Have energy prices fallen? No – but average usage has

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a small drop in the prices we give for energy tariffs on MSE and in our weekly email. In September, for example, when we wrote about energy tariffs in the weekly email for our collective, we said the average cost of standard deals from the big six stood at £1,151. Yet...

We’re changing the cashback you get for switching energy supplier

Unfortunately we’re dropping the amount of cashback we give to anyone who switches energy through us. As always, we like to be transparent, so here are our reasons why. Whenever you switch energy provider via us, we get paid by the company you switch to (though this doesn’t mean you pay more – if you switched directly...

Smart meter stopped working? It’s probably because you switched

So you get a call from your energy supplier, offering you a new ‘smart’ meter that can take the hassle out of paying your bills. It can send automatic meter readings – no more estimated bills, and no more need to give meter readings online or over the phone. You also get a neat little wireless device...

Found a better energy tariff? You CAN discard your fixed tariff and avoid hefty exit fees

Fixed energy tariffs are frequently cheaper than suppliers’ standard variable tariffs, which makes it a good idea to keep moving from fix to fix. But what do you do when a super-cheap tariff is launched and you’re facing early termination fees on your current tariff? You could actually still grab a slice of the action and avoid...

How to switch your parents in 10 minutes – and make an energy saving

Last week, I switched my mum in under 10 minutes flat. Don’t worry, this isn’t a rather public display of parental disownment, I’m talking about switching energy providers. Ever since I joined MSE last year I’ve been dropping larger and larger hints to my parents that they should review all household bills, as I was pretty sure...