Just thought I'd post over here that, especially if you are on a budget, or are unhappy with the customer service you are receiving from your current power company, it IS worth shopping around. I can't recall which magazine I read it in (Good Housekeeping perhaps?), but rates are changing quite a bit with different companies. What was the best a year ago is not necessarily the best now.
After over 2 years with Powergen and a rash of problems and terrible service (not to mention rising rates), we switched to npower today. Right now their rates are clearly lower than Powergen and the rates are also frozen until 2006. Npower expects us to save over £100 per year. That said, we intend to keep our eye on the rates of the various companies every 6 months or so, just to make sure we stay on top of things.
After all, £100 is £100 - we could fly to Venic for that!!!
There are a couple web sites that help you find the best rate for your area (see below) but I have to say I found them a bit confusing to use. We made the switch when an npower rep approached us at HomeBase (though we had planned on the DH tackling the web sites). Normally we avoid those types of solicitations like the plague, but we were already thinking of switching so gave them our time - fingers crossed it's been worth the effort!
http://www.uswitch.comhttps://www.ukpower.co.uk/
