First Utility - Any users or reviews

blizeH

I'm so depressed about the whole gas/electricity thing. I was really looking forward to getting a Smart Metre, all ready to signup via MoneySuperMarket for the £30 cashback then noticed the reviews! Utterly dreadful. Add to what's being said on here, and man...

Are Ovo a good alternative? I really, really really really REALLY want a Smart Meter

NonGeographicalMan

blizeH wrote: »

Are Ovo a good alternative? I really, really really really REALLY want a Smart Meter

Sadly not.

All the reports about them on here and elsewhere suggest their customer service is very bit as atrocious as that of First Utility.:eek:

blizeH

Oh rubbish. Thanks.

Guess I'll stick with British Gas for now then, at least their website looks nice.

Problem is I'll never, ever ever ever check my meter. So I could get massively overcharged and would be none the wiser, d'oh!

Plushchris

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Sadly not.

All the reports about them on here and elsewhere suggest their customer service is very bit as atrocious as that of First Utility.:eek:

Cant speak for others but my experience of Ovo has been nothing but great customer service, I signed up to their variable rate tariff just before they pulled it and put their prices up and got an email the other day saying they were going to honor the prices I signed up to!

When I signed up I did it through Energyhelpline, I got the welcome email from Ovo 14 hours after signing up, it told me how much my direct debits were and gave a timeline of what would be happening.

More importantly everything I have had from them is very clear and easy to understand, not the pages of mindless drivel and jargon I've had from other suppliers.

So far I'm very impressed, my only slight gripe is the short hours their CS line is open (basically just office hours) it would be more helpful to me if they were open in the evenings.

blizeH

Thanks chris, sounds quite decent. Are they going to give you a smart meter too?

Even without that, I'm a bit tempted to move - at the moment I'm with British Gas (the WebSaver 7 or something) which isn't overly costly but I could probably save a fair amount if I moved elsewhere.

(edit) OOPS! I signed up to that this morning without noticing the cancellation fee. God I'm awesome sometimes.

NonGeographicalMan

Plushchris wrote: »

So far I'm very impressed, my only slight gripe is the short hours their CS line is open (basically just office hours) it would be more helpful to me if they were open in the evenings.

You have only had automated service from them so far. That usually works ok a lot of the time with most of these companies.

The issues arise when things go wrong and you need a human to put it right. So far the reputation of Ovo Energy is every bit as bad as First Utility in putting those things right. The short customer service opening hours certainly won't help.

Ovo Energy don't yet fit smart meters but made vague promises when they launched in 2009, that I am sure won't be honoured, to try to offer them to all their customers by the end of 2010.

blizeH

Thanks for the Ovo opinions too.

I was in correspondence with first:utility so out of morbid curiosity I asked about the overwhelming number of negative comments about them on the internets:

Thank you for your email.

With regards to Smart metering, there were some problems when we first launched this, as the response to the idea was far above our capacity to deliver the service promised at the time, so we did have some customer whom were waiting some months for their smart meters t be installed, and then to receive the online data.

However we have since rectified this by joining with Onstream, a meter installation company who performs installs for companies like National Grid, so our ability to actually deliver the service in a timely manner has been vastly increased, to the point where the waiting time for the meters now is under two months from the point where the customers started our services.

Of course we hope that your experience will be better than what you have read, if you do encounter any problems please feel free to email us or call on the number below. You will receive either a call from us regarding your meter installations, or else an email advising you to go online and select a date.

Kind regards,

Customer Services

The Onstream thing is quite interesting. I'm going to keep a close eye on how this pans out, but for now I will stick with British Gas.

NonGeographicalMan

Surely if First Utility valued their reputation they would be posting regularly in these forums.

Instead the most we have had is a letter to the management of the Moneysavingexpert.com forum to say that First Utility now claim things are not as bad as the experience that most of their customers have actually had.

Plushchris

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

You have only had automated service from them so far.

Wrong, do you know what they say about assumptions?

I have dealt with the humans at Ovo and have to say I've found them quite helpful and knowledgable on the occasions I spoke to them (If you read my original post that you quoted I mentioned the opening times of their CS line, this wouldnt have been an issue if I had never called them would it?)

NonGeographicalMan

Plushchris wrote: »

I mentioned the opening times of their CS line, this wouldnt have been an issue if I had never called them would it?)

You might just have been concerned the opening times of customer services were short in case you needed to contact them in the future.