Here we try to answer some of your most common questions.
Look After My Bills, is a new service brought to you by the same people who created The Big Deal. Look After My Bills aims to remove all the hassle from switching your energy in one simple way, we’ll do it all for you.
It works like this:
With Look After My Bills, you are always in control. You’ll get an email from Look After My Bills every time we are preparing to switch you. It will tell you who your new supplier is, the unit rate and standing charge of the new tariff and the amount you pay for your electricity and gas based on what you’ve told us.
The process of switching suppliers is fairly quick, normally taking just 2-3 weeks. Some suppliers take longer than others, so don’t worry if you haven’t heard anything yet. Your deal is locked in and your supplier will be in touch shortly to explain how to submit your meter readings. From here they’ll pass these on to your old one – so everyone knows the exact point at which your old supply ended and your new one began.
The way we are able to keep the service free for users is that we take a commission from the energy companies that we switch people to. This is the same amount whichever the energy company and we only switch you to companies we trust who are committed to improving their customer service.
We take your bank details so we can pass them on to the supplier we switch you to. We automatically select Direct Debit as the payment method for our customers as suppliers often offer substantial discounts for paying by Direct Debit, so we can ensure we’re getting the very best deals.
Taking your direct details is exactly what all the big price comparison sites do. We never take any money from your account. You just give us bank details once and then we can keep you always on a great deal every year without you having to do a thing.
N.B. The only exception is if you currently have a prepayment meter installed, in which case we only find you other deals paying by ‘pay-as-you-go,’ and will not ask for your bank details.
If something happens with your energy or your billing you need to contact your current supplier. Their details should be in the emails we’ve sent you or in the emails they’ve sent you themselves. If you’re unsure who your supplier is, then get in touch with Look After My Bills and we’ll be able to help.
The main way we grow is through word of mouth. Our members love putting their friends on to a good thing. To say thank you, we’ll give you £20 every time a friend of yours joins Look After My Bills. Even better, your friend will get £20 too. Just send them your personalised link via email, Facebook, Whatsapp or your preferred method.
As soon as you sign up you’ll be provided with a unique link. Simply share this with your friends. When a friend uses this link to sign up we’ll know you referred them. And as soon as they go on supply with a provider we’ll pay both of you. For more information please see our refer a friend terms and conditions.
Although we’d love to cover everyone in the UK, Look After My Bills currently can’t be for everyone. Look After My Bills is for you if:
Our aim is to keep you on a fair deal forever.
That may not mean the very cheapest, that’s because we want to make sure we work with suppliers who value their customers and are committed to improving their customer service.
In order to keep our service free, we only switch you to suppliers who will pay us a commission. Don’t worry, if a supplier has terrible customer service we won’t switch you to them even if they want to pay us!
We always want to make sure it’s worthwhile for you to switch suppliers.
We aren’t a comparison site – we do auto-switching! But if you’d like to compare every single deal that’s out there we’d recommend you use the Citizens Advice Comparison Tool.
We calculate annual savings by looking at how much you will spend over the next 365 days, this means if you are on a fixed tariff which is coming to an end we will take your current tariff and a standard tariff with your current supplier into account.
So, if you have 10 days left of your current tariff when we run a comparison, we will calculate how much your usage will cost over 10 days on your current tariff and 355 days on a standard tariff. We then compare this to annual costs on other tariffs.
You can specify when you sign up that you only want deals that supply 100% renewable electricity. You can do this by pressing yes to the question, “Do you want renewable energy only?”. We’ll then only ever switch you to green energy deals!
Unfortunately at the moment, if you also have gas, we cannot guarantee that a renewable tariff will come with green gas. This is because different suppliers offer different elements of green gas as part of renewable tariff and some offer none at all. However, all green tariffs come with 100% renewable electricity.
From the date we initiate a switch to your new supplier, you will have a 14 day cooling off period to cancel the switch.
If you’d like us to cancel the switch for you, you must contact us before 5pm on the last working day within the cancellation period.
Or you can call the supplier directly and ask them to cancel the switch for you.
