GB Energy Supply reviews: Give your feedback

sidbee · 17 June 2017 at 7:40PM

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

GB Energy are using the same "savings" calculations as the comparison sites. There is a presumption that when you finish your current tariff, you move onto the standard tariff e.g 1 month Crystal + 11 month's SVR.

The "savings" are, of course.illusory as prices have gone up a lot, especially from their very low rate. Their calculations are based on one month Crystal + 11 month's on a fixed tariff, which is cheaper.

Nothing dishonest here.

I wouldn't write off the new September 18 rate as it is only £30 more than the best available on comparison sites for me. However, I am still facing a big increase.

Just make sure you know the unit rate and standing charge of the tariff they are offering, because the one they offered me wasn't published anywhere and when I eventually found out what the rates were and did the sums myself the actual annual cost based on my estimated annual consumption worked out at rather more than the estimated annual cost they had quoted to me in their renewal letter.

Peter004 · 27 June 2017 at 3:43AM

Following several interchanges of e-mails with both customer services staff and complaints officers I can honestly report that none of them understand what they are doing nor each other - always assuming that they don't set out to deceive rather than address problems. I have found that the major problem is with the "personal projection" of gas consumption. The contracted gas consumption upon transfer was 6000 kWh. This was an over-estimate on my part, this being a consequence of a boiler change to a more efficient model and improved insulation. The actual consumption on Page 1 of an Annual Gas Summary was 3397 kWh (May 2016 - May 2017). The projected consumption for gas on Page 2 of the Summary is for 9912 kWh. The latter is the basis for all calculations and GB C.S. and C.O. cannot, or do not want, to acknowledge or recognise this. They cannot grasp the significance of being on a fixed rate tariff and being substantially in credit and assume that customers will be staying beyond the fixed term. The Complaints Officer only used the 309 days which would have remained of a 12 month period after the end of the fixed rate to calculate my projected costs but still managed to estimate a cost of >£1400 and a direct debit of £119 per month!!! Estimated costs for this year were £418. I've no idea where the C.O. obtained the unit costs or standing charges used. Oh, and the Complaints Officer only included one fuel in the calculations. Needless to say, I wasn't told which one!! I have requested enlightenment but doubt that it will be forthcoming. All in all I have received five or six variations on this theme but no-one will consider the validity of the 9912 kWh projected gas consumption compared to the 3397 kWh shown, and agreed by me, on the Annual Gas Summary. No doubt that it is "the system" at fault and the GB operatives (Co-op?) are slaves unto the system.
Thanks to everybody for their interesting replies.

jblackmore · 28 June 2017 at 9:04AM

Impression I had when dealing with GB was the customer service was outsourced to a shared call centre who had only basic access and no understanding of the various systems, and are unable to make any changes or corrections. There is no escalation possible within the shared call centre as they can only email other teams, which generally just goes round in circles with no-one actually appreciating the issue or having authority to fix it even though it seems obvious/simple to us.

I battled with GB to pay final bill, which each time I phoned happy to pay an agreed amount, they changed the amount and couldn't explain why the amount differed from online bill (final bills being transient in GB/coop eyes) and refused to accept payment of anything else, after 3 attempts, I gave up and went through complaint route eventually they agreed to wipe out the £30 odd balance - hardly sensible or good service !

Clearly the energy market in the UK is broken, and all energy companies have systems in place to 'game' customers into paying too much, discouraging repeated switching which would be required to have genuine competition, and using dubious fixed tariffs and manipulating direct debit amounts using tenuous calculations to prolong this, with no sign of any change on the horizon !

Sadly, people on MSE are regular switchers, so are the tip of the iceberg, the vast majority just pay standard variable tariffs and are clearly being ripped off month after month and those are the true victims.

locky123 · 28 June 2017 at 12:30PM

Received this yesterday...

Important changes to your account

We’re writing to let you know that after your next monthly bill, we’ll be moving your account to quarterly billing.

How does this change affect me?

