Switching utilities - has anyone done it?

[Tanga]

After getting some great advice on MN about cutting my budget I want to check that I'm getting the best deal for my gas and electricity. Currently we're paying over £200 a month for both, and although we have a 5 bed house with 3 adults, a teen and a 3 YO that seems excessive to me!

I've tried the moneysavingexpert site but I'm just boggled - can anyone talk me through it step by step as if I'm 3?

You need to access a comparison website - where they compare the possile options for you. this is one that I think is fairly reliable. You put in your postcode and a raft of other details, and they tell you what you can save. You will have to have your consumption figures to hand, so worth assembling those before you even start. Also you need to know your provider and billing plan. In my experience its not worth switching for small savings, but if you find there is a big difference you could be onto a winner. Start with your consumption. Do you have those to hand? For example, ours is about 18000 kwH for gas and 7000 kwh for electricity (which I know is appallingly high) per year.

Thousands of people switch their gas and electricity every week. As JaninLondon said above just choose one of the switching sites such as www.uSwitch.com or Money Supermarket and they will do it all for you.

Your best bet is took look out at least 6 months of your latest bills and use these to enter your figures into the comparison sites. You will get a more accurate idea of the savings you could make this way.

This site, www.energyaverage.co.uk is quite useful if you want to compare how much gas and electricity your family is using as compared to other similar families.

Ooh, thankyou, great link - I'm forever telling my family they use far too much electricity.

If I go through a comparison site but don't switch, then go to the cheapest supplier through Quidco, will I get the cashback?

Yes no reason why you can't find the cheapest supplier and then go through Quidco. Just make sure that the supplier tariff is the same one as on the comparison site. They have so many with similar names it can be confusing. Last thing you want to do is amke a few quid on cashback and lose big time on the wrong gas and electricity tariff.

As for the link you are welcome. Already used the site and discovered my two kids are using way too much electricity with all their gadgets !

Thank you - I think I just saved £50 a month! Can't believe how easy that was, wish I'd done it ages ago.

Tanga - excellent work! Just in case anyone comes back to this thread in the future, may be an idea to use your last 12 months of bills, as your summer usage will be considerably different from winter, and you need to work out the average using both high and low usage seasons, so six months might not cover it. Also beware of lock in deals, which lots of the companies are now touting, but which will end up costing you money to get out of.