December 11, 2004

Warm Fix from British Gas

British Gas this week has launched its latest tariff Warm Fix. Warm Fix is one of a select number of tariffs in the market today whereby the supplier is assisting in helping the consumer reduce their energy consumption.

The first company to launch this type of tariff earlier this year was Utilita, and from a pricing and contractual viewpoint the Utilita tariff wins hands down.

Both companies offer a three year contract but whereas with Utilita you can leave at the end of each year and atttract no financial penalty, British Gas charge the consumer the hefty sum of £100 to leave them. Unfortunately British Gas are no stranger to the concept of charging the consumer to leave - at the moment their capped price tariff has an unique penalty included of £30 for departing consumers.

In terms of price, Warm Fix attracts a hefty 9% premium over the existing British Gas tariffs, which incidentally are already one of the most expensive in the market.

Both companies offer the consumer energy efficiency measures such as low energy light bulbs and cavity wall insulation, helping reduce energy consumption by up to 20% over the three year period.

Having analysed both suppliers and their respective offerings Energylinx concludes that the Utilita tariff is much cheaper in all cases, offers the consumer far greater flexibility and does not attempt to impose what can only be described as draconian penalties.

Energylinx would suggest that if you are seeking to become energy efficient do look at these types of tariffs but make sure you have compared the costs and implications of each before signing up.

For further details and a free comparison of all tariffs click here.

Posted by energylinx at 08:46 AM Technorati: Energy Prices

Bookmark with del.icio.us   Bookmark with Y!MyWeb   Submit to Digg  Stumble It

British Gas lose 630,000 customers

British Gas have announced the loss of a further 630,000 customers in the second half of 2004. This comes on top of 290,000 customers in the first half of the year.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas unveiled these customer losses in their latest trading outlook for 2004.

British Gas had increased their electricity prices in September by 12.4% and 9.4% for gas placing them in unenviable situation of being one of the most expensive domestic energy suppliers in the UK.

Centrica have stated that in the light of this the British Gas profit margin will be similar to 2004 and will increase in 2006 as gross margins improve and the full-year impact of cost reductions takes effect.

Energylinx are not surprised by this latest announcement as it only takes a few minutes to compare British Gas prices with all other suppliers and see just how expensive their domestic prices currently are.

Interestingly however is the analysis of results over the last few years, shown below, which show whilst British Gas is indeed losing substantial customer numbers their profit from the retail business has increased substantially.

Energylinx would advise any existing customer of British Gas to take a few minutes to compare what is available from alternative suppliers.

Whilst wholesale gas prices quoted in October showed an expected peak of around 80p/therm in January 2005 they have now fallen back to around 40p/therm. Analysis carried out by Energylinx suggests that this is a short term drop and wholesale prices creeping up again over the next few months to around 60p/therm.

Posted by energylinx at 01:49 AM Technorati: Energy Prices

Bookmark with del.icio.us   Bookmark with Y!MyWeb   Submit to Digg  Stumble It

December 06, 2004

ScottishPower increase online energy prices

ScottishPower has announced an increase in their online domestic electricity and gas prices, effective for new customers from the 7th December 2004.

This latest price increase comes within a week of ScottishPower announcing that they were to commence charging 135,000 gas customers who are on a non-Transco gas network an extra £40 per year. Although ScottishPower do have to pay this additional charge to the Independent Gas Transporters (IGTs) it will however net ScottishPower a further £5.4 million a year.

This latest price hike, taking into account VAT and daily service charge, where applicable, means that ScottishPower Online customers will see their gas bills increase by an average 11.46% and electricity bills by 9.64% throughout the UK.

The effect on a standard domestic consumer who consume 19,050 kWhs of gas and 3,300 kWhs of electricity, operating an online account with ScottishPower can be seen in the table below:

With the domestic energy market at its most dynamic it is worth shopping around to find out whether or not you have the best deal for your home energy. The actual difference in price between the lowest and highest priced suppliers are substantial.

To check out the best deals, feel free to visit:

Dual Fuel Price Comparison

Gas Price Comparison

Electricity Price Comparison

Posted by energylinx at 06:01 AM Technorati: Energy Prices

Bookmark with del.icio.us   Bookmark with Y!MyWeb   Submit to Digg  Stumble It

December 01, 2004

Economy 7 - a new tariff is launched

Domestic consumers can now benefit from another new licensed supplier by the name of ZEST4.

ZEST4 have spent many years preparing to offer you the 'best value, most helpful' service in the market. They are:

Not an old company with a new name or "brand"
But a new company, independently owned with a fresh approach

ZEST4 are initially concentrating on domestic electricity in England and Wales although within a few months we expect to see an equally competitive gas tariff launched by them.

Both Standard or Economy 7 electricity are available, although calculations carried out by Energylinx suggest that ZEST4 may offer one of the most competitive Economy 7 tariffs on the market.

Energylinx welcomes this new entrant to the domestic energy market and looks forward to reporting on their progress over the next few months.

If you are curently using Economy 7 and wish to see whether ZEST4 can offer you a competitive price feel free to check out their prices at http://www.energylinx.co.uk/energycalc.html?db=electric&greencalc=no

Posted by energylinx at 03:29 PM Technorati: Energy Prices

Bookmark with del.icio.us   Bookmark with Y!MyWeb   Submit to Digg  Stumble It