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Ebico

Making your money go further
GeoffF100
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Ebico

#176777

Postby GeoffF100 » October 28th, 2018, 7:24 pm

I gave been using Ebico for my electricity and gas for some years now. Flat prices per unit, no standing charge, no discounts, no additional charges, no nonsense. I have got a letter from them saying that the price cap makes the tariff unviable. They have introduced standing charges, and the prices per unit have increased too. My projected annual costs on Ebico Standard are £89 for electricity and £1,066 for gas. I can save £7.16 on my electricity by going to Ebico Zero Green Fixed V2, and £193.28 by going to Ebico Prime 12 Fixed V2. That looks good, but the ethical angle is reduced to Ebico being non profit making. I am scratching my head.

PinkDalek
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Re: Ebico

#176779

Postby PinkDalek » October 28th, 2018, 8:09 pm

GeoffF100 wrote:That looks good, but the ethical angle is reduced to Ebico being non profit making. I am scratching my head.


As this is LBYM and unless I'm misunderstanding, go for the cheapest option. If you feel flush, you can always make a charitable donation to an ethical charity of your choice (with the benefit to the charity of the Gift Aided uplift and personal tax relief if it applies to your situation).

£89 or less for annual electricity looks great. Do you use candles or some other lighting option, such as gas lights?

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176785

Postby GeoffF100 » October 28th, 2018, 8:51 pm

I expect that I can do better than Ebico for the gas. I do not expect that green tariffs are the cheapest. Any money that I save will almost inevitably go to charity in the end. To be honest, the thing I liked most about Ebico was that the price was reasonable, and I did not have to anything. It did not matter whether Ebico was cheapest, because if I was paying more it would benefit someone poorer than me. Switching electricity and gas suppliers always seemed to cause problems.

I mostly use LED bulbs, but I still have a couple of older energy saving bulbs in use. I also use a desktop PC, and have a fridge and freezer. There is also the pump for the central heating system.

Is Money Saving Expert a good site to use for switching?

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176810

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 7:42 am

It is also worth mentioning that Ebico has slipped from the top three for customer satisfaction to well down the table.

There are a huge number of switching sites. When I ask Google for a comparison of comparison sites it just gives me more comparison sites. When I find an article that appears to be what I want, it just links me to another comparison site. It does my head in. How do people cope?

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Re: Ebico

#176813

Postby jackdaww » October 29th, 2018, 8:04 am

i signed up with BRILLIANT last year , renewal due in december , will watch with interest .

so far no issues - good .(not brilliant). :lol:

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176848

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 9:55 am

I misread Ebico's letter. Electricity 1,286 kWh, and gas 14,658 kWh.

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176853

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 10:31 am

I have just tried Money Saving Expert. Ebico's suggested tariffs appear to be the cheapest on the market for me.

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176873

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 12:06 pm

Ebico's cheapest tariffs for my usage are Ebico Zero Green Fixed V2 and Ebico Prime 12 Fixed V2.

Stompa
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Re: Ebico

#176893

Postby Stompa » October 29th, 2018, 1:19 pm

GeoffF100 wrote:I have just tried Money Saving Expert. Ebico's suggested tariffs appear to be the cheapest on the market for me.

Given your usage, I'm rather surprised by that, though perhaps you are specifying some particular tariff features or whatever?

I've read that it can sometimes work out cheaper to use separate gas and electricity suppliers these days, so that might be worth looking into (particularly since your electricity usage is pretty low).

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176930

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 4:46 pm

I had found the tariffs in a footnote on the Ebico site. My calculations did not tally with those in the letter. I have spoken to Ebico. It was an 0800 number, but I was kept on hold for 20 minutes. I was told that the numbers in the tariff were the correct ones. The lady worked out the projections using slightly more up to date data than mine, and her calculations tallied with mine. I also pointed out that the £22.50 online discount mentioned on the Ebico website did not quite tally with the standing charges in the tariffs. Not great, but hopefully they will get the bills right.

I have gone over to the cheapest Ebico tariffs. My projected annual spend is about £890. It looks as though I am getting a good deal, particularly as the tariffs are green.

Money Saving Expert gave roughly the correct answer for the tariffs concerned as current expenditure, but said that my renewal on those tariffs would be larger. That appears to be nonsense.

I wish it were easier!

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Re: Ebico

#176951

Postby midnightcatprowl » October 29th, 2018, 6:43 pm

Hello Geoff,

I was faced by a similar decision this week. I would just stress in response to someone else who replied that though this IS LBYM, LBYM is nevertheless not necessarily about 'the cheapest' but about living below 'Your' own personal means i.e about staying solvent with hopefully something to save against future needs.

Until that notice came through from Ebico I was signed up for electricity from Good Energy and Gas from Ebico. I chose Good Energy for the electricity because of their very sound 'green' (as opposed to 'greenwash') approach. They are not the cheapest supplier but they are good to deal with and their principles are in line with my own. I chose Ebico because of the lack of a standing charge - probably not the best financial decision for me but I could afford it and earlier in life the standing charge issue added considerably to my personal woes in attempting to keep warm in what were then rented flats and bedsits.

I have been wondering for a while about switching to Good Energy for gas as well given that they now are involved in gas generation from non hole in the ground and from carbon neutral sources. Even if at present it is a small proportion, it is growing but until last week I stuck with Ebico.

The notification last week rather changed things and in the end I decided (because it is within my means) to switch to Good Energy for gas as well. I switched to their fixed until 31st March 2020 tariff for gas and switched the electricity to the fixed tariff until 31st March 2020 as well. Is this the cheapest option? No it is not. Is it within my means? Yes it is at present. When the deal comes to an end in 2020 maybe I will have to think again or maybe I'll feel able to continue with the same supplier.

Lynn

GeoffF100
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Re: Ebico

#176956

Postby GeoffF100 » October 29th, 2018, 7:08 pm

Curiouser and curiouser. I have received my new agreement. I have been given a £22.50 Online Discount in addition to a lower standing charge for no paper statements (which was a similar amount), despite the tariff on the Ebico website saying "not applicable" for Discounts and additional charges. That makes the projection in my agreement tally with that in the letter. The projected cost comes down to £867.50. That is well below any of the MSE projections for Ebico. I believe that I do have a good deal here.

Part of the reason why Ebico is cheap for me is that I can use a zero standing charge tariff for my low electricity consumption and a tariff with a standing charge for my larger gas consumption.


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