Don’t worry, this does not affect the payments you make – these will be taken using your usual method of payment and at your regular payment amount.

Meter reading reminders will now also be issued on a quarterly basis. You can however provide us with meter readings as often as you like.

If you have any questions about this change to your account, please do not hesitate to contact us.

jblackmore · 29 June 2017 at 7:40AM

I can't believe coop are pursuing quarterly billing, surely when smart meters are moving to realtime billing, and every other supplier is on monthly, this is a huge backwards step, and the reason I left GB just before they folded.

The excuse I was given was they get so many customer service problems from incorrect monthly bills, they were hoping to reduce this by producing quarterly incorrect bills instead

hollie.weimeraner · 29 June 2017 at 9:26AM

I'm just moving from GB to Eon. I am currently about £90 in credit so will be interesting to see how quickly I get my money back.

As an aside, even though I am in credit they tried to increase my DD about 3 or 4 months ago by 30%:eek: I rang them and they changed it back after my protests.

musical_norwich · 30 June 2017 at 9:28AM

I have tried unsuccessfully to have my credit balance refunded to no avail since the beginning of the year. I have tried four times, submitted three complaints, multiple meter readings. Last time I was promised that a manager would deal with the issue but never did. I am now going to be about £160 in credit with a monthly bill of about £30. They have just written to me saying my direct debit is increasing to £49.

I think the 'switch now' emails and website messages should be banned as they are trying to switch customers from a much cheaper tariff before it ends. I can't believe OFGEM allows this.

I've had enough of them. The Lite 2018 electricity tariff I was offered was fixed until Sep 2018 with a TER of 15.12. British Gas has a fix until the end of August 2019 for a TER of 15.26. I'm off.

andyboro1975 · 30 June 2017 at 9:57AM

recently switched to toto energy as they were one of the cheapest and advertise no standing charges. I'm pre pay only. having just had smart meters installed I noticed my gas account suddenly has a 25p per day standing charge. when I queried them on this I was told it is now a legal requirement to add standing charges. I have checked their website and they and numerous others are still advertising zero standing charges. I have raised this issue with them and they say they will get back to me. does anyone know if it is in fact a legality now to have standing charges?

Hammer_Time · 30 June 2017 at 12:32PM

musical_norwich wrote: »

I have tried unsuccessfully to have my credit balance refunded to no avail since the beginning of the year. I have tried four times, submitted three complaints, multiple meter readings. Last time I was promised that a manager would deal with the issue but never did. I am now going to be about £160 in credit with a monthly bill of about £30. They have just written to me saying my direct debit is increasing to £49.

I think the 'switch now' emails and website messages should be banned as they are trying to switch customers from a much cheaper tariff before it ends. I can't believe OFGEM allows this.

I've had enough of them. The Lite 2018 electricity tariff I was offered was fixed until Sep 2018 with a TER of 15.12. British Gas has a fix until the end of August 2019 for a TER of 15.26. I'm off.

I am also in the process of transferring to the BG Aug 2019 fix. Bad start they have mucked up my D/D already, so beware!!!

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc · 30 June 2017 at 4:21PM

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

I'm just moving from GB to Eon. I am currently about £90 in credit so will be interesting to see how quickly I get my money back.

As an aside, even though I am in credit they tried to increase my DD about 3 or 4 months ago by 30%:eek: I rang them and they changed it back after my protests.

Hello hollie.weimeraner and welcome to E.ON. Good to have you on board. Just a quick heads up.

We'll let your old supplier have the meter readings we start our account from. They'll use the same readings to close their account and issue a final bill. This stops the same energy from being charged twice. These readings go via a third party (Data Collector) who checks they're in line with past readings held for your home. Although this won't affect the supply start date (usually about two and half weeks after starting the switch), it can sometimes delay the account becoming fully operational.

If you've registered with our website, you can see how things are going through a service called 'Track My Switch.'

Sorry if you already know this stuff hollie.weimeraner and I'm trying to teach you how to suck eggs.

Malc

GB Energy Supply reviews: Give your feedback

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free