Atlantic price increase

DGJsaver

Official MoneySavingExpert.com Insert

What's this about?

Atlantic has just announced price increases for its customers, yet it has backdated these to August meaning you will be forced to pay increased energy costs for the last three months.

Can it do that?

Ofgem says Atlantic's within its rights to do this provided they tell you within 65 days of the change.

Reject, switch & save!

It's possible to write to Atlantic to reject the price rise. Simply put pen to paper and let it know you reject the price rise and give notice to leave. This means you should not have to pay the increased price and you should be free to switch to another supplier.

But officially you must do this within 10 days of receiving the notice of price rises (yet if its too late anyway - try there's nothign to lose if you're going to switch). Atlantic must then receive notification from you're new supplier that you're going to switch, within 15 days.

Can it disconnect you?

Atlantic is supposed to receive notification of the intent to switch within 15 days, you don't actually have to switched in this time (it usually takes up to 12 weeks).

However even if this happens Ofgem says it's unlikely Atlantic will disconnect you unless you refuse to pay your most recent bill. There are a number of steps a supplier has to take before they can disconnect a customer.

For full details on how to find the cheapest supplier plus get cashback on top read the Cheapest Gas & Elec article.

Back to the original post and thanks to DGJsaver for highlighting this

PS Sorry it took so long to get an official answer, you'll see why in Martin's Atlantic Energy blog


Just had the price increase letter from atlantic, 29% on gas 19.9% or summat for leccy , assuming we are `average` users , roughly , will we be better off switching , or are we now just at the level everyone else is at ?

Cheers


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dekh

This arrived for me today too, and what is really upsetting and customer unfriendly... It's backdated to August 25th. Nice. If I bought petrol and the pump displayed 99.9 but at the till they charged 105.9 the petrol station would get done. "Our licence allows us to backdate 65 days."

However in the small print : 10 working days to notify your current supplier that you are switching and 15 working days after that to actually switch and they can't backdate the price rise.

Last time I switched from Scottish power they refused to admit those terms were in the letter and I had to fight for my rates. Hang on to your notification and time to price compare again.



nPower are coming up cheapest for me. Have they done their price increases recently?

SirenSister

Thanks for the information in the small print Not at all happy at the back-dated price increase.

Is anywhere else cheaper? Have had Ebico recommended to me which I'm told you won't find on a price comparison site.

dick_turpin

Same letter here too.I have done price comparisons on three different websites, two say I will save by switching to EON, one says no savings to be made!
Perhaps a bit more detailed research required.

DC

IHateDida

Does anyone else get their "loyalty bonus" of one months direct debit payment back? Just wondered whether this would overall still make them cheaper as we get around £60 back a year? (as I'm annoyed too!)

suwillia

;Dear All,

What licence allows Atlantic E&G to backdate 65 days? I can't see anything in their on-line terms and conditions.

Vestra

suwillia wrote: »

;Dear All,

What licence allows Atlantic E&G to backdate 65 days? I can't see anything in their on-line terms and conditions.

It's not backdating, they increased the prices on 25th August 2008 but the energy companies have up to 65 days to notify the customers.

Cardew

suwillia wrote: »

;Dear All,

What licence allows Atlantic E&G to backdate 65 days? I can't see anything in their on-line terms and conditions.

Ofgem have made this very reasonable rule of 65 working days(3 months) to protect customers. As I posted on the other thread:

It is legal and a late formal notification works to your advantage in many cases.

You now have 14 days to apply to switch supplier, and you will pay for your gas/electricity at the pre-increase rate until the switch is made(is there a 30 day max from application to switch?)

So you will get over 3 months at the pre-increase tariff rate.

If you really like Atlantic, you can always switch back!!!

peachyprice

Very strange, I got my letter way back in August when the increases were announced.

Cardew

peachyprice wrote: »

Very strange, I got my letter way back in August when the increases were announced.

It is really not strange.

Take the biggest company BG who I believe have approx 20 million customers.

The administrative effort to send out 20 million letters on the same day is just impossible.

So the only alternative would be to send out letters to customers with, say, names beginning with 'A' telling them their increase would start on 25 August, those beginning with 'B' on 26 Aug, Those beginning with 'C' on 27 Aug etc. etc.

Imagine the outcry from Mr Applegate about his next door neighbour(Mr Zebedee) who didn't pay the new rates until a month later than him.

So spreading out the admimistrative load reduces costs.

This way everyone pays from the same date, and can get out of paying the increase if they switch.

dekh

I've started the process of switching.

I'm off to British Gas, but that's not the best for everyone.

I have 10 working days to inform Atlantic that I am switching. I then have 15 working days to switch.

BG have told me that it will take 28 days to switch, (20 working days), and that might be from the time I return their pack - despite applying online.

To avoid the price hike being applied retrospectively I have to delay telling Atlantic for as long as possible and then hope for the best.

Only 15 working days to switch (3 weeks) is unfair if it's going to take 4 weeks to switch.

I understand the point about not being able to write to customers of price rises in a timely manner.

I have 2 issues with this:
I'm on their online price scheme, they have my email address.
If it's 94.9 at the pump when I fill my car I can't be charged 114.9 when I reach the till. By changing the price without informing me they have taken away my choice to use or abandon their services or to change the way I use their service.

I choose to leave.