Changing your energy retailer can result in instant savings

MISSED calls, begging emails — it’s not your dodgy ex, it’s your energy retailer. But it’s the one breakup you should try, writes Sophie Elsworth, and it will save you money. Here’s how.

BREAKING up with your energy provider is easy to do.

You can ghost them.

No need for a text or a phone call, you can just up and leave without even bothering to tell them.

But be warned, your former energy retailer could start behaving like a crazy ex pretty quickly.

They are likely to inundate you with umpteen messages and phone calls and before you know it they are pleading with you to come back.

This is exactly what happened to me when I decided to ditch and switch energy providers.

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I had been with my electricity and gas provider for three years which in my view is far too long.

The honeymoon period was well and truly over.

Earlier this year I phoned them up asking for a better deal and didn’t get very far.

Customers are often given discounts from their energy retailer once they switch providers.

It wasn’t until I started to see new and better deals online I quickly realised the grass was greener.

I was getting ripped off.

A quick online comparison resulted in me finding a rival retailer who I could score huge savings with and leave hundreds of dollars a year extra in my pocket.

I didn’t even bother ringing my existing retailer to ask them what they could do, I just decided it was time to call it quits.

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It was so easy signing up to the new mob, they did all the hard work for me to switch over and before I knew it my “starter pack” was in my inbox and I was good to go.

But it wasn’t until my old retailer got wind of this they came begging for forgiveness.

With it they announced they would be increasing my electricity discount from 29 per cent to 32 per cent.

But it didn’t stop there, they would also almost double my gas discount from 21 per cent off to 41 per cent.

Discounts on electricity supply and usage charges can be more than 40 per cent.

And they were proud as punch to tell me this was going to help me save.

In just a week I’ve received two emails from them to tell me how sorry they are to hear I’m leaving.

I’ve received a handful of phone calls from them too begging me to stay.

They even pulled another cat out of the bag and told me my supply and usage charges would also be dropping, but assured me it wasn’t a result of me calling it quits.

What rubbish.

The only reason they are pulling out these stellar deals is because they do not want to lose me.

It’s just a shame they couldn’t have offered me these deals while I was a loyal and paid up customer.

So no thank you, I’ve made my mind up, the relationship is over.

Just this week I explained to our readers how retailers often pull out their best deals when customers leave.

And even better they hide their top deals from you so they can wheel them out at the last minute in an attempt to win you back.

It’s time to check what other offers are out there because there’s a good chance you are getting ripped off.

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@sophieelsworth