Powergen - Any Good?

ronaldmacdonald

miss_lisalou it sounds like they have messed your account up, you will get nowhere on the phone to them, you MUST send all correspondance in writing or pass it on to EnergyWatch for your own cover. If we had the same level of consumer protection as the US Powergen would have been class actioned off the face of the earth a long time ago :j

cressie176

I'm in the process of switching from PowerGen to nPower after frustration with Powergen's call center.

I'd been thinking of switching to a different supplier because my bill keeps going up, but found it difficult to work out from powergen's invoices how much gas & electricity I had been using. I spent ages trying to get through to the call centre a couple of weeks ago and eventually gave up. Today I got through straight away, but was informed they were unable to tell me how much Gas & Electricity I had used in the last quarter. When I challenged this, the CSR gave me a combined price, then after some more pushing I was able to get a separate price. When I asked for the value in kwh she simply hung up!

I'm £150 in credit and in the last quarter overpaid by 1/3, even though I had reduced my direct debit the quarter before. Despite this Powergen sent me a letter saying that they were going to increase my direct debit to cover the increasing cost of gas, although when I spoke to the CSR she said she was able to wave the increase.

The one good thing I have to say about them is they've never made a mistake with the direct debit.

sparkymark_3

DO NOT TOUCH POWERGEN with a bargepole, they have been featured by BBC LOOK EAST news programme several nights running, they have a shambles of a record of widely inaccurate billing, call centre staff that are poorly trained and cannot solve issues. watch at 6.30 pm tonight on BBC 1 if you live in Norfolk/Suffolk/ Essex/ Cambs/Beds/ Northants/ Herts etc.
When they took over Amerada we switched to Scottish Power online Dual Fuel and have been very happy with the service.

keithmdw

We have kept it as it is (gas and electric from Powergen) and will see what it's like come first bill. They seem pretty well priced, but there certainly do seem like a lot of horror stories surrounding their billing.

The only thing that did concern me is that when I set the direct debit up, the minimum amount they would let me set up was £65/month, which is way more than we will use.

miss_lisalou

blimey Keith, I'm suprised at that - £65 quid a month? Shocking.

I've had a lot of recent problems and FINALLY managed to get them ironed out by much feet stamping and demanding to speak with managers etc. The only thing is, I've switched once in the past, to and from Npower and they really weren't much better... I'm kind of developing a learned helplessness and think maybe it's better the devil you know.....

JohalaReewi

Have been with powergen since they took over Amerada. They must have the most confusing bills in the world (especially if you get an adjusted bill after correcting their estimated meter readings). I recommend doing monthly meter readings yourself, and use the online facility to enter them onto your account. Also, do the same the day before a price hike. They also managed to forget about the dual fuel discount and went for a year without raising a single bill. Luckily I was keeping tabs on what they should have been billing and adjusted the direct debit to match so when the bill finally arrived, I had already paid most of it. The online account management is OK and works with Firefox, and you get Tesco points if you are into collecting them. Recent price rises mean they are not the cheapest provider for me anymore and it is time to switch.

keithmdw

If they won't let me reduce the direct debit amount (haven't asked them yet but online it wouldn't), would you recommend changing it to pay the bills in full or is that asking for trouble?

I have started taking meter readings and will do so every week or two. Maybe a bit over the top but at least they will be correct then and I will know how much I am using from week to week.

tootles_2

I have had 18 months free electricity from Powergen because they could not sort themselves out.....I had to involve energywatch as well, they still have not sorted my billing and just today I have applied to change provider.... they are holding £140.00 which I am trying to get back from them........I was paying by direct debit for dual fuel managed online, I must have had well over £200 refunded because the account was so much in advance.... if you want my opinion, do not touch them ............. :mad: :mad: :mad:

loopy_lass

mmmm worrying comments... im with powergen, not had any problems YET! but keeping a close check on my account.. Although they have increased my DD by £8 per month without telling me... i shall give them a week to see if they let me know...

seems most companies are the same... can anyone reccommend one?

loops

roger_c

cressie176 wrote:

I'm in the process of switching from PowerGen to nPower after frustration with Powergen's call center.

I'd been thinking of switching to a different supplier because my bill keeps going up, but found it difficult to work out from powergen's invoices how much gas & electricity I had been using. I spent ages trying to get through to the call centre a couple of weeks ago and eventually gave up. Today I got through straight away, but was informed they were unable to tell me how much Gas & Electricity I had used in the last quarter. When I challenged this, the CSR gave me a combined price, then after some more pushing I was able to get a separate price. When I asked for the value in kwh she simply hung up!

Reading this is all sounds very familiar to me and I'm in the process of moving from Powergen to NPower at the moment too.

I used to pay £45 a month, this is for 3 adults living in the same flat. I decided to give a meter reading. There was a deficit of £250 which Powergen gave me the option to pay immediately or up my direct debit to £80 (because supposedly this is my usage per month for duel fuel)! Seems alot to me when the 3 of us who live here all work during the day.

I asked why there was such a huge deficit and the woman in the call centre said that the meter readings were based on estimates, but when I asked where she got her estimates and I said they better come up with a better method of estimating she just hung up!