New Suppler on the Block. (Merged)

Cardew

Dr.Shoe wrote: »

All we need to do is to keep switching to the cheapest company, the prices will soon come down then.

The difficulty with that strategy is nearly all of the cheapest suppliers have a penalty for leaving before a fixed term.

Now given that BG(who some believe are the spawn of the devil) made £36 a year profit per customer last year(their best ever year) and the average early exit fee is £60, I think the utility companies might encourage your suggestion!

tripled

Apparently he is going to save people 'up to £300 per year'. I'll believe that one when I see it. If you use BG's figure of an average annual cost of £899 on their 'websaver' dual fuel internet tariff, assuming they hit their 8% margin for the year on this (unlikely) that leaves a profit of 70 quid. With the economies of scale the big suppliers have, I'd be surprised if he could save people £3 per year than the cheapest alternate tarriff.

Interesting to see one of the people he has 'helped' is pleased because they don't wear so many layers and don't have to turn the heating off at night. So he is funding someone to not put a jumper on.

Premier_2

I think the 'up to £300 per year' can be acheived as per what MSE Martin said in the tonight programme (and probably elsewhere too)

i.e. the average cost of a user on standard tariff paying on receipt of bill is about £1200 p.a. and that can be reduced to £900 if a customer switches to an internet tariff including online billing and paying monthly by DD.

I'd love to know who that woman was (perhaps his mum?) and how she and he came together and he volunteered to pay her bills for her. As I said, can't find any details about him on google ... I'm sure there are a many more people he could spend is money on (if he's got any) helping out those in fuel poverty. I wonder what criteria she was chosen on (other than a possible friend or relation of his)?

I fear he won't keep his self proclaimed millions long unless he has some better financial accumen than he has so far displayed. e.g. as well as other issues I raised about his new companies, I can't see any official charity organisation he is operating under.

iceblue24

Cardew wrote: »

Do you live in Russia?

Seriously have you any link to the news story about a couple 'freezing to death'?

It sounds like an 'urban myth'.

Thats actually true, i remember hearing about it in the news. Im not allowed to post links so if anyone can be bothered, run a google search for "couple freeze to death" and its the first link in the search results.

I_luv_cats

This chap was on Gmtv this morning and think woz on the tonight programme. Can't do any harm if it scatters the pidgeons In the energy market.
I am with Ebico and like no standing charge, no tiers and am prob quids in, most of the year. Winter and esp. this one I think has cost me more.
Ebico get their energy via Scottish and Southern, does this stick more ££ on the bill unless they give it away @ cost.
55,000 custs aren't alot, I thought there would be millions!

KimYeovil

iceblue24 wrote: »

Thats actually true, i remember hearing about it in the news. Im not allowed to post links so if anyone can be bothered, run a google search for "couple freeze to death" and its the first link in the search results.

Couples freeze to death because they are foolish. They do not freeze to death because they do not have access to sufficient income to easily heat a couple of rooms in their home. The price of energy has absolutely nothing to do with such deaths.

And why would a new company that would be more expensive for most pensioner couples be of any help?

Cardew

iceblue24 wrote: »

Thats actually true, i remember hearing about it in the news. Im not allowed to post links so if anyone can be bothered, run a google search for "couple freeze to death" and its the first link in the search results.

That is quite typical.

Even the ever accurate and non-sensational Daily Mirror can't quite bring themselves to say "couple freeze to death".

The headline actually states "Death of an elderly couple in a freezing home ---"

Nothing in the article about them not being able to afford heating or that 'cold' was the cause of death. From the brief details it states that the elderly husband was unable to cope with his wheelchair bound wife and wanted her placed in a home; and the social services failed to help.

The couple ran a car etc.

More in the Daily Telegraph here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6975901/Anger-over-lonely-death-of-Jean-and-Derrick-Randall-amid-winter-freeze.html

It seems pretty clear that the social services are at fault, but nothing to even suggest the couple were poor. It also appears that, as he was found dead lying in the hallway(and his disabled wife in bed) that he might have suffered a heart attack. Given they had been dead for some days when discovered, it is not surprising that the non-centrally heated house was freezing.

Obviously a very sad case, but absolutely nothing to suggest that they froze to death because they couldn't afford heating.

Premier_2

I_luv_cats wrote: »

...55,000 custs aren't alot, I thought there would be millions!

Probably more to do with the fact so many people in this country have never switched supplier ... and those that do prefer to do so either do because some salesman has conned them into switching in a supermarket, on their doorstep, etc or where the customer has taken the initiative themselves, they choose their supplier based on cost.

Ebico are not usually the cheapest supplier, even though they are a non-profit making organisation. They also don't spend much on marketing. If a company spends money on marketing, that ultimately has to be reflected in the price charged.

Ebico do supply in partnership with SSE. This is because it means that they don't have to go to the expense of getting their own supply licence (which ultimately would need to be reflected in the price) nor go to the expense of running their own billing & customer service operations (again which would need to be reflected in the end price)

Stockdale would need to buy his energy from somone (and there arn't that many options available) and I don't think he's applied for a supply licence.
Mind you, he hasn't even got a business yet. He's got no place to purchase the energy, he's go no customers, he's got no idea of the market size, he's got no supply licence, he's got no prices, etc. In fact he doesn't even own his own office to operate from; quite strange for someone who proclaims themselves to be a multi-millionaire. Take a look at other multi-millionaires such as Alan Sugar and Donald Trump - you'll see they own their own property, in fact much of their wealth is tied up in property.

As I said, Stockdale appears to be striking resemblence to Ben Scammell and his Pipeline card pipedream about 5 years ago promising cheap petrol, coupled with some fantasy of being a high flyer like a certain Liam Young duped some to believe (He closed his company down about a year after appearing on Big Brother claiming a turnover of £1/4 mill. without having ever produced any accounts, so nothing to substantiate his outragous claims ... but a lot of evidence available to the contrary ... I won't mention the cushions and the glow sticks, whoops I just have )

dunloadin

If you really want to go for it I reckon a 'national changeover day' would do it....start a campaign to get millions to switch over to whoever is the cheapest supplier on the same day....now that will make the rest sit up and think.

bohma2000

I can't understand why so many people are being so negative about At Cost Energy. It sounds like a great idea to me. I think we should give the guy a chance and see what he comes up with. After all it costs nothing to register interest and we are not committed to change to them if we don't like their charges!