Essentials Tarrif - Essentially a rip off!

firsttimeholmes

Hi all

Im new to this - but just wanted you all to be aware of this - just sent this email to two of the directors on the board at british gas - thought u might fancy a read

:mad: I am writing to you to voice some concerns that I have regarding British Gas - I know that as you are both on the Board you are probably very busy men, however there is no email contact for your complaints dept and to be fair when speaking to them on the phone they are less than equipped to deal with my problem to my satisfation.

Let me first explain my background, I am currently not working as I have a 1yr old - my partner works as did I until my son was born and I have chosen to invest my time in my son. As a result of this our income is tight and having contributed a lot of tax over the years I feel no shame in claiming benefits in order to be able to give my son full time care.

My Gas and Electric bills are both currently in arrears and I am working hard to meet my monthly payments of a fraction less than £120 pounds a month. This leaves me with about 25 pounds a week to feed my family and pay other bills. So as you can imagine I was horrified to hear of the latest price rises - I watched one of your directors on the news discussing the Essentials Tarrif - so I called up to check on the details of the tarriff - and enquired about whether or not this tarrif would be better than my current tarrif (click5) - nobody seemed to know - they didnt have the tarrif details to hand - but questions were asked to colleagues and I was told that

'The Essentials Tarrif is 10% cheaper than ANY other tarriff - there will also be no price rises until April 2009'

Fantastic - why hadnt I been advised that this tarrif was available to me earlier - could I have it backdated as I had been eligible since June 2007?? No was the answer - that only customers who asked for it were eligible - and that British Gas werent responsible to tell me what tarrifs I was eligible for.

Yesterday I received two letters notifying me that my tarrif had changed and advising me of the Tarrif Rates - I compared them to my current Click 5 Tarrif Rates and calculated what my last bill would have been if I had been on this 'Fantastic Essentials Tarrif '........ My bill worked out to be more expensive?????

I then looked into it more closely and I am APPALLED to see that while the rates may LOOK cheaper - the Tier quantites are vastly higher. Gas is 1.7 times higher and Elec is 1.8 times higher than Click 5 customers tiers!!!!!

So Ess Elec Tier 1 is 14.59 and Click 5 Tier 1 is 25.727 - if you apply the multiplier 1.8 its actually 26.262 if based on a normal tier quantity.
Not only that but the lower tier is 9.71p on Ess compared to 8.566 on Click 5!!!!!!!

Ess Gas Tier 1 is 4.19 and Click 5 Tier 1 is 5.968 again if you apply the multiplier 1.7 its actually 7.123 if based on a normal tier quantity
Tier 2 is 0.2p cheaper.... wow!

Having checked the standard tarrif it seems to be cheaper than that however - if your company wants to be socially responsible - why not just make a socially responsible tarrif that is actually the cheapest tarriff rather than making things soo complicated for your customers who are struggling to feed, clothe and keep their families warm!!!!

I also think its disgusting that your company doesnt actively ensure that customers are on the correct tarriff for them - and the fact that your call centre staff are unaware of the tarriffs that you actually charge is quite frankly sloppy.

I beleive that as your company is putting financial pressure on many people in this country that you should be regulated by the FSA - maybe then you would start to care about how responsible your actually being towards your customers.

I have become responsible about my fuel bills - we have cut our usage dramatically our heating is rarely on now - and we still struggle to pay your bills - I am not sure how we will cope once winter is upon us! But hey what do you care - you and your family will be enjoying the benefits due to your massive profits!:mad:

Cardew

You are absolutely correct about the confusing tariffs with variable discounts etc etc. This applies to all the major utility companies and is a reason why many people stick with Ebico and their simple single tariff - no discounts and the same price regardless of payment method.

I believe BG advertise Essentials as their cheapest STANDARD tariff and of course Click 5 is not a 'standard' tariff. However that only serves to make the point about the deliberately confusing tariff structure - it is not acceptable IMO that customers should be aware of the terminology used by the companies.

It is also pertinent to point out that Click 5 prices were not increased when BG raised their prices last month, and it is widely expected that they will increase soon; so your comparison of prices will soon become invalid.

