Beware Ebico...

Xbigman

Beware Ebico...

Got your attention then.

Ebico have traditionally positioned themselves so their unit price has been quite dear but with no standing charge or higher tiers they worked out cheaper for low users. There are a lot of people switching to ebico right now who do not fit that profile but for who Ebico will be cheaper for a few months. Ebico should raise their prices in Sept, or at the least announce a price rise. Now if you look at the rises piled on by others in the last year you could reasonably expect to see Ebico announce a 40% gas rise and 30% electricity rise. I'm not kidding. My advice for anyone thinking of moving to Ebico now is to wait. For those who are already there, brace yourselves. I very sincerely hope the rise will be much less but I am being realistic.
Regards




X

Stormy

Xbigman wrote:

...see Ebico announce a 40% gas rise and 30% electricity rise. I'm not kidding. X

Ouch, I hope not. I moved in April for Gas but decided to go for Click Energy for Electric (BG) which has been a struggle and still is although I did get my £50 incentive for singing up at house.co.uk at the time. I can now access my account but I never seem to get a bill and they never ask for a meter reading.

I was going to ditch Click as BG just seem to snare you then increase the prices. I decided to hang fire changing to Ebico for the reasons you state.

However, you have to remember Ebico is "not for profit" so I don't see why they would have to raise prices much more than the big guns, if they get a discounted rate from Southern then they don't need to put much of a premium on that to cover costs, unless of course at the moment they are losing a lot of money.

Also standing charges these days seem to never work out a good idea for me on any tarif. I have seen no cheaper tarifs for me when they have standing charges.

Mike

crossleydd42

I don't see that blackening a not-for-profit company's name, just on conjecture, is justified. The whole energy scene is in the melting pot just now and we should keep a careful watch on ALL suppliers. By Autumn, the price round should be complete, when a review should be undertaken by everyone.

shammyjack

Xbigman wrote:

Beware Ebico...

Got your attention then.

Ebico have traditionally positioned themselves so their unit price has been quite dear but with no standing charge or higher tiers they worked out cheaper for low users. There are a lot of people switching to ebico right now who do not fit that profile but for who Ebico will be cheaper for a few months. Ebico should raise their prices in Sept, or at the least announce a price rise. Now if you look at the rises piled on by others in the last year you could reasonably expect to see Ebico announce a 40% gas rise and 30% electricity rise. I'm not kidding. My advice for anyone thinking of moving to Ebico now is to wait. For those who are already there, brace yourselves. I very sincerely hope the rise will be much less but I am being realistic.
Regards




In the past I have respected your helpfull posts but I am afraid you have just joined the band of silly scaremongers with this post .

Its inevitable that Ebico will have to raise prices , however, I still think they will be the cheapest for most after the round of rises is complete .

September is only just over a month away so we will not have to speculate for long and in that time I can see most of the other energy providers following EDF and BG . At least we will have a level playing field on which to base our descisions .

shammy

lisyloo

but I never seem to get a bill and they never ask for a meter reading

They won't send you a bill, but you can log on and look for it.
They probably won't ask for a meter reading for a while but you can put one in whenever you like.
My advice is to update it monthly so that you can keep on top of it and not get a shock.

melbury

Xbigman wrote:

Beware Ebico...

Got your attention then.

Ebico have traditionally positioned themselves so their unit price has been quite dear but with no standing charge or higher tiers they worked out cheaper for low users. There are a lot of people switching to ebico right now who do not fit that profile but for who Ebico will be cheaper for a few months. Ebico should raise their prices in Sept, or at the least announce a price rise. Now if you look at the rises piled on by others in the last year you could reasonably expect to see Ebico announce a 40% gas rise and 30% electricity rise. I'm not kidding. My advice for anyone thinking of moving to Ebico now is to wait. For those who are already there, brace yourselves. I very sincerely hope the rise will be much less but I am being realistic.
Regards




X

Thanks for that, I have just switched to them. You have really cheered me up!

lisyloo

but I am afraid you have just joined the band of silly scaremongers with this post

I don't agree it's scaremongering at all (although it is speculation).

Other companies have raised prices several times since last year.
It is therefore inevitable that their price rises are very likely to be larger if Ebico only do it once a year and other companies do it multilple times.

Whilst they might be good and save some money because they arent paying comission etc. they cannot buch the trend of rising wholesale prices totally.

Quite large rises are quite logical and I think it's only sensible to prepare for that.
Anyone who want to stick their head in the sand might get a shock.

rowej

I had an E-mail from Energy Helpline this morning inviting me to do a price comparison. So I did! Ebico would have given a saving of £93 a year (dual fuel). I was tempted but after reading this thread have decided to wait until September and see how prices compare then. I only transferred from Powergen to N-power in April!

dc

Xbigman wrote:

Ebico should raise their prices in Sept, or at the least announce a price rise. Now if you look at the rises piled on by others in the last year you could reasonably expect to see Ebico announce a 40% gas rise and 30% electricity rise. I'm not kidding. My advice for anyone thinking of moving to Ebico now is to wait. For those who are already there, brace yourselves. I very sincerely hope the rise will be much less but I am being realistic.
Regards
X

maybe,???? but they are more than 30% cheaper on electricity for me on CURRENT BG prices, even on high usage, so in September they will still be cheaper even with your hefty conjectured increase...

BG push the fact that the do not have a standing charge but they DO. Around £20 per account for the first few high charged units.

Xbigman

Its not scaremongering. In the energy industry a lot of gas and electric is sold up to a year in advance, which is probably why Ebico have not raised prices for nearly a year. Ebico are due a massive rise and its a fact.
The fact they are not for profit has no effect. If others put their bills up 40% then a not for profit company may start from a lower base, but their price will rise by 40% as well in relative terms.

Its also a fact that their traditional market positioning will not suit a lot of those customers switching now.

Now if you want scare mongering, will they exist at all after sept?
Regards



X

LinW13

Interesting thread...

I've been with Ebico for only 3 months, and I'm expecting a big hike in September. Just gone back to my spreadsheet and increased their unit prices (which were set in Sept 2005) by 40% for gas and 30% for elecricity. Compared to BG's dual fuel DD tariffs for MARCH 2006, I'll still save 5%. And since then BG have announced another big increase. So, price wise, I'm not too worried.

However, I do wonder how Ebico are financially situated. Bottom line is this... I don't know how they are managing to hold their prices, and that makes me uneasy.

I don't consider myself a scaremonger. I feel my concerns are legitimate.

Take care all,
LinW13