 higher than anyone elses, so web tracker rate still puts you 10% worse off. If BG did a monthly price reflective (up or down) of wholesale rates then that would be equivalent to a tracker mortgage. Why won’t they give you one? One, the metering is from the steam age. Two, switching sites wouldn’t make any money telling people to stick to the default option of a transparent index price. So suppliers have confusopoly pricing, with discounts for DD, discounts for dual fuel, discounts for even numbered Tuesday in months with an R in them etc etc.
But who enables this pricing: switching sites who confuse customers into thinking that buying energy is like comparing mortgages, or credit cards or phone bills. So they collect a commission that you don’t see on their web site! And BG don’t give customers a discount for going direct, how odd is that? Do an internet search for a switching site in the US. None exist! Why? Because the price goes up and down each month. Energy prices are no different from petrol prices: the same everywhere and frequently changing.

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