Massive increase in Atlantic Electricity & Gas from Jan 1st 2007

researcher

I've just had a sneaky letter from Atlantic - telling me that their prices are to go up from Jan 1st - no mention of %, just telling me how wonderful they are!

I've rang and checked what rates they're increasing by - Gas is going up by a whopping 16.5% :eek: and electricity by 9.4% :mad: .

The underhanded manner of their letter has really annoyed me, and unless they are considerably cheaper than anyone else I'll leave them after many years.

I hate being treated like an idiot! :mad:

espresso

researcher wrote:

I've just had a sneaky letter from Atlantic - telling me that their prices are to go up from Jan 1st - no mention of %, just telling me how wonderful they are!

I think that you are being a little naive about these price rises which were announced in September nearly two months ago, that will come into effect next year! Atlantic prices last went up from the 1st May 06 and they said then that they would not increase again until the following year. How long did you really expect prices to go without an increase, when some other companies have made several increases this year? My calculations make the gas price rise to be just over 12% and not the 16% that you have stated. Move if you can find cheaper but all of their competitors prices have also gone up.

ALTEA

I know what you mean about atlantic and their poor communications, I've had issues before with them for example they changed their name on my direct debit with out teilling me so i quite rightly cancled the dd as I did'nt know what it was. Theres been other issues with their comms also.

researcher

espresso wrote:

My calculations make the gas price rise to be just over 12% and not the 16% that you have stated.

Mine aren't calculations - they are a direct quote from Atlantics customer services department today.

Also, when advising customers of a rate increase in postal communications I think it only right that they should inform you of the exact rate rise, rather than just provide details of the new tariff.

espresso

researcher wrote:

Mine aren't calculations - they are a direct quote from Atlantics customer services department today.

Also, when advising customers of a rate increase in postal communications I think it only right that they should inform you of the exact rate rise, rather than just provide details of the new tariff.

The letter that I received has all of their prices for all regions on the reverse side of the letter, are you saying that your letter does not have this information?

researcher

espresso wrote:

The letter that I received has all of their prices for all regions on the reverse side of the letter, are you saying that your letter does not have this information?

Not at all, I'm saying the letter does not provide details of the % of price increase. How many people are able to work out calculations from the information provided on the back page of the correspondence?

Their own customer services department agreed that the information should have been there!

Cardew

It seems to have become standard practice for some utility companies to delay their tariff increases so they are cheapest on the various comparison networks and thus attract unwary new customers.

For instance BG’s Click Energy tariff, which comes out cheapest for many people, did not increase last September when BG’s standard tariffs increased. Anyone care to bet when that will increase?

I share the OP’s annoyance at the tone of the letters from the PR people at the utility companies. Letters arrive telling me how they save the world by planting trees, digging wells in impoverished African villages, finance projects harnessing the wind and sun to provide energy etc etc. At the end, almost as an aside, they announce an increase in tariff.

Unlike many people I accept that most of the rises are justified, as they have to be approved by the regulator, but spare me the ‘PR speak’.

espresso

researcher wrote:

Not at all, I'm saying the letter does not provide details of the % of price increase. How many people are able to work out calculations from the information provided on the back page of the correspondence?

I would have thought that most customers would have been able to do a simple calculation if they want the information as a percentage figure!

What is more important to you, the actual percentage rise or the actual price that you will be paying per unit, when compared to the other energy suppliers?

More information on percentage calculations here.

:rolleyes:

researcher

espresso wrote:

I would have thought that most customers would have been able to do a simple calculation if they want the information as a percentage figure!

What is more important to you, the actual percentage rise or the actual price that you will be paying per unit, when compared to the other energy suppliers?

More information on percentage calculations here.

:rolleyes:

I find your comments very patronising :mad: , and sarcasm is unnecessary.

To discover the % increase, you would need to know the current unit price alongside the new unit price - this information is not provided. It would have been very simple and straightforward for them to state clearly what the actual percentage increase is. To hide behind rhetoric when communicating to millions (?) of customers, is in my opinion unacceptable.

Are you in anyway related to the company?

espresso

researcher wrote:

I find your comments very patronising :mad: , and sarcasm is unnecessary.

Well you just seem to want to have a rant about Atlantic not giving percentage price increases in their letter, which I feel is totally unjustified, as their prices will have been static for seven months since May 06, while other companies have announced several price increases!

researcher wrote:

To discover the % increase, you would need to know the current unit price alongside the new unit price - this information is not provided. It would have been very simple and straightforward for them to state clearly what the actual percentage increase is. To hide behind rhetoric when communicating to millions (?) of customers, is in my opinion unacceptable.

So do you not keep previous correspondence and current invoices from your suppliers then? I simply compared the last letter to this one!

researcher wrote:

Are you in anyway related to the company?

No I am not and I would have declared any involvement if I was. I am simply a satisfied Atlantic customer.

Remember that if you do change to another supplier, that you would lose your annual loyalty payment, which is worth a further 8.3333% discount, as you are so keen on percentage figures.

I don't know what sort of research you do but perhaps you should do more research into utility prices, to see if you can actually get a better deal elsewhere.

Peter-Pan_5

I have just changed to Atlantic from Edf,so what do I do now, wait and see or

stay with Edf?!!