Co-op and Home Fuel Prices

[tighterse]

Noting Frv's comment on house insurance with the Co-op. Two years ago we switched to the Co-op for combined gas and electricity using a fixed price tariff. Very, very pleased with the resultant costs, There was a no penalty switch to a cheaper tariff during the term and at present our monthly bill is down to £60 and that's without stinting on our usage. I see another fixed rate is on offer that could lead to further savings but there is an early switching penalty so we'll wait for a few months till our present deal expires.

The Co-op dividend applies to fuel plus a further dividend for reading our own meter if you are a Co-op member. But the dividend only can be used for purchases from the Midland Co-op that does not operate in Scotland so we've donated the dividends to a Co-op charity.

Another advantage is that because we are both over 65 and have a discount on our Council Tax bill (Scottish rules again) we qualify for a special Government funded scheme that gives a discount of about £150 per year. This scheme is not notified to customers by other fuel companies with the Co-op the sole exception. My brother who uses SSE contacted them about this scheme and was told there is no such thing so he then contacted the DSS who confirmed SSE were in error. SSE subsequently and retrospectively gave him the discount although there was no apology for the earlier mis-information.

Yup - I quite like the Co-op and although it's a bit more expensive than most supermarkets I reckon the quality is higher for fresh food, fruit and veg. However, the Co-op internet service is almost as bad a Talktalk although it seems to have improved over the past few months.

[frv]

I quite like to Co-op too. We called into one in Hunmanby to get some provisions before we arrived at our self-catering holiday home in Filey last month.