Saving Money with the Energy Switch Guarantee

Having gone back to work part time after having the girls,  I have become increasingly aware of just how much money we seem to spend on household bills. The direct debits that leave our bank accounts seem to be pretty endless – gas, electricity, water, council tax, car insurance – the list goes on.

I have always read about people switching energy suppliers to save money, but if I am totally honest we have never had the energy nor the inclination to do it – I mean how much money could it really save us?? I was under the impression that switching energy suppliers would be a huge inconvenience, and when I have so little time to myself anyway, I didn’t want to waste that precious time jumping through hoops only to save myself a measley pound or two. How wrong was I?!

I was recently asked by Mumsnet if I wanted to consider switching energy suppliers using the help of the Energy Switch Guarantee, and as our bills (and energy usage!) seem to be higher than ever at the moment, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go.

What is the Energy Switch Guarantee?

Energy providers that have signed up to the Energy Switch Guarantee agree to handle the whole transfter process for customers that decide to switch from one provider to another, meaning that all you have to do is start the simple instruction and the rest is done without you needing to lift a finger.

To make the switch more simple, the whole transfer process is handled by the provider you are switching to, meaning that essentially you don’t have to do any of the running around – it guarantees a reliable and hassle-free switch in just twenty-one days.

Here’s the best part:

• You can continue using your existing energy provider right up to the point that you switch – so you won’t be without electricity or gas at any point. This is quite reassuring when the April weather is changing on an almost daily basis!
• Under the Energy Switch Guarantee, in the unlikely event of any problem occurring, you have the reassurance that your new provider will work to resolve any issue swiftly and efficiently
• If you change your mind within 14 days you simply remain with your existing provider
• Any credit from your old energy account will be refunded within 14 days of your final bill

Our Experience

We used the Energy Switch Guarantee website to guide us through the switching process. The instructions were incredibly easy to follow, and took far less time than I imagined.

First, and quite amusingly was the biggest challenge in the whole experience – getting details on our energy usage for the year. I am incredibly disorganised, and whilst we had received annual statements from our previous supplier, we had opted for paperless billing. I couldn’t remember my online password for our account, and as such, had to give them a quick call to reset my password so I could log in and see the kWH of energy we had used over the last 12 months. Once this part was done, the rest was very much plain sailing!

For those of you who are a little more organised than me, you will be able to find all the information you need in terms of our tariffs and usage on your latest bill, but if for any reason you don’t have this information, you can simply give your energy supplier a call and they can advise.

The next step was to compare the market to review the best energy deals – we used the price comparison tool that The Energy Switch Guarantee website recommended on the Citizens advice website. This involved a very basic questionnaire asking to confirm a few details (largely the amount of energy you have used and your address).

The price comparison tool then provides a list of all the different energy providers – with those who are signed up to the Energy Switch Guarantee are clearly marked with a recognisable logo.

Finally, you select your new supplier. We chose to switch to Tonik Energy, who saved us a massive £289 a year on our current bills. I have to admit I was a little bit gobsmacked by this – with our monthly bills reducing from £92 a month to just £66!!! When you think that money could be put towards a family holiday it definitely makes the couple of minutes spent following the process worthwhile! It’s worth noting that there were a couple of slightly cheaper options, but they didn’t offer the energy switch guarantee so I was more than happy to pay a few pounds more to have the process managed by them. I am also familiar with Tonik as a Midlands based supplier.

To switch, I simply popped over to their website, entered my details and in just a few minutes the process was complete – you can contact your chosen supplier (signed up to the energy switch guarantee) either by phone or online.

The rest is managed entirely by them!!! I got an email straight away from Tonik confirming what would happen next.

Time line is as follows:

• Day 1 – Your new provider will notify your current provider that you are moving and send details of your new energy supply agreement for your review.
• You have 14 days to change your mind after notifying of your intention to switch. Assuming you continue, your new and old energy suppliers will work together and use the same energy reading so you will never be charged twice for the same energy.
• Day 21 – Your switch is complete – your account is transferred to your new provider and your old account will be closed. Following the switch, your old provider will send you a final bill no later than 6 weeks after your switching date. If your account is in credit, this will be refunded within 14 days of this point. 

Overall I am incredibly happy with the process of switching with a provider under the Energy Switch Guarantee – the process was a LOT more straightforward than I anticipated, and would be even easier if you were a bit more organised than me and easily had your energy statements to hand.

The whole process on my part from start to finish took literally less than 15 minutes – and to spend 15 minutes to save almost £300 is a pretty impressive hourly rate!! 🙂

I love the fact there was a 14 day cooling off period in case I changed my mind, and with the exception of confirming meter readings to the new supplier we haven’t needed to do a thing! It can go a little quiet in the interim period, but emails are sent throughout the process and to advise you of your official switch date, as well as details of your new online account (the latter may vary by provider).

Having eaten my words and found it incredibly #simpletoswitch, I would definitely recommend reviewing how much you are spending and switching suppliers with the Energy Switch Guarantee – the question is, can you afford NOT to????

*This is a collaborative post*