The process for switching energy suppliers is now uniform across all suppliers and designed to be stress-free and simple. Even so, there are factors that, if you are not prepared for, could put you off switching. Customers with good credit scores and a sound payment history will have no trouble switching suppliers but new customers are sometimes asked to provide a guarantor. There may be other scenarios you might have to deal with.
Different Scenarios
While switching power suppliers you may be given one or more of the following options:
● Regular Payment Plan
● Pre-Payment Meter
If you are given multiple options, you are free to choose the one that best suits. In the case of only one available option, ask for an alternative. If there isn’t one, look elsewhere for your energy. You can certainly to go sites like https://www.simplyswitch.com, where you can compare different suppliers and all their packages as well as requirements. Nevertheless, it pays to know a bit about what to do when you find yourself in different situations.
Regular Payment Plan
In a regular payment plan, you pay your bill in equal monthly installments based on your estimated use. You can go into credit or debit if your use is more or less than the estimated amount in this payment plan.
It is essential to read all the terms and conditions before signing up the regular payment plan. The terms must include how to rectify credits or debits. Before opting for regular payment plan your supplier will carry out a credit check. So, apply for this payment plan only if you have a good credit history since failing a credit check will negatively affect your credit scores.
Prepayment Meters
Prepayment meters are operated with tokens, keys or cards and you top up your meter before using the energy so you are paying in advance. This is an expensive way of payment since there are fewer discounts available. Steps have been taken recently to make it a much fairer option and some suppliers do offer a dual fuel discount. It is the best strategy for staying within a budget and limit your use. It is ideal for people with irregular incomes or where several adult consumers share a house. It is also the only option for new customers with no credit history or poor credit scores.
Conclusion
Whichever option for paying for your energy you choose it is essential that you do your research and shop around, especially online. Smaller suppliers working independently are able to adapt more readily to market demands and offer different discounts and incentives for switching that may not be available from other larger suppliers. Larger companies tend to revise tariffs and discounts to stay inline with each other and therefore collectively make revisions to tariffs, packages and discounts, about once a year. There are saving out there but sometimes it takes spending a couple of hours checking out comparison sites to find them.