New Gas & Electric Co. "OVO Energy"

A_fiend_for_life

How is standing charge determined at the company level?

I am guessing it is by demand since if it was fixed per customer ebico would have a disproportianatly high cost.

A_fiend_for_life

A note on Ebico while they might not be the cheapest the fair treatment and easy payment options makes up for it for some consumers.

Given the number of people who are now unemployed and possibly unable to make payments on time they will be bounced out of their prompt payment discounts and might be inclined to look for an easy payment option.

Losing discounts might push people to a better price and less weighting on discounts since they want a competitive price today not 3 months 6 months or whenever. Ebico might well come out top in that regard.

Hiking DD's on struggling low consumers might also see people favouring Ebico.

Mynewt

Good point there "a friend for life" when you factor out loyalty incentives, prompt pay and so on Ebiico do start climbing the tables and as mentioned previously there CS rating are very favourable indeed sometimes its worth paying a little more to be get the service you want/deserve.

Standing charge is completley up to the supplier in question, so suppliers are free to adjust this as they would their unit costs and tiering systems.

Plushchris

Mynewt wrote: »

Nothing at all actually, they both have respectably high customer service rating - they just happen to be the perfect example for the point i'm making. Started out strong, started out bing the cheapest provider by a long shot and now as you ay by their own admission no longer are.

If Ovo go the same way you'll see my cite them in future posts too don't worry.

I wouldnt say Ebico ever "Started out by being the cheapest supplier by a long shot" you're really showing yourself up now, to think you said Premier doesnt know what hes talking about! :rolleyes:

Ebico were and are only ever the cheapest supplier for a smaller minority of users (mainly low users and prepayment) those that found Ebico were the cheapest when they switched a year or two ago would probably find that to still be the case.

Atlantic are generally the same, I dont remember Atlantic being the "Cheapest by a long shot" either, their prices are not the cheapest around at the moment but they certainly arent what I would call expensive and they do have the better customer service rating out of all the suppliers (being as they are part of the SSE group)

And seeing as unit rates are fixed for OVO then whats the risk?

Martyn_H

Ovo's tariffs are fixed. Will they reduce their unit prices if energy prices fall after I've signed up with them?

Premier_2

Martyn_H wrote: »

Ovo's tariffs are fixed. Will they reduce their unit prices if energy prices fall after I've signed up with them?

No.

What you would need is a capped tariff for that scenario, but as you said Ovo's deal is a fixed tariff.

Plushchris

This why I wish the difference between capped and fixed was made clearer, too many times I've heard people refering to tariffs as "capped" when they are fixed.

Martin in particular is one of the guilty parties, saying its common parlance isnt really good enough, if a salesman sold a fixed rate tariff saying it was capped I'm fairly sure there would be a straight case for miss-selling.

jamesperrett

I've just applied to be switched to Ovo for both gas and electricity and they've given me a switchover date of the 1st of January. It will be interesting to see how well it goes but initial signs look good. I've been with Southern Electric for years and have been very happy with their customer service but I wasn't happy to find that they now only offer competitive deals to new customers.

James.

t0rt0ise

I too have been given a switch over date of 1st January. Last time I tried to sign up with a new supplier nothing happened and after several weeks of not getting a date I cancelled. Spark that was.. must see if they are actually still going.

As for Ovo I was a bit unsure of signing up for a year with a fixed price but guess that it may be okay. If it really is cheaper to start with even if the others lower their prices as they should, it maybe will be okay.

I was also with Ebico a couple of years ago and despite not being in the special categories of customer that some mention, it was the cheapest for me by far. It is nowhere the cheapest now so whoever said that was right.

PsiDOC

Had a go with them and they say they can save me £22 a year. Judging by their T's & C's and the leaving fee I'll give them a miss.
Thanks for the pointer anyway.

Psi