First Utility - Any users or reviews

gatita

Bardel Thank you for the reply! yes I think we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I can't remember how much discount I should get.......... I am amazed that you have worked out that your discount is approx. £175!!! I joined on the 1st December 09 so should be getting around the same figure?
At the bottom of each bill I can see "dual fuel discount to date" for example:
First Bill Nov. /Dec 09 £12.03
Feb /10 25.93
Mrch " 36.64
Apr 46.66
May 24.62
June 55.32
July 33.48 Total £234.68 to date.


Does this mean I am entitled to this discount? surely not!!!! It would be too good to be true lol

gatita

Bardel and Plushchris, Thank you so much for taking so much time and effort explaining things. I shall follow as best I can your advice.

Bardel if you do go ahead and report FU to Watchdog, please count on me to back you up.

I recieved this reply from FU in reply to my email complaining:
"
Dear ?????
With regards to your concerns about the recent increase of your tariff, last year Ofgem agreed to change the charges that the gas and electricity distribution and transmission companies charge all Energy Suppliers. These charges came into effect on the 1st of April but we delayed passing them on to you until now.
The reason why we delayed changing our prices at that point is that we always try to offer our customers the best price possible. We also wanted to see the direction in which wholesale energy cost were moving to see if we could absorb these changes within our existing tariffs. It is now obvious that these costs are increasing and are likely to remain high for the immediate future. Rest assured we do not like to have to increase our prices, as we are committed to providing you with the lowest total bill that we can, which is why we are offering a loyalty bonus to our existing customers.
Under the terms of our energy supply license, like all suppliers, we are required to give notice of a price change within 65 days of the change taking place. At First:Utility, we have informed our customers of the price increase within 35 days, as we believe that we should notify our customers in the month in which the tariff change comes into effect.
Be assured than when the wholesale prices of energy decrease we will be passing any savings directly onto our customers.

Warm Regards

Tori, Customer Service department
first:utility
Smarter Services for Life"

Just HOW much is this loyalty bonus I wonder, has anyone found out?

bardel

Well, the discount is 12.5% of your actual bills. I guess I'm averaging £150-£160 per month for my bills, so over 9 months that's £1440 to date... * 12.5% = £180

Your bills sound like they are shown differently... At the end of my electricity statement, I have a "Spend Year To Date" and "Duel Fuel Discount Accrued Year To Date" which calculates to be 12.5% of my spend.

Entitled to the discount... Not until your 1st anniversary with them. Mine says it's due on 30th September 2010...

As for between a rock and a hard place... I don't think we should be stuck there, sounds to me like they are breaking the terms of the contract, however they are happy to let us leave for doing so.... Personally I think the contract should be excersizable, but all that means is the price increased would be delayed until 7th August thus giving us 1 further months usage at the original rates...

bardel

Ok,

the loyalty bonus is in fact the discount that we've been discussing that is building up on your bills...

Fact is (or maybe not, I am waiting for clarification)... They're reducing it from the current 12.5% to 10% which isn't even mentioned on the price increase waffle. They are then suggesting that they are also going to provide an extra discount of 7.5% in year 2 for customers staying with them for the 2nd year...

So it would seem, in addition to the retrospective price rise, we are also being served a discount reduction, coupled with another carrot to stay with them for the next year so that they can do this to us all over again next year.

I'm beginning to think that this is a scheme to prevent paying all those accrued discounts out. Alternatively, if you choose to ride it out and collect the discount, they are setting you up for another fall next year, hoping you'll leave once again.

I would suggest people check the savings they can make on their favourite switching site and remember to compare this to the lost discount they will presumably have to forfeit (again waiting for verification) between now and their anniversary.

Remember that any potential savings from other suppliers are likely to be shown as an annual saving, you should compare the fraction of this that represents the remaining period you have till your discount is due with First Utility that you will be forfeiting (remember that your discount is growing for the remainder of that period too). eg. If you can save £200 per year elsewhere and you have 3 months till your FU anniversary, by switching now you will only save 3/12 of that £200 in the next 3 months = £50. If you have accrued discount (or will have by the anniversary date) of more than this, you're probably best bet to stay put and move away upon reaching anniversary (after verifying you've received your discount)!

