Search:

Why should I switch suppliers? Can I win the Gas and Electricity price wars?

We can all benefit from the current situation in the UK energy market but what should we do, who should we choose?

Our attitudes towards switching suppliers leaves us open to exploitation by the huge Energy companies who have our misguided loyalty. We aren't happy with the situation yet we do nothing.

Are we all guilty of switching off as soon as we hear about a cheaper supplier or are we just that lazy? I hear some people talk of their fear of switching suppliers in case the prices are hiked up on them or their previous supplier becomes cheaper.

We think nothing about driving an extra few miles to find a cheaper service station to fuel our cars, which probably saves us nothing as we've just wasted more fuel getting there and possible caused minor damage to the engine by sending all the rubbish from the bottom of the tank through the engine, would we make the same efforts to save money on our Gas and Electrity? Don't be ridiculous!

The big suppliers who we give our loyalty to are simply making money from our laziness and ignorance. We think nothing of spending hours ringing around insurance companies or surfing the net for better deals for our mobile phones, we'll even consider switching bank accounts for a better deal or £100 cashback. With our ability to find the best deals why is it that we seem to always overlook one of the most simplest ways of saving money.

We can't blame the suppliers, there are some great deals out there to be had, even with great customer service figures too - but as the Great British public carry on moaning about the cost of Gas and Electricity, we still refrain from switching. After all - what could we moan about then!

I think that the problem is that when the Energy market was deregulated, the whole country was inundated by a knock at the door - just as we were tucking in to our dinner! Hardcore door to door salesmen and women (or 'Field Sales Consultants') were sent out with two missions. One was to interupt your Shepherds Pie, and the other was to convince you that by changing that little name on the top of your Gas or Electric bill - you would be rich enough to buy a Fleet of Ferari's or purchase that island in the Bahama's you've had your eyes on! Ok - an exageration but people were mislead to the point where TV's Watchdog would have enough content to run many shows relating to disgruntled customers who switched with such sales tactics. Of course there are much tighter regulations in place to look after the consumer these days and in fact, everything is now stacked in the favour of the poor little consumer yet many of us still do nothing.

Is this still in our minds? Or is it just an excuse to do nothing. The fact remains that millions of UK homes are wasting £millions every year on over priced energy bills and we seem to be happy to carry on trying to ignore the fact that Mr lower priced supplier can save us up to and over £330 per year. Imagine if our house or car insurance quotes came out that much cheaper, we'd bite their hands so fast that we could get arrested for a hand biting related incident (not sure if this is an actual crime in the UK but I wouldn't be surprised). Of course the crazy part of it is that many of these lower priced suppliers actually offer a better level of customer service than some of the more expensive suppliers according to figures found on many price comparison sites such as Money Angels.

So, can we win from the Gas and Electricity price wars? Of course we can, we just have to do something about it ourselves and stop waiting for a miraculous price decrease that may never happen. My advice is switch now and if another company offers a better deal, switch again and again, and again. We are only ever have to give our suppliers 28 days notice so take back control and be a more assertive consumer.

Article Source: http://www.topicinfo.com

Switch suppliers and save money with Lewis' free comparison service.
You can get a unique content version of this article.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Personal Finance Articles Via RSS!

Additional Articles From - Home | Finance | Personal Finance

	Print This Article
	Post Comment
	Add To Favorites
	Email to Friends
	Ezine Ready

Submit Articles
Member Login
Top Authors
Most Popular Articles
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds

About Us
Submit Link
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service