Ebico Southern Electric FREE £12 Gas

barncopxx

KimYeovil wrote: »

Shut up posting rubbish. Ebico do not give direct debit discounts.

Well said KimYeovil. :T

Hazzanet

Herewith the answer:

Ebico wrote:

Thank you for your email. As you probably know, Scottish and Southern
Energy plc operate the EquiGas tariff on our behalf and, as well as our
customers, have many pre-payment gas customers of their own supplied ontheir tariffs. They took the decision to give these customers a credit of
£12 and, due to a processing error, applied this credit to our customers
too.

We do have a policy of charging all our gas customer the same rate,
irrespective of payment type. However, we took the decision that, for
EquiGas customers using pre-payment meters, running-out of credit would
probably result in them having no heating which, in this prolonged period ofvery cold weather, could have serious consequences for their health. For this reason, if no others, we considered that we should not seek to recover the payments.

Premier_2

Hazzanet wrote: »

Herewith the answer:

Perhaps Ebico management have been reading Animal Farm, and should consider revising their ethos and website into :

With Ebico, our customers come first. All customers, equally, but some more equally than others.
That’s the only reason we’re here.

:rolleyes:

The company were quick enough to recover the DD discounts SSE wrongly apportioned, by modifying the Ebico unit rate accordingly.

It's not just PPM customers who could suffer health problems. There are a lot of people who are scared to turn on the heating in these difficult times, especially when they know they will get an horrendous bill they can't pay come Easter.
An announcement offering all Ebico customers the same credit is surely the only real solution here to ensure their original terms of treating all customers the same is maintained.

Otherwise, there is nothing distinguishing Ebico from any other supplier who discriminates based on method of payment.

I don't mind paying a little more than I need to so that everyone with Ebico pays the same, but I'm damned if I'm gonna pay extra so a few others can get additional discounts/credits.

May the Lord strike them down if that is how they plan to discriminate!

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Farway

Premier wrote: »

Otherwise, there is nothing distinguishing Ebico from any other supplier who discriminates based on method of payment.

I don't mind paying a little more than I need to so that everyone with Ebico pays the same, but I'm damned if I'm gonna pay extra so a few others can get additional discounts/credits.

May the Lord strike them down if that is how they plan to discriminate!

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Agree with the sentiment about paying a bit extra to be fair price to all, I will see how it goes as i do like the simple billing and prices

I will spare the Lord from striking them down this time

Premier_2

What about this claim from the Ebico website?

One rate for everyone

So how exactly does our tariff work, and how is it different from other companies?

Firstly, most energy supply companies charge pre-payment meter customers at a higher rate than other customers, because there’s more effort involved in servicing their payment method – supplying and looking after the meters.

As well as that, most other companies also offer deals that mean people are charged less if they use a lot of energy, or when they commit to paying in a particular way.

This means people pay usually a lower rate because they spend more. So, in effect, the market usually rewards those who have more money to spend in the first place.

EquiGas, however, takes an equitable approach. We even out between all our customers the different expenses of different payment methods. As a result, nobody is penalised because of his or her budget or circumstances, or by how much gas they choose to buy. Everybody pays at the same fair rate and there are no standing charges.

Pehaps that final paragraph should read:

EquiGas, however, takes an non-equitable approach too. We even out between all our customers the different expenses of different payment methods, and then give our pre-payment customers even more discounts. As a result, credit meter customers are penalised irrespective of his or her budget or circumstances, or by how much gas they choose to buy. Everybody pays at the same fair rate and there are no standing charges, but pre-payment customers get an additional discount too. We think that's fair, don't you?

Hazzanet

All I'm going to say is that the strength of a company is not necessarily whether they make a mistake, but how they put right a mistake when one happens.

footyguy

Hazzanet wrote: »

All I'm going to say is that the strength of a company is not necessarily whether they make a mistake, but how they put right a mistake when one happens.

Hi everyone! First time poster, although a long time lurker on MSE.

I would absolutely agree with the above comment and in this case I am not impressed at Ebico's attempts to rectify the mistake.

I too wrote to Ebico last week drawing their attention to this thread as the Ebico Representative has been conspicuous by her recent absence on MSE and I was wondering what they planned to do about maintaining their company philosophy of treating all customers equally.

Yesterday I eventually received the identical response as Hazzanet received.

Unsatisfied with the response, I urged the company to reconsider their position. Whilst I was pleased to see that such a request resulted in a personal response from the supplier's MD, Mr Phil Levermore, it looks as though he has decided to treat his customers "with inequality" over this matter.

Thank you for your email to Emma who has passed it to me for my attention. You are quite right to state that Ebico's policy is to bill all EquiGas customers at the same rate, irrespective of payment type, and I also appreciate that your view is that, as some customers have received a £12 credit and others have not, the net effect of this represents an inequality.

The very unusual cause of the payment, the prevailing weather and the fact that non-prepay EquiGas customers will see no increase in their energy costs as a result of this, led me to decide that the £12 credit should not be recovered and we should, instead, leave the situation as it was. I do understand that you take a different view and are disappointed, but I hope we can agree to disagree on this one.

Regards
Phil Levermore
Managing Director
Ebico Limited

I've just received their newsletter today too, and no mention of this £12 credit, even if it only applies to pre-payment meter customers.

I suppose I have no option but to accept to agree to disagree over this matter.

However, I am most disappointed with this decision of the company. I was attracted to them after reading about them on MSE and favoured their fundamental principle of treating all customers equally, even if that did mean slightly higher costs. Now that they seem to have broken with this fundamental principle, I'll place this supplier in the same basket as all the others and will base my choice of supplier on price comparison reasons alone.

They'd already lost my electricity supply last year when I realised I was paying just too much of a premium with Ebico compared to other supplier's tariffs.

Premier_2

footyguy wrote: »

... I was attracted to them after reading about them on MSE and favoured their fundamental principle of treating all customers equally, even if that did mean slightly higher costs. Now that they seem to have broken with this fundamental principle, I'll place this supplier in the same basket as all the others and will base my choice of supplier on price comparison reasons alone.

They'd already lost my electricity supply last year when I realised I was paying just too much of a premium with Ebico compared to other supplier's tariffs.

Oh well, like you suggest, stuff 'em! :mad:


The comment:

...the fact that non-prepay EquiGas customers will see no increase in their energy costs as a result of this,...

is total nonsense.
The company bangs on about being non-profit making (although it does make a surplus!) and how it averages out the cost of supply so that all customers are charged equally. If the company can afford to subsidise some customers, that of course has an effect on the price I pay (or decreases the surplus the company makes to donate to charitable causes).

Like you, I'll be hitting the comparison sites too. If they have decided to discriminate against certain customers (which they appear to have done), there's nothing left apart from price to distinguish them from the rest of the pack. I feel sure I'll be able to get my leccy cheaper elsewhere. Not sure about the gas yet, but if I can, I'll be offski with that too. My issue is, I don't like paying monthly by DD; I want to pay on receipt of bill.

Maybe we should all ask Ebico to change our credit gas meters for a pre-payment meter?

Hazzanet

I've run my gas through some of the comparison sites, and they are cheapest. Bizzarely, the next expensive option is only £12 more. Ironic really. I'll start the switching process tomorrow... like you say - stuff 'em.

geoff11

b/g sent me a 20 pound cheque to help me with my winter fuel bill which i was greatful for.