Is it possible to pay my electricity bill online

Asks Miranda

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A. It depends on which company provides your energy supply, but it is more than likely that you can. Your energy supplier will probably have sent you details of how to do this by post, advertising its web address, but if not the following suppliers can be contacted online:

British Gas

Virgin

EON ENERGY

Amerada

Npower

Norweb

Eastern Energy

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Q. What is the benefit of paying online, why don"t I just pay my bill in the post office or by post

A.�We"re all being encouraged to pay online as it"s supposed to make it easier for the customer, so as an incentive it is cheaper to pay your bills via the Internet.

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Q. How much money would I actually save by paying my energy bills online

A.�It depends on your supplier and what deals they are running at the moment, but it can be up to �200 per year.

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Q. Which sites offer such deals

A.�A few of the good ones include the following:

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Servista

Servista estimates that it can save you between �100-150 per year if you sign up for their services. The advantage of its online service is definitely focused on its add-ons you can pay your bills online via an e-bill, enter meter readings to gauge how much your using and, therefore, how much you"ll have to pay, check your bill at any time or change your method of payment. And get this, you also get money (�15) if you introduce a friend to the service.

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British Gas

The price saving deals on this site are tied into your signing up for electricity and telecoms services, as well as your gas supply, and depending on whether you do this or not effects the amount of money you save. For example, if you change over and have your electricity supplied by British Gas you save �15 as soon as you sign up, then up to 15% off future bills. If you then decide to have the telecoms service too, you have another cash incentive and save about 20% off future telephone bills for an agreed period of time (usually more than a year). So it is best to check the site out if you"re an existing customer and want to save some money quickly. The site is quite basic and, therefore, simple to use, and has some good energy saving tips too.

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Seeboard

This site is very sophisticated. Its Personal Savings Estimate option can calculate how much money you"ll saving by using Seeboard online. Have your existing energy bills on hand when you visit this site so you can compare their estimates to what you"re actually paying. Expect to save around 15% on your current bill. It also offers an energy Loyalty Card and a Thank You card which offers discounts on online shopping, mini breaks and tickets.

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EON ENERGY

EON ENERGY probably offers the most incentives to sign up for its services online and it estimates that you will save about �150 per year if you sign up for its three services gas, electricity and telecommunications. It also offers you �50 straightaway if you sign up online. As it has its own ISP, you can also save money while you"re online if you sign up for the whole package. It makes you wonder how much profit energy suppliers actually make if EON ENERGY can give so much away.

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Amerada

A close contender in the most you can save from an energy supplier race is Amerada, close behind EON ENERGY and Servista with an estimated �120 saving per year. If you sign up online you can also benefit from loads of other offers that include mini-breaks, holidays, days out, mobile phones and other gadgets.

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Virgin Energy

If, like me, you are accosted by someone in a red T-shirt trying to tell you about Virgin Energy and how to sign up online every time you hit your town centre you"ll already know that you can save up to �50 for signing up online for Virgin. In addition, Virgin uniquely offers you points for the amount of energy you use or preferably don"t use i.e. If you use less you get more points and every point is converted into �1. The website is also sophisticated and it claims that you can sign up in five minutes�- I"d certainly put that to the test!

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Eastern Energy

As with British Gas, you save money on the amount of utilities you sign up for i.e. �15 for one or �30 for two etc. If you"re a Tesco customer this could be the site for you as you gain Clubcard points for all the money you spend on your energy. You can also give money away if you"re into renewable energy, if you opt for the Ecopower option you can donate 50p a week to the development of renewable energy, how politically correct can you get

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Npower

While you can save up to 15% on your fuel bills with Npower, it is also into promoting green energy and asks you to donate �5 a year to the development and research of sustainable and renewable energy

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If you have any other Internet related questions, please click here

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By Karen Anderson