IMO neither BG or any of the Utility companies want to become "socially responsible"(as you put it) as they are commercial organisations with shareholders; they introduce these tariffs because of pressure from the Government. Even then as your post illustrates it is all 'smoke and mirrors' and 'Peter paying Paul' exercise.

Are you aware of this scheme?

http://www.britishgasenergytrust.org.uk/

septemberblues

So..............are you saying the Essentials tariff is more expensive than the ordinary British Gas one? I have gas and electric card meters, I thought on the Essentials Tariff if would be cheaper than normal gas..................I'm confused!

Cardew

septemberblues wrote: »

So..............are you saying the Essentials tariff is more expensive than the ordinary British Gas one? I have gas and electric card meters, I thought on the Essentials Tariff if would be cheaper than normal gas..................I'm confused!

No, it is not more expensive than the "ordinary" (i.e. Standard) BG tariff.

The OP is comparing the Essentials tariff with BG Click 5.

BG Click 5 is an internet account where you run it on-line - submit meter readings, get bills etc. This cannot be run with card meters.

SwanJon

The essentials tariff is set at the same* price as direct debit - the cheapest standard tariff.
British Gas have said that they will not apply the most recent increase to essentials until April 2009.
Because of this it might actually be cheaper than Click for a while, but as a rule, click has been cheaper.
For British Gas to proactively put you on this tariff they would need access to DWP's database to see who claims the relevant benefits, but (unsuprisingly) the DWP vetoed this.

* For some reason (as OP spotted) the thresholds for essentials didn't change in Jan when all British Gas's other tariffs did.

dmg24

I called BG to ask about this tariff, and was assured by the advisor that it was the cheapest by a long way. However, he was unable to actually give me any figures! I am also on Click 5, so think I will stay as I am for the time being.

I did post a thread on the Forum Feedback board suggesting that an article was prepared, giving details of all of the 'social' tariffs. I didn't get a reply from anybody from MSE. :rolleyes:

linni

Thanks you very much for this info as I was on the essentials tariff (not on prepayment meter). BGas recommended it to me (wrongly) and have just phoned them and Click 5 is cheaper!!!!! Furious!!!! Now back on Click 5.. That is what I love about this site - there is always someone who is clever enough to work these things out. Brilliant x

Smartmart

I can only echo the same utter confusion. I was put on the Essentials Tariff a few weeks ago - verbally. A subsequent email from BG stated that I was still on Click Energy 5. I have now written directly to their customer services. The Essentials Tariff staff again could not quote the actual rates applicable. When I find out, I will post details of the changes. I was also told that the Essentials Tariff would be back dated - but they may now be back-dating a higher tariff. All of this could be rectified with full online information similar to the other tariffs.

By the way, I have applied for the free insulation but the surveyor did not turn up yesterday but should be arriving tomorrow. This may or may not be indicative of me being on the Essentials Tariff, only time will tell.

Best of luck to you all.

jasmine

mmm..just phoned them they confirmed it can take 6-8 weeks for your registration to go thru' hence why i haven't heard anything.
Asked if the essentials tariff was cheaper than my current one -click energy 4 .
the reply (twice) was "the essentials tariff is the cheapest tariff british gas do ".....i'll wait and see :rolleyes:

1carminestocky

Be very careful speaking to BGs customer services (it's actually a call centre, btw), in my increasingly bitter experience they really don't know what they are talking about! I'm not getting at individuals, btw, I genuinely believe the structure of the company precludes any sort of decent, effective staff updates/training. Best (ONLY?) way to get someone to actually do what they say they are going to is to:

1. Ask for their FULL name (don't accept 'John' or Denise' etc).

2. Even more importantly, get them to email confirmation of what they are telling you on the phone, whether it's a claim that the Essentials tariff is the cheapest they do (I'm suspecting it genuinely isn't, btw) or if they are changing your tariff etc.

It's the only thing that seems to concentrate their minds. HTH.

jasmine

Thanks 1carminestocky
I don't believe he could be bothered even though he did work for the "essentials team" !
Looking at the ops working out of the real essentials tariff based on the higher tier 1 allowance, I would be better staying on click energy 4 rates wef 30/7/08 than switching to the essentials tariff.
I'll wait to get written notification of the essentials tariff first before kicking off in style:rotfl: