Southern Electric Go Direct 3 Tariff Review

The latest incarnation of the Southern Electric go direct tariff is 3 which has replace the go direct 2 tariff. The rates are similar but the contract length has been extended.

Southern Electric Go Direct 3 Summary

The new Southern Electric go direct 3 tariff allows you to benefit from their lowest tariff rates until 31 March 2011 by signing up online. The discount over their standard tariff is approximately 18.6% if you pay by quarterly direct debit or 19.5% if you pay by monthly direct debit. There is an exit fee if you switch to another provider or one of the other Southern Electric tariffs before the end of March 2011 of £50 and the discounts you have received will be reversed so check carefully if you think this is for you.

What Else ?

This tariff is flexible so if prices go up then so will this tariff. You have to sign up online and pay by monthly direct debit to get the full advantage of all the discounts on offer. This tariff does not have a daily standing charge (which would normally be 11.5p per day or around £3 per month).

Is this better than British Gas Websaver 5 or 6 ?

As British Gas has just announced a 7% price reduction and the introduction of a new websaver product we have compared rates around the country. The following prices are per unit and for paying by monthly direct debit with no standing charges and include VAT:

A customer in London

• Southern Electric Go Direct 3 – 14.30p for the first 225 units then 9.91p per unit
• Southern Electric Standard – 16.51p  for the first 225 units then 11.53p
• British Gas Websaver 22.25p for the first 125 units then 8.73p
• British Gas standard – 23.67 for the first 125 units then 11.43p

A customer in the Midlands

• Southern Electric Go Direct 3 – 13.56p for the first 182 units then 9.15p per unit
• Southern Electric Standard – 16.86p then 11.38p
• British Gas Websaver 22.16p for the first 125 units then 8.27p
• British Gas standard – 23.58 for the first 125 units then 10.32p

So by just looking at the raw unit numbers you’re not going to know as you need your monthly or annual consumption data to be able to see your total bill over the full year. Comparison sites do say that British Gas is currently the cheapest overall but depending on where you live and your consumption (if it’s higher than average then at first glance it looks that way) you should go to the various websites so that you can perform an instant online quote to see what savings can be made and compare at least Southern Electric to British Gas.

What else should you know ?

The Southern Electric go direct 3 tariff is only available when you sign up online via their website and a summary of the product is as follows :

• offers the cheapest tariff from Southern Electric
• you must pay by monthly direct debit
• exit penalty of £50 if you switch before 31 March 2011
• no standing charges
• available for all areas of the UK
• you must sign up to this tariff via their website

In summary, if you want to stick with Southern Electric which is the second largest energy company in the UK and part of the Scottish and Southern group and don’t want to fix your prices then this is a tariff worth considering.