To cancel the Look After My Bills service please email [email protected] with the subject line CANCELLATION.
In the email body please provide the following:
– your full name
– first line of your address and post code
– your date of birth
– reason for cancellation of service
Please ensure you provide all of the above to ensure we can locate your account and we do not have to ask any further data protection questions.
NB. Cancelling the Look After My Bills service will not cancel your energy deal. If Look After My Bills has already moved you to a new energy deal, you will remain on that deal even if you cancel your subscription with Look After My Bills.
But don’t worry, price isn’t the only factor we take into account. Some energy companies simply don’t have good enough customer service. It’s not worth moving to them for a few extra quid.
We’ve been working in the energy industry for years now and we know when some suppliers simply aren’t good enough. We won’t switch you to any companies we don’t trust even if we’d get money for doing so. We also look at how suppliers are rated by independent organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau.
And as well as that, we listen to you, our customers, if you’re not happy with a certain supplier or have been having endless problems during a switch, we take your feedback on board. We don’t want you having a bad experience with any supplier.
There are also some suppliers that require you to jump through hoops in order to set up an account such as only contacting them via a specific smartphone app. If a supplier causes you more hassle than they’re worth we won’t switch you to them.
Look After My Bills get you the best possible price from a decent supplier. And we do it every year automatically without you having to lift a finger.
Yes, Look After My Bills can switch you if you have an Economy 7 meter. It is really straight forward. All you have to do is answer yes to the “Do you have an Economy 7 meter?”.
Unfortunately, you cannot use Look After My Bills if you live in Northern Ireland. This is because Northern Ireland has a different system to the rest of the UK, meaning none of the companies that we can switch you to operate in Northern Ireland.
Unfortunately, Look After My Bills cannot help you switch if you’ve got an Economy 10 or Time-of-Use meter This is because most suppliers we work with either cannot supply these meters or offer special tariffs only for these meters.
Unfortunately, at this time, if you have 2 or more gas meters, 2 or more electricity meters OR related meters we are unable to switch you. At times suppliers can struggle to pick up and implement this information accurately.
Yes, you can join Look After My Bills if you get the Warm Home Discount. You will be asked during the process if you receive the Warm Home Discount, make sure you tick the box, otherwise, we may switch you to a company that does not offer it.
If you get the Warm Home Discount for any other reason other than getting the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, make sure you contact your new supplier when we switch you to check you’re still eligible.
You are still more than welcome to join Look After My Bills. We will scan the market before your deal ends and start switching you if we can find you a saving!
Yes, you certainly can use Look After My Bills if you’ve got a smart meter. However, at the moment smart meters may lose some functionality when we switch you. This means they may no longer send meter readings automatically back to your new supplier, so you may need to do that yourself when asked.
Yes, you certainly can use Look After My Bills if you’ve got a prepayment meter. Some suppliers require you to have a new meter fitted but do not worry, the supplier will arrange a convenient time with you for the installation and the saving you’ll make from switching is definitely worth it!
If you wish to change from a prepayment meter to a standard credit meter, you will need to get in touch with your current supplier to arrange this. You cannot switch from a pay-as-you-go tariff to a direct debit tariff.
Yes, you can use Look After My Bills if you have a feed-in tariff (FIT). Look After My Bills just switches your energy supplier so your feed-in tariff will still be your responsibility.
The FIT is completely separate to the energy supplied to your home, so when you switch your FIT will stay with the company it is currently with. You can switch your feed-in tariff to a different company, but not all energy suppliers offer a FIT.
You can find a full list of companies that offer FITs here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/contacts-guidance-and-resources/fit-licensee-contact-details
You can still join if you’re in an existing fixed contract that doesn’t end for a little while. You just need to tell us when you sign up at www.lookaftermybills.com when your existing deal ends and then we’ll only switch you when it ends. To do this make sure you select your existing fixed tariff from the drop menu.
In some cases, we’ll know the contract end date, in which case that’s all you need to do, in other cases we’ll ask you tell us when the contract ends so we definitely only look for a new deal when your existing one is ending.
