EON v13 to V14

foreversummer

Hi Brian

Because I am feeling particularly slow this afternoon, if I change to a different tariff that has better unit rates, is there a chance that I will lose out because of the primary rate issue?

To be quite frank I am bored with forever having to scan these boards to try to work out if I am on the best tariff. All credit to Martin and all the posters who contribute, but for goodness sake why do you not just charge us all your best rate for all our gas and electricity needs and be done.

Foreversummer

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Brian wrote: »

Hi,

Firstly you might not have exceeded the primary thresholds yet as E.ON break the primary units into four quarters, so on each quarterly bill you will have some primary units.

You’re correct though in regards to the amount not being reset, if you change tariff 3 quarters through the year you won’t have to pay for the full year’s worth of primary number of units again.

If you changed to a tariff with a different threshold of primary units, your next quarterly bill may show more or less units billed at the primary rate to compensate for the change.

Brian

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Foreversummer,

If you change tariff, your primary units will not be affected, i.e. if you’ve paid for 700 primary units already this year you won’t have to pay that many again if you change tariff.

Brian

hgm

I am on version 13. When I ask for a quote online it says I can't change online from this tariff. It's always given alternative options before. Are you trying to stop people changing to V14?

snoopstah

foreversummer wrote: »

To be quite frank I am bored with forever having to scan these boards to try to work out if I am on the best tariff. All credit to Martin and all the posters who contribute, but for goodness sake why do you not just charge us all your best rate for all our gas and electricity needs and be done.

Be careful what you wish for...

I've got absolutely no insider knowledge of an utility company's business model, but the basic premise of a business is not to make a loss.

Therefore, they need to sell each unit of electricity and gas for a certain amount more than they pay for those units. However, this only needs to work out to be more *on average*.

Therefore, if 91 out of 100 customers pay 10% more than the 'cost' of the electricity they use, the company can afford to give the other 9 customers that electricity for free, and still make a profit (very simplistically and not taking into account any overheads!)

What I'm trying to say is, if they gave everyone their best rate, I suspect their best rate would have to go up. Because most people are lazy or unknowledgeable and do not bother to switch to the best rate, that means they can afford to give the few savvy customers who are not afraid to move to a cheaper supplier a rate that's actually below cost if necessary* -- i.e. we are being subsidised by those people on a sub-optimal tariff.

Obviously there are ethical issues here (is it right for my electricity bills to be subsidised by some old granny on a state pension when I'm on a decent salary?), but from a pure moneysaving point of view, a company that gives everyone the best rate is very unlikely to be as cheap as a company that gives the best rate to those few who hunt it out.

* I doubt E.ON or anyone else for that matter sells anything to consumers on the for an actual loss, except those who lock into a cheap tariff before a price rise, but the principle still holds -- we get it for less than we otherwise would for a given profit margin target.

stewie_griffin

hgm wrote: »

I am on version 13. When I ask for a quote online it says I can't change online from this tariff. It's always given alternative options before. Are you trying to stop people changing to V14?

You can only switch your tariff twice every quarter online, have you already done this? If you have then you'll have to phone/email them to change.

hgm

As far as I'm aware I have only changed once from v5 to v13 - and that was by phone because the standing charge version didn't appear. I have looked online during the last month and it offered me the fixed price tariff last time - this time nothing. Unless it just counts looking as making a change.

hall2056

I am currently on Extra Saver 9 tariff. Be careful if switching from existing EON account, my online discount would drop from 8.5% to 3.3%!
In comparison against a minor saving on gas from 3.5574 to 3.30855 per unit.


Extra Saver 9:

Discounts
· 6.00 % Direct Debit Discount
· 2.00 % Dual Fuel Direct Debit Discount
· 8.50 % Online Discount



v14:

Discounts
· 6.00 % Direct Debit Discount
· 2.00 % Dual Fuel Direct Debit Discount
· 3.30 % Online Discount

hall2056

mvan

hall2056 wrote: »

I am currently on Extra Saver 9 tariff. Be careful if switching from existing EON account, my online discount would drop from 8.5% to 3.3%!
In comparison against a minor saving on gas from 3.5574 to 3.30855 per unit.


Extra Saver 9:

Discounts
· 6.00 % Direct Debit Discount
· 2.00 % Dual Fuel Direct Debit Discount
· 8.50 % Online Discount



v14:

Discounts
· 6.00 % Direct Debit Discount
· 2.00 % Dual Fuel Direct Debit Discount
· 3.30 % Online Discount

hall2056

Confused! I was on V9 (or was it V??) with a similar discount but was told that this tariff was ending and that I would be moving to the standard plan unless I switched to V13. I did this to find that I was paying more as the discount had been reduced by several %. This was when the media were blowing the eon trumpet for how they provided a great 9% drop in electric prices.

So as most people (here anyway) suspect this "game" the energy companies play with their consumers leads to total confusion and many people stuck on poor deals.

The problem is that the regulators/government (if we had one that works!) seem to avoid questions like these.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

hgm wrote: »

I am on version 13. When I ask for a quote online it says I can't change online from this tariff. It's always given alternative options before. Are you trying to stop people changing to V14?

Hi hgm

Sorry you are having a problem switching tariff online.

I have just checked the website. It's currently working ok and is not blocking product changes.

Stewie_Griffin is right you can only switch product online twice every three months. However, as you have only switched once recently and this was by phone you should be ok.

I would try again and if you are still having a problem give our internet support team a call on 0845 301 5933. They will be happy to talk you through the switch. They can also do the switch for you if necessary.

There are no restrictions on the number of product changes for customers calling in.

Hope this helps.

Malc

hgm

Thanks. I tried again last night and this time it worked. Previous time it didn't say the site wasn't working just that I couldn't do it from my account. I have now swapped to v14.