Not identical but both the standing charges and unit costs are regulated and will be similar on their default variable tariffs.
Octopus is slightly cheaper for electricity but that may only be for existing customers
Yeah, they announced that they were raising prices to a little under the price cap - bit more of a discount for existing customers. I believe they were the only company to do that (or at least, they were definitely the first).
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I was surprised when I moved into my new home, that British Gas, do bill me monthly for exactly the energy I use because they didnāt do this on my first year with them on the smart meters that they installed at my previous home. At that time in 2019 into 2020, I was on a fixed monthly direct debit which they subsequently increased part way through the year without seeking my permission or approval, even though I was at the time, in credit. I got around getting into an overly large credit with BG, by cancelling my direct debit with them about six weeks before the contract ended, and that was at the recommendation of their own accounts department! On leaving BG for So Energy, I believe I ended up owing BG about Ā£13 or something like that. Had I been in credit, even BG admitted to me at the time, it could have taken weeks for me to get my money back. Being in debit at end of contract, removed that issue, they got their money from me immediately and I didnāt have to wait weeks for any credit that might have been due had I not cancelled that D/D.
Personally, I donāt want to pay a fixed monthly direct debit if it doesnāt actually cover the energy Iām using, or, causes me to pay such an amount I end up in huge credit. Iām more than comfortable with budgeting all year round, so I donāt feel the need to pay well above what I need to in summer to even things out over the winter period. I guess we all budget differently.
Clearly as @Dan explains, heās happy to pay a tariff that charges a fixed monthly amount, but itās not exactly entirely fixed, because clearly depending on what your meter is reporting, your energy company will just hike that monthly payment to cover any projected shortfall. If that happens, then the customer really has no right to complain because the energy they are using clearly has to be paid for. Arguing the toss that the fixed monthly amount intially started at Ā£X amount only to end up doubling part way through the contract, isnāt valid, the energy still has to be paid for and itās your smart meter thatās dobbing you in 
I can therefore see why some people are put off from getting smart meters because it means they as the customer, canāt under report their actual useage, or they just accept a possible underestimated bill, and there are plenty of people out there who will do this. Iāve seen a former neighbours home entered under warrant to have their meters replaced with payment meters because of gross under reporting of actual use and a consistent failure to cooperate with their energy company to allow the meter readers in. It rarely ends well.
We should of course remember also, that tariffs do depend very much on where one lives in the country, with some regions seemingly cheaper to supply than others. I canāt ever see myself turning back to any of the much smaller energy suppliers that are still surviving, purely on the basis that you have no idea if theyāre going to be around from one week to the next.
So, is there anyone reading this that has managed to actually find that amazing fixed deal for 12/24 months? or are most people now just getting by on their supplier SVT?
@Topsy2
I was āfortunateā to start a 2 year fix in September 2021 with EDF.
I spent time thinking of not doing this due to issues with them several years ago over meter reading disputes.
They offered smart meters so all my thoughts of previous issues were put to one side thinking a smart meter would be ideal.
Well 4 visits later we have a functioning Electricity smart meter but dumb gas meter and a non functioning IHD.
So much for smart meters!
They have given me a bill credit to ācompensateā for inconvenience caused.
As we use 5 times more electricity than gas at least they wonāt over estimate readings like previously.
Care to divulge how much per month youāre paying?
From reading, I take it that EDF visited you and installed new smart meters? If so, when did they do this? In any case, if it was in the last few months or weeks, they will be SMETS2 meters anyway, but it may also be the case, despite what EDF may or may not have told you, the gas meter might still not yet be registered on the DCC Network.
The problem I had, which is detailed much further back in this thread, was that on moving into my new build home, the gas meter was also ādumbā. Our problem however, was that the meter was installed by a third party who never registered the meter on the DCC Network, so British Gas had no record of it on their system. Huge row between me and BG ensued, brand new meter fitted by BG but still ādumbā after several weeks because no one could be arsed to register the brand new meter onto the DCC Network. Eventually, after another massive row, they sorted it, but it was definitely not on their priority list of things to do. I highly suspect this is the issue with your gas meter, it just isnāt yet registered on the DCC Network. There was never any issue whatsoever with the electricity meter, that worked correctly from day one. I would also like to point out, that at my previous property where BG also installed smart meters, it again took weeks for the gas meter to be registered onto the DCC Network and again, that took much badgering from me to sort the issue out.
IHD - for me, the most pointless piece of junk kit that the energy providers hand out. The IHD is supposed to give an indication of which appliances are chewing the most energy. So, I put the dishwasher on, the needle shoots up because it heats the water for the cycle. I put the washing machine on and set it to 60 degrees to wash bedding and towels because only at 60 degrees is there a sure fire chance of eliminating dust mites and other microscopic horrors, and guess what? the energy needle spikes, big deal 
In short, I donāt need to spend a quid a year plugging this piece of junk into my wall socket, so itās in a box in the loft.
So I do get your frustration on the smart meter front when it doesnāt all go to plan from the off, but more often than not from my own experiences and from what Iāve read, much of this is down to the energy companies themselves not doing the follow up admin they should have done when setting these things up in the first place. For me, I really like smart meters because as things stand, I know Iām being billed correctly every month, Iām only paying for the energy Iām actually using month to month, not paying some outlandish monthly figure on āprojected useā in the hope that the monthly d/d covers the actual cost. Itās each to their own though and what people feel more comfortable doing in the way they pay for their energy.
EDF tell me they only have 2 bill cycles a year.
I used to like Octopus with the monthly wheel after submitting.
E - 19.64khw standing - 21.24p
G - 3.941khw standing - 22.97p
With 2 children we use 4000 electric and 3500 gas.
The stove has been the main cost over the winter though - logs & smokeless fuel.
Well thanks for letting me know this, at least I now never have to bother myself hooking up with a company that can only be bothered to bill their customers twice a year. I suspect thereās no need for them to do that, especially on smart meters, they could monthly bill if they wanted to, British Gas do it without issues. I guess though, EDF arenāt the only company continuing to choose that billing cycle method. I just hope youāre prepared to have your āfixedā d/d raised as and when they see fit. It shouldnāt come as any shock though because as Dan said earlier up in the thread, youāll end up paying for what energy you use anyway, irrespective of the frequency of billing. Iām used to the variable direct debit, I definitely wouldnāt return to a āfixedā monthly d/d.
Feel good story for Bulb customers
Boss of failed energy firm Bulb defends Ā£250,000 salary Boss of failed energy firm Bulb defends Ā£250,000 salary - BBC News
Ok, so energy bosses are calling and have been calling for some time, for the energy price cap to be scrapped and for some sort of social tariff to be introduced. Effectively, they want the better off to pay even more.
So my immediate issue is, who gets to decide who pays more? At what level of income per family does someone sit down and say, āWell youāre earning X amount, weāre going to stiff you even more for your energyā.
I have a feeling such a policy would cause huge resentment amongst a lot of people.
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Soā¦ā¦
On Thursday I became the proud user of two smart meters. 
Iād got it in the diary for back in February but Western Power had to come out and replace the cut-out on the electricity box. Anyway, enough of thatā¦.
So with all that real-time usage data, I got into the whole āwhat actually needs to be on continuously?ā thing - or as experts like me would say - the āPhantom Loadā. 
Suffice it to say, thereās now not one TV on standby and all non-essential devices are subject to a remote cut-out switch.
6p a shower (gas)
Oh, and a heat pump tumble dryer arriving Wednesday (for when itās needed).
In control, or what ?? 
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Sounds wonderful- can you audit my house please? R-
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Iām the same, if itās not being used, itās turned off. Lights etc, controlled by Hive. I even just a couple of weeks back, bought a brand new OLED tv to replace the 5 year old LED backlit tv that was clearly chomping too much leccy and throwing off a shed load of heat to boot. Weāre fortunate enough to now have mostly up to date low energy appliances throughout. It does make a significant difference to the fuel bill.
Youāve hit on the bothersome bit. I need to do a proper audit of light bulbs. Iām sure I can do better than I am right now.
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Indeed, you probably could. Every light bulb in our property is LED or a Hive bulb. I like being able to control them via the app just as I do with the heating and hot water.
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Just unscrew them and throw them away. Everyone can get around with their phone torches.
Seriously, itās what I do when Iām alone at home after dark. I have one LED lamp in the lounge, and use my watch or phone to light my way about the house.
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My mother has just downsized to a bungalow and the previous owners (elderly) still had 60W and 100W bulbs in the majority of the light fittings. They had left the bathroomās under-floor heating on and the hot water on 24/7.
Iāve reduced her daily combined gas and electricity usage from around 30 kWh to around 15 kWh.
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Youāve painted a picture of some Dickensian character. .
I take your point - in fact thereās enough light from outside (LED street lamp & the moon) to enable the lights out approach anyway.
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On the subject of smart meters, I had a conversation with a more senior citizen who mentioned she was having her smart meters removed because basically she said they were effectively the work of the devil and they consistently reported false meter readings and so she was forced to send customer read monthly readings to Octopus just so she could get a bill that was correct.
Anyway, I dug a bit deeper and it turns out the meters were likely Smets 1 and had gone ādumbā quite some time ago, before she even moved into the property. I tried to explain to her the difference between smets 1 and 2, but she was having none of it, indeed she gave the impression she just didnāt believe what I was conveying to her. Sometimes you just canāt help anyone to help themselves 
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