We always start looking for a new deal for you around 49 days before your contract end date – this is because suppliers are banned from charging exit fees in the last 49 days of a contract to encourage you to switch.
N.B. If you’re in a fixed contract make sure you do not tick the “I don’t know” box or leave the tariff on the default selection, otherwise we will assume you are on a standard tariff, so you may switch at the wrong time and incur exit fees.
You certainly can!
You should inform your current supplier of your move out date and once you’ve moved into your new property, find out which supplier is looking after the property and register on their standard tariff (or any other tariff without exit fees).
If you don’t know who your supplier is- here is how to find out:
Yes, however depending on how much you owe, they may object the switch so it’s important to mention:
1. If you’ve been in debt for less than 28 days, your old supplier will add the debt to your final bill
2. If you’ve been in debt for more than 28 days, your supplier won’t let you switch away until you’ve paid back the debt.
3. If you have a prepayment meter, you can switch if you owe less than £500 for gas and £500 for electricity
Suppliers can offer to set up a repayment plan to help you pay back your debt over time. You can agree to pay fixed amounts over a period of time i.e. monthly or fortnightly. Once you’ve set up a repayment plan, and they supplier confirms that they will allow you to switch away, head over to our sign up form and we’ll look to find you a great saving!
No, there is no danger of being cut off when we switch you. All energy companies use the same wires and pipes and therefore there is no chance of losing power, even for a minute.
No, the company who fixes a power cut does not change when you switch your energy supplier. Fixing power cuts is the responsibility of your local electricity distributor, not your electricity supplier.
No matter where you live in the country you can call 105 to report a power cut to your local distributor.
No, that’s the advantage about Look After My Bills! Your new supplier will contact your old one and request to transfer the account. Your new supplier will also ask for an opening meter reading, they’ll send these to your old supplier so they can close your account and calculate your final bill.
All you need to do is pay your final bill from your old supplier, or even better they may owe you money!
No, you will never be double charged for the energy you’ve used. Your new supplier will set a “go-live” date and ask for an opening meter reading on that date.
Your old supplier bills for energy used before that; the new one bills for energy used after.
No, when we switch suppliers for you, your electricity and/or gas meters are taken over by the new supplier. The new suppliers use the same pipes and wires, so they will not need to put new pipes and wires in.
Your MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number) or Supply Number (S-Number) is the unique reference code that identifies your electricity meter. The number allows your new electricity company to identify your meter easily and quickly.
Usually, your MPAN can be found on your bill, often called your “supply number”.
For the Big Deal and Look After My Bills, we only need the bottom line, the last 13 digits to identify your meter. So when asked to provide your MPAN only enter the bottom line.
I don’t have a bill!
Don’t worry, you can get your MPAN elsewhere. First, you can always call your supplier and ask them to give you your MPAN over the phone.
If you can’t do that, then there is another way too. The UK is split into 14 different regions and each region has a local distribution company. They keep a record of the MPANs for each household. To check who your local distributor is you can go here: http://www.energynetworks.org/info/faqs/who-is-my-network-operator.html
Once you’ve found that out, follow the guides below for each of the six local distributors.
Your MPRN (Meter Point Reference Number) or M-number is the unique reference code that identifies your gas meter. The number allows your new gas company to identify your meter easily and quickly.
Usually, your MPRN can be found on your bill.
I don’t have a bill!
Don’t worry, first you can always give your supplier a ring and ask them for your MPRN.
You have a number of rights under data protection laws such as to request to access the personal information we hold on you or to request to have your personal information erased.
If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact:
By email: [email protected]
By post: This is The Big Deal Limited, Imperial House, Imperial Way, Newport NP10 8UH
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). If you have authorised a third party to submit a request on your behalf, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. If this is the case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
If you have received a text or an email asking you to pay for Look After My Bills it is a scam and unfortunately we have no control over or the individuals or organisation operating the scam. If you have received a scam message we strongly recommend that you take the following steps:
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