Value or gimmicks, I know what I would prefer

Alas, flashy offers will always trump true value - and they are probably cheaper for the company anyway.  Ad men will always exploit human nature with offers of fancy prizes. They know no-one ever thinks about the odds against winning.

I think people need to use common sense. Unfortunately people have that to varying degrees.

I have my free hours Sunday 11 - 1. Usually my hot water is on auto from 7-8am and 4-5pm, 2 hours total per day. I dont have heating on yet. So on Saturday i turn off my hot water some time in the afternoon, before 4pm so i dont use the usual hours at 4pm Saturday and 7am Sunday morning. I switch the hot water back on at 11am for the two free hours AND have showers at 11.30. I checked last weeks figures. I usually use 4kwh on each hour. So that was 8kwh not used. Then on Sunday the boiler used almost 10kwh, during the free period. 

Now if MY common sense isnt faulty that's the best way for me to do it. Now I've written that down I'm going to look like an idiot if I've got it wrong 😂.

There is a supplier that focuses on pure value and being as cheap as possible…

Oh, but look what happened to them…

If you’re too cheap, that’ll happen to you as well…

The market is what it is - profit margins are razor thin in the energy business and Standing Charges ain’t gonna drop anytime soon.

“Gimmicks” are how you attract customers. And that won’t change anytime soon...

That’s about the only way that a gas customer can make good use of the ‘free gas’.

I think that it’s ridiculous that although ostensibly a GAS offer, it rewards Electricity only customers more that gas customers.

Gas customers will struggle to use more gas, other than by frivolously turning up the heating, or as you have worked out heating a tank of water at a different time, or taking a long shower/bath if you have a combi boiler so no water tank.
Those with gas cookers could cook their Sunday lunch early, or at least roast the meat.
And even then will struggle to use the maximum 5 kWh each hour.

By contrast Electricity only customers get the maximum 5 kWh credit every week just for reading a tip on their phone.
(A gas saving tip that is of no use to them?)

The reality also is that companies that try to offer the cheapest prices are the ones that, when they fold, cost the rest of us money. This is one of the reasons that our standing charges are not going to drop (even if we are, soon, going to see people seduced with the idea that moving elements of the standing charges to unit costs will benefit them). When a company folds, the costs are passed on to every energy customer via the standing charges. Energy suppliers have their profit margins set at the lowest level possible - the ones in the energy market making the big bucks are the energy producers and distributors. If a “flashy offer” can save you money by shifting the energy use into a specific slot, surely, any saving should be worth that effort? I have to say that I hate the new version of Power Move where, no matter how much you do to move your electricity use out of peak hours you are no longer guaranteed some return if you reach a certain percentage. Being in the top 5% of “savers” and getting nothing at all from a prize draw is not an incentive!

I heat up my hot water and dry my clothes during the free period. That way I take advantage of the offer. Let's be honest, we all know that the standing charge is not going to be reduced or even scrapped in the near future so let's take advantage on what's being offered. Until the government look to ways of giving the poor and needy the help that they require, high charges are here to stay. Sorry for being pessimistic but I have lived long enough to realise that people in high places, including government officials, don't really care about our country.