First Utility - Any users or reviews

hippey

I did think that myself!

I just can't understand what is going on... They say prices have gone up since July yet on my June bill they changed, and it seems they may have changed again in July, it is frustrating as you can no longer trust them to get it right or even if I am paying the right price.

My standing charge doubled in June and now up another 10% apparently in July, why? My unit prices appear to have dropped so the bill is slightly less but is that right?

All I want is decent customer service! and some honest answers! Not waiting on hold on a 0845 number for ever!

TrustMe

Having cancelled my 'contract' with First Utility I was given assurance by phone and by email that I would only be charged the old rates - ie the new price increase would not be backdated to 1st July, as per industry regulations.

Today, I received my online bill - you can probably guess the rest!

The lying, lowlife outfit they call First Utility needs to be closed down.

hippey

I called FU again today, and again a nice customer agent tried to be helpful and did indeed ring me back.... This time to tell me she went to the filing cabinet to locate my contract and it's gone!!!

She promptly advised me she would have to call back! GRRR!

balf

First Utility informed me on 28 July ( I was away then and only read the e mail when I got back yesterday) of the increases in charges. Can they do this - tell you they are putting up the rates for the July bill at the end of July?

I am a fairly low gas user - can't afford to use a lot, and First has not only put the gas price up by a fraction but the service charge has been almost doubled, from 34 ppd to 76.5 ppd. So they are obviously targetting the low gas users. Over the year this would cost me dear.

So I am off to another supplier. My tip - avoid First Utility.

David.

KimYeovil

balf wrote: »

First Utility informed me on 28 July ( I was away then and only read the e mail when I got back yesterday) of the increases in charges. Can they do this - tell you they are putting up the rates for the July bill at the end of July?

I am a fairly low gas user - can't afford to use a lot, and First has not only put the gas price up by a fraction but the service charge has been almost doubled, from 34 ppd to 76.5 ppd. So they are obviously targetting the low gas users. Over the year this would cost me dear.

So I am off to another supplier. My tip - avoid First Utility.

David.

Yes, they can spread the notifications over a quarter. The good news is that you can tell them to stick* their new prices and you can switch to a new supplier and they will honour the original tariff prices until the swtichover. You'll have to get your skates on, though, as you only have fourteen days from being notified to tell them. Email them today and do a search and choose a new supplier tonight or tomorrow.

(* You may want to phrase this differently.)

(By the way, if you are a low user I am surprised First Utility were competitive for you even with their previous prices.)

TrustMe

balf wrote: »

First Utility informed me on 28 July ( I was away then and only read the e mail when I got back yesterday) of the increases in charges. Can they do this - tell you they are putting up the rates for the July bill at the end of July?

I have done some more homework on this one.

Under the current rules an energy company doesn't have to inform you of a price rise until up to 65 days after the increase. When you have been informed you have up to 20 days to inform the company if you wish to cancel your contract so that the price increase will not be applied to your account - best by telephone call followed by an email asking for the cancellation confirmation code. Although first utility will increase your current monthly bill, they promise to credit the backdated amount to 1st July when they issue your final bill after you switch. There are no exit fees in this case as it is due to a price increase.
Bear in mind that when you switch, the new company will not do anything for 14 days after they accept you as a customer because they have to give you the regulatory 14 day cooling off period. First Utility require confirmation of the switch 15 days after you cancel according to their T&Cs (although when I phoned them they told me they were giving 20 days) and so it is essential to switch immediately.

balf wrote: »

I am a fairly low gas user - can't afford to use a lot, and First has not only put the gas price up by a fraction but the service charge has been almost doubled, from 34 ppd to 76.5 ppd. So they are obviously targetting the low gas users. Over the year this would cost me dear.
David.

Looks like we were both on very similar contracts, and as a low/medium user my standing charge is much higher than my gas usage in the summer (£1 Gas and £24 S/C for July under the increased rates). My switch should hopefully be complete by next week :j

Markyboy78

I have recently left First Utility and moved to another supplier due to the company being wholly unable to offer even the most basic level of customer service.

Over the past approx. 6 months, they have failed to collect Direct Debit payments properly with a range of excuses, all of which are due to their poor systems and incompetence. Most of the problems have related to trying to take payments with no instruction being set up with my bank, but this month, the instruction was there and they didnt even attempt to take the amount owed.:mad::mad::mad:

Even on speaking managers, the excuses continue but still nothing is fixed properly. Which has resulted in me making excessive phone calls to them and my bank to fix their mess and now I've had enough and believe its time everyone knew what this company is REALLY like.

The concept of the service is excellent, smart meters are a great move but the service element is a total failure and not worth the hassle in my opinion and I would not recommend their service to anyone (These comments are based wholly on my own personal experience).

hippey

Finally FU have sorted out the issues affecting my billing, and added a small amount for goodwill.

It appears I'm on an old tariff now which is fine for my usage at the moment, it is almost the cheapest (only EDF beats it) even with the increased standing charge which is now 22p / day. However if my actual physical usage changes or the times in which I use electric then I will have to rethink, but for now I will be sticking with this firm.

TrustMe

hippey wrote: »

Finally FU have sorted out the issues affecting my billing, and added a small amount for goodwill.

From personal experience, and from reading many comments on several forums, I would be careful with the word 'Finally' - First Utility have a reputation of promising one thing today and forgetting about it immediately, which you won't notice until your next bill arrives.

hippey wrote: »

It appears I'm on an old tariff now which is fine for my usage at the moment, it is almost the cheapest (only EDF beats it) even with the increased standing charge which is now 22p / day.

Can I ask if this is the Gas or Electric S/C and what area you live in. As the main issue is with the Gas S/C which has risen to around 48p/day for new customers and around 70p/day for existing customers (130% increase in my case), it seems that if FU are going to charge you 22p/day S/C for Gas then they must have lost a lot of customers in the last few weeks and are becoming desperate.

You also say that you are on an old tariff at the moment - this I would presume is the V1 or V2 tariff. If so then I am a little confused how you have managed to remain on it as I believe all previous tariffs have now been scrapped and replaced by the V4 tariff.

hippey

The 22p standing charge is for Electric in the EMEB region (with a smart meter), my tariff pre-dates V1 as I'm still on the old 3 rate tariff. I can't (and won't) take Gas from them as I'm on a IGT and quite a low user anyway so Ebico actually works out the cheapest for the whole year.

I think the 'standard' tariffs have been moved over but the E7 & 3 rate ones have stayed the same just with new rates like I have said before my peak 4-8pm rate has dropped about 1/3rd. I reality it has taken £2 or £3 off the bill. I agree with your point about waiting for the August bill but I think I have made a number of inroads with my complaint so hopefully.......