MSE News: How to beat the energy price hikes

footboy

rdtrdt wrote: »

Is this really going to work, and has anyone successfully done this?

Who exactly are you writing to/emailing at the energy supplier? I expect that in most cases such correspondence will enter some sort of customer service black hole rather than resulting in the billing system being updated to freeze your tariff.

I'm very happy to be proven wrong, if anyone has practical experience of doing this, and getting a result without having to jump through umpteen hoops with customer service etc.

I sent an online form message as follows (and made copy)

"Regarding Price Increases SSE's stated a gas-only price rise of 9.4% for 1st Dec 2010 across all standard tariffs. I wish to reject this increase and remain on the same tariff. I am initiating a switch of supplier. Best regards..."

That was it. I had a nice response including the following text.. ".. I am sorry to hear that you are leaving. Provided we receive confirmation from your new supplier of their intention to take over the supply within the next 15 working days we will of course honour your old price structure and not charge you anything on our new price, from 01 December 2010..."

So there you go, that worked and I've netted £80.80 cashback via TCB and will be getting the £100 EDF carrot, as well as saving £45 on the actual bill before all that.

Thank you MSE

davidgmmafan

rdtrdt wrote: »

Is this really going to work, and has anyone successfully done this?

Who exactly are you writing to/emailing at the energy supplier? I expect that in most cases such correspondence will enter some sort of customer service black hole rather than resulting in the billing system being updated to freeze your tariff.

I'm very happy to be proven wrong, if anyone has practical experience of doing this, and getting a result without having to jump through umpteen hoops with customer service etc.

I was rather under the impression some posters on here had used this to good effect and this is why they expressed concern that the change forced by Ofgem would make some customers worse off.

sly_dog_jonah

We complete on an new build property on Thursday 9th and Gas/Elec is provided by British Gas. As the price rise takes effect the next day, can we reject the price hike by telling them we want to switch away? Unfortunatley we will be stuck on standard tarriff because any online discount or direct debit discount requires signing up to a long-term contract.

jrawle

I was on Scottish Power's "discounted energy online December 2010" package, which ended yesterday. They increased their prices on 25 November, but the increase didn't apply to my package. However, 5 days later I have the choice of going onto the (new, higher) standard prices, or signing up for another year to a discounted package 2% lower than the new prices.

I am switching to EDF. I want to write a letter to reject the new prices, but it isn't as simple as the normal case of them increasing the prices. They will say my deal came to an end, and that there was no price increase. How can I phrase a letter so say I want to go onto the old, lower standard prices for the month or two it takes to switch?

charlie792

Im just wondering if someone can help me out. Swalec have not actually told me directly the prices have gone up but I came across it a week or two ago somewhere else, immediately Ive started the process to switch but the new charges have already come into effect as of the 1st December - Can I still write to Swalec and reject this price increase?

Dragon77

Does anyone know how this works in relation to Minimum Terms? For example, I've just got an email from NPower stating that the prices are going up however I only moved over to them 6 months ago and there is a fee if I leave within the first 12 months.

Am I still entitled to reject the price rise as suggested in this article and move without occuring the £60 exit fee?

t0rt0ise

Dragon77 wrote: »

Does anyone know how this works in relation to Minimum Terms? For example, I've just got an email from NPower stating that the prices are going up however I only moved over to them 6 months ago and there is a fee if I leave within the first 12 months.

Am I still entitled to reject the price rise as suggested in this article and move without occuring the £60 exit fee?

No, because the terms in the contract will be that it is a variable tariff so they are within their rights to vary it.

t0rt0ise

charlie792 wrote: »

Im just wondering if someone can help me out. Swalec have not actually told me directly the prices have gone up but I came across it a week or two ago somewhere else, immediately Ive started the process to switch but the new charges have already come into effect as of the 1st December - Can I still write to Swalec and reject this price increase?

Yes, the time you have to tell them starts from when they notify you, but you can pre-empt that by calling them first.

GraceCourt

charlie792 wrote: »

Im just wondering if someone can help me out. Swalec have not actually told me directly the prices have gone up but I came across it a week or two ago somewhere else, immediately Ive started the process to switch but the new charges have already come into effect as of the 1st December - Can I still write to Swalec and reject this price increase?

Yes... the obligation is for them to notify you about the increase. This can be in a number of ways: for example, if you signed up for an online account it's likely that they only have to e-mail you, or otherwise they might write to you and enclose details of the new tariff. A general "we will be putting up our prices next month" e-mail or junk mail post that doesn't specify the new tariff does not count as notification.

housesitter

In the process of leaving Scottish Power.
Notified them of my intent to leave due to the price increase and my rejection of it back in December.

Since then have had several bills which really don't make much sense but attempt to indicate the final amounts for gas and electric. Contridicting depending on what order you read them they really don't make much sense and are missing any history to see what they've done.

It looks like they charged me the higher rate then discounted it, but without all the figures I cannot tell nor do I trust them.

So I've stopped the DD and put in a complaint waiting for them to contact me about it.

Since December I have had 15 bills from them in one shape or another. Dual fuel, individual accounts, different account numbers.
Why does it have to be so hard?