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Don't get trapped into an expensive gas & elec tariff. Fight back!
MSE_Martin
Posts: 8,268 Money Saving Expert
in Energy
The following is an email I received from a user a few days ago and highlights what to watch for when switching suppliers. Don't listen to the 'it's for new customers only line'; if you've compared prices on Energy helpline* or Uswitch* and your current provider comes out top, call them and have a haggle. They'll soon see you're just as important as new customers!
Related Articles: Find The Cheapest Gas & Elec Supplier
When my PowerGen bill arrived two days ago, showing the second enormous price hike in 6 months - I of course trawled uSwitch.com.
What was quite unexpected was that uSwitch reported a £142 saving, by switching to the very same supplier, PowerGen and the exact same tariff I'm already on, Dual Fuel Online, Direct Debit.
After some legwork I realised they have multiple versions of the same tariff, with very different prices, and very different price increases applied.
Clearly they have been hitting existing customers with huge rises (my Tier 1 electricity rate went up 40% since the last rise in November), while attracting new customers with reduced rates, but using the same tariff name, making it impossible to spot easily - and they do not own up to it either.
When you ask PowerGen to switch you to the cheaper tariff (with exactly the same name remember) you get the response "Sorry that's not for existing customers, but for new customers only" - heard that before?
I asked them to go away and seriously think about their bad and misleading business practices before I take this further. They rang me back the next day, offering me the lower tariff, and backdated too - I now have £140+ quid being refunded - all conducted on freephone numbers too :-)
Related Articles: Find The Cheapest Gas & Elec Supplier
When my PowerGen bill arrived two days ago, showing the second enormous price hike in 6 months - I of course trawled uSwitch.com.
What was quite unexpected was that uSwitch reported a £142 saving, by switching to the very same supplier, PowerGen and the exact same tariff I'm already on, Dual Fuel Online, Direct Debit.
After some legwork I realised they have multiple versions of the same tariff, with very different prices, and very different price increases applied.
Clearly they have been hitting existing customers with huge rises (my Tier 1 electricity rate went up 40% since the last rise in November), while attracting new customers with reduced rates, but using the same tariff name, making it impossible to spot easily - and they do not own up to it either.
When you ask PowerGen to switch you to the cheaper tariff (with exactly the same name remember) you get the response "Sorry that's not for existing customers, but for new customers only" - heard that before?
I asked them to go away and seriously think about their bad and misleading business practices before I take this further. They rang me back the next day, offering me the lower tariff, and backdated too - I now have £140+ quid being refunded - all conducted on freephone numbers too :-)
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
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Comments
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Upon Martin's recommendation, I went to Energyhelpline* to search for a cheaper gas supplier.
Entering my postcode and consumption (approx. 16000 kWh use per year) and Atlantic as my current supplier, the site recommended Equigas - a saving of £66 per year.
However, clicking on the 'enquire' link alongside, I was confronted with:
I took the 'does not currently support our service' to be a euphemism for 'won't give us a kickback' and that was all but confirmed when I studied the 2 'recommended' alternatives. They were (1) nPower - £23 MORE EXPENSIVE than my current supplier and (2) Powergen - Age Concern (for which I don't qualify) - £37 MORE EXPENSIVE than my current supplier (how either could have been 'recommended' is beyond me).Unfortunately, you are unable to switch to EQUIPOWER using energyhelpline.com. This supplier does not currently support our service for this tariff.
We would urge you to consider switching to one of the following options
Additionally, opting (by making a telephone call) for the cheapest option offered (Equigas) showed the "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]pays £12.50 cashback when you switch" to be just rhetoric in their case.
OTOH, a (projected) £66 annual saving v. an immediate £12.50 'cashback' - easy choice (made).[/FONT]Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.0 -
Good for Energy Helpline that they gave the information without a kickback.0
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I was on a staywarm powergen tariff (use as much gas/elecrticity as needed for the elderly) of £66.50 which was to be increased massively this month to £92.50. I did a search for a cheaper supplier and ended up with npower at £47.00 p month. This is a crazy world where the aged can be inveigled into what is supposed to be a terrific deal when the supply can be delivered for around half the price. How many of the elderly are sharp enough to say no to this extortion. It's a disgrace.0
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Hi I recently did a comparison on my supplier n power only to find that their on line tarriff was much cheaper - on enquiring with them i was told "new customers only" i naturally protested and said I would transfer to the next best supplier (powergen in this case). I was told that many customers were in fact doing this and then transferring back to n power as a new customer a few months later and i would be welcome to do the same!!!!! I told them that if i changed i would not be coming back in view of their attitude. This still did not get them to transfer me. I have now started the transfer to powergen and have received the usual letters from n power asking if they could tempt me back. I phoned them on the line stated only to be told they still could not transfer me to the on line tariff so they have effectively lost a customer and many others i suspect. This is just total madness in business terms!!!!0
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I was on Powergen Energy Online and when they sent me the notification of price increase couple of months ago, like any good moneysaver, I checked the comparison sites and found that Energy Online was the cheapest! But the prices on the letter I'd received were higher than those on the comparison sites - always worth checking the details - so I rang up.
The lady I spoke to said that I was on an old Energy Online tariff and that the one being advertised was, as mentioned above, for "new customers only"! I asked her how I find out which Energy Online tariff I'm on? And she said that you have to ring and ask. (Bizarre to say the least.)
Nevertheless, she switched me to the new customers only version of the tariff and gave me her name. Call me cynical but, as I haven't had the new bill yet (new one due in a couple of weeks), we'll see whether it actually happened ...
Good luck everyone0
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