When you compare your electricity price with other companies you may find yourself more confused than when you started. Why do I say that? Because there may be several factors you haven’t taken into account.

First of all many people will use a comparison website to compare their electricity price. These sites are a fantastic idea but they are mostly out to make a profit. Most gas and electricity companies pay them for each customer they send. Most, but not all - and so these do not always appear on comparison sites. You still have to check with at least one other utility company to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

Next comes dual fuel - gas and electricity. Often you will receive a better price for taking both of these utilities with an energy supplier. I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want to have both with the same energy supplier but it may not always suit.

After dual fuel comes the triple deal. Usually this will entail comparing your gas, electricity and home phone deal. You can’t just compare electricity price - you have to do all three and then see what discounts you get for doing more. Again, not all companies are listed. Be careful.

Your cheapest electricity supplier may now be tied to taking out your phone with that company, who may not be cheaper for the phone at all.

The larger energy suppliers have large overheads they have to cover. Lot’s of call centre staff, a huge advertising budget and customer retention teams all ad money to your energy bills. Sometimes a smaller company can offer you a better price.

It is worth pointing out perhaps that these companies are mainly billing companies. If you change from British gas to Npower you don’t have to have new electricity cables laid to your house, the same people come to mend it if there is a problem and do you think that the electricity is any different from each company? Of course not, it comes from the same power station.

So at the end of the day you can have the same confidence when you compare electricity prices with a small company than a larger one, make sure you don’t just accept the price from an energy comparison site and compare deals for taking two or three services. It’s also good to not get tied down to a fixed term contract if that can be helped.