Compare Gas Prices for a Better Deal

Jan 11 2010 By Damien Porter

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With the cold weather well and truly here, we’re all thinking about how we can heat our homes without parting with a fortune. The reality is that - costing on average £700 a year - many UK gas bills are still far higher than they should be, despite the discovery of new gas fields in the Gulf and the US.

No wonder many of us are turning to fuel comparison sites to compare gas prices from different providers and find the best deal.

These sites make their money in commission from gas companies who pay them for each customer who switches.

Many comparison sites offer incentives such as prizes and cashback if you switch provider after comparing gas prices through them. Some of these freebies can be more attractive if you are switching to a new dual fuel arrangement, under which you receive gas and electricity from the same provider.

However, be sure that a change is genuinely in your long-term interests - especially with a dual fuel package, which does not necessarily always give you the best deal.

If you think you’ve found a better deal and you decide to change supplier once you’ve compared gas prices, the switch should go smoothly. The new provider will take care of the changeover, and you just have to take a final meter reading.

If you’re shopping around for your gas, timing is crucial. If you contrast different gas prices, and then make a move while prices are shifting, you could well end up paying more. It’s worth checking to see when any potential new supplier last changed their prices.

If they haven’t moved for a while, that could indicate that their costs might be about to fluctuate. Once one major supplier alters its charges, others tend to follow.

At the moment, it seems to be a fairly even playing field. Although each major supplier has lowered their prices at least once in the last year, there haven’t been any significant changes for a while.

So it could be a good time to make a canny move and compare gas provider - get it right and you could shave up to £150 off your annual bill. It’s certainly worth considering comparing gas prices and switching if you’ve never done so before.

There are plenty of things you can do to keep your fuel costs low. When you compare gas prices, find out whether the new provider offers cheaper payments for monthly direct debit payments, or for choosing online billing, which can be up to 10% cheaper.

It also generally saves you money to go for billed payments rather than a pre-paid meter.

While looking at different providers, you may also want to find out whether there are grants available for installing energy saving measures such as insulation.

When you are looking at potential new providers, you also need to decide whether to go for a capped tariff or one that is fixed for a set time. Traditionally, customers have paid for this through prices at up to 15% more than standard rates, seeing it as insurance policy against price hikes they could ill afford.

At the moment, however, some of the best deals available are on capped tariffs, so it really does pay to compare prices for gas and shop around.

Just bear in mind that some providers apply exit charges if you switch again before the end of the period you’ve agreed, so a capped rate is a long-term arrangement. This can be anything between one year and three years.

There really are no hard and fast rules when it comes to staying warm throughout the winter. Much depends on the kind of home you have, how you use your fuel and how you pay for it. What works for one householder may not work for everyone.

By bearing a few simple points in mind, you can bag the best possible deal for you when you compare gas prices