That's the way I read it anyways.

gatita

PHEW I have smoke coming out of my head reading your last post Bardel lol but I THINK I understand what you mean, another thing is actually putting it into practice!
Think I will try that with a nice large glass of Rioja!!
Seriously thank you very much for clarifying things for me, it is a lot clearer now. I think I will wait and hopefully get my 'bonus'!! (what a cheek) and then find another supplier. What joy!

samba

Bardel, you are assuming that FU will let you leave penalty-free in 3 months. At the moment they have to due to section 15.1(b) of their t&c's, but that only applies for a limited time period. I realise that the new tarriff states that there is no lock in, but in 3 months they may try and argue that that is for new customers only and doesn't apply to you.

The way I see it is that even without the discount, I have saved money over the last 9 months by being with FU compared to my previous supplier. Now I can move to another supplier where I will save money compared to staying with FU. I have the opportunity to do so now without penalty, although I will lose my discount. Personally I will go with what I know now and not gamble on FU playing nice in the future.

TrustMe

samba wrote: »

Bardel, you are assuming that FU will let you leave penalty-free in 3 months. At the moment they have to due to section 15.1(b) of their t&c's, but that only applies for a limited time period. I realise that the new tarriff states that there is no lock in, but in 3 months they may try and argue that that is for new customers only and doesn't apply to you.

The way I see it is that even without the discount, I have saved money over the last 9 months by being with FU compared to my previous supplier. Now I can move to another supplier where I will save money compared to staying with FU. I have the opportunity to do so now without penalty, although I will lose my discount. Personally I will go with what I know now and not gamble on FU playing nice in the future.

I think you are correct there samba. Clause 15.1(b) in FUs T&Cs only give you 10 working days to leave the contract free of penalty after notification of a price increase which is to your disadvantage. This clause also states that they (FU) must be notified by a new supplier within 15 working days after you have cancelled - this leaves a very tight margin as the new supplier has to give you the statutory 14 day cooling of period before they proceed with the new contract! So, I would suggest if you are going to leave because of this massive price increase then make it snappy.

Similar to you, I have also made a saving with FU in the last 10 months (including a couple of free new meters ), but I have left and forfeited my discount because if you add the level of my increase (Gas S/C from 32p to 78p alone is ~£40 backdated from 1st July to the end of September) it is only about £50 less than the discount I would have been entitled for the entire year under the old prices. With my switch I have estimated a saving of around £400 on the new prices - from £1200 down to £800 (I'm not a heavy user 14500KWh Gas & 3200KWh Electricity - being summer my Gas bill was actually 99p in June with £10 S/C, and so a S/C of £24 pushes the bill up considerably at this time of year).

engineer350

switched my energy supplier 4-months ago to First Utility, I thought I had a good deal till last week!!!

I received an e-mail informing me my stanging charge had been raised for Electricity from 28.35p per day to 38.40p per day and for gas from 28.35p per day to 64.31p per day more than a 200% rise, the cost for both units have also been raised.

I have complained to them but you get the usual rubbish about gas rising it makes me sick

So be warning if anyone is thinking of changing to them:(

KimYeovil

What is with all the anger and moaning about watchdogs and Watchdog? Prices change, some companies have a loyalty bonus. If you don't like annual bonuses do not choose such a tariff. How many times does it have to be pointed out that delays in notifying you of price changes are to your advantage? - you receive one to five months of fuel at the old prices plus cashback from your new supplier.

gatita

kim yeovil,
Of COURSE you just HAVE to make a sarky comment as per usual. Don't you have a life? why not go and read a book/ mend the car/ bake a cake/ ANYTHING , but for heavens sake STOP with your endless unhelpful snide remarks. In other words GO AWAY.

For anyone that wonders what I am talking about, look up the posts Kim Yeovil has made and you will understand