Monday, 10 September 2012

How You Can Receive The Lowest Possible Gas & Electric Bills

By Paula Dufries


Trying to find the cheapest energy supplier is sometimes more difficult than you'd think it would be. Very often you will be limited by things way outside your control. In the USA, for example, your options are will often be based on the utility companies working in your community. Very often this means that someone in Alabama will have totally different challenges to an equivalent person living in Tennessee, South Carolina or New Mexico. It will invariably also emerge that all of them will be paying different amounts of dollars for their electric and gas.

In Britain, the market is wider, with plenty of utility operators able and willing to supply gas and electricity direct to householders. Nevertheless, most energy consumed in England, Scotland and Wales is bought from what are called the "Big Six" Energy Companies. The six are: EDF Energy, British Gas, E.ON Energy, npower, Scottish Power and SSE. These six combined supply over fifty million households in the United Kingdom.

In most cases, an internet search is the key finding your best and most suitable energy supplier. Apart from the information on each of the energy company's own websites, there are plenty of other sites online that provide more information and often will compare deals for you. But be careful: sometimes these "information sites" are not what they appear and are designed to sell you on one supplier or another. You really must checkout each site and decide for yourself whether it is truly independent or not.

It is now usual in many countries for one utility company to provide your gas and electricity. In some cases, they can give you your land-line telephone and broadband, as well. There are pros and cons with getting everything from the one source. On the plus side is ease of operation and that you get to know one way of doing things. On the negative side, the chances are that there may well be companies out there who can provide part of the package for less money.

Is finding the cheapest energy supplier your only goal? You may want to ask yourself some or all of the following questions: How necessary is a loyalty scheme? How is your potential provider rated for service? If you need a repair how efficient will they be at fixing it? Can the energy supplier put up your rate without giving you notice? Do you take account of the eco-friendly credentials of the company you are looking at? Would you prefer to get your gas and/ or electricity from a supplier that is committed to sourcing renewable energy?

One trick that often works is to get your current supplier to reduce their tariffs. Once you have found a better deal somewhere else, call or write to your current energy provider and let them know the figures. There's a lot of messing about changing over accounts and energy companies will want to keep you and save the admin costs involved in processing your change. It is very possible that they will offer you a cheaper rate in return for your loyalty.




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