British Gas Energy Smart - Installation?

broxis11

My job is to provide advice to customers which helps them save money from their energy bills. If a customer told me they didn`t want online management, a long term contract or didn`t want to pay by DD then I would listen to the customer and advise them on the best package which would match their requirements.

It would go without saying that I would advise on the websaver tariff if it was suitable for any particular customer.

Anyway, enough about me and my job. Have a nice weekend all :j

Plushchris

broxis11 wrote: »

My job is to provide advice tocustomers

I thought you said you were in field sales not a customer advisor?

Do you only visit existing BG customers then and upgrade their tariffs?

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Websaver works out about £15 a year cheaper than Online 4 (or whatever its called) for my usage of Gas & Elec and DOESNT come with the penalties for getting out like Websaver does, and comes with Energy meter if you dont have one (i genuinely saved a decent chunk a few years ago by monitoring what i used).

Given the uncertainty about energy prices I would much rather pay £15 odd year more to have no tie in.

edit: just re-checked, its less than £5 in it and online saver 4 does not have a £60 tie in. Defo wouldnt touch websaver. (this is on a £700 spend)

broxis11

I do both. I may visit an existing BG energy customer to assess their existing package and advise on possible improvements, advise on home insulation and maintenance or simply carry out a cold call to open a discussion about energy tariffs.

We have many products which can save both new and existing customers money.

Devils-Advocate_3

Plushchris wrote: »

Sales pitches are rarely money saving advice in my experience.

I overheard several converstions over breakfast and in the bar in the evenings that certainly made it sound like there would be a hard sell, talk of doubling their money if they could sign a few people up to boilercover each day and one guy saying he wasnt expecting a whole day of sales training on a course about fitting smart meters..

But as you say, im sure its all good moneysaving advice... :rotfl:

So?

It's not about being suckered in. Listen to what the engineer says, if you like the sound of the product/energy advice/whatever, then go for it...if you don't, then don't go for it! Quite simple really imo.

Devils-Advocate_3

Plushchris wrote: »

I'm not.




Like telling people that they can reduce their usage by 12% just by being on energysmart? :rotfl:

You say advice, I say sales pitch. Do you sign people up to websaver tariffs? Surely thats the best advice you can give people to save money as thats BG's cheapest tariff?

Don't know why you're laughing. Perhaps you are ignorant of the facts? (no offence) - because energysmart CAN help reduce their usage and thereby save them a fair amount of cash. It DOES make people (some, not all, obviously) more aware of what they use in their household and help them adjust accordingly. So what's your point?

You say sales pitch, I say advice. And as has been pointed out, not everyone uses the internet, not everyone is comfortable getting bills via email, not everyone wants to sign onto a tariff which has cancellation charges. So it's not as simple as just telling everyone to sign up to websaver 12. Stop over-simplifying things. Different strokes for different folks and all that...

smallblueplanet

Devils-Advocate wrote: »

Don't know why you're laughing. Perhaps you are ignorant of the facts? (no offence) - because energysmart CAN help reduce their usage and thereby save them a fair amount of cash. It DOES make people (some, not all, obviously) more aware of what they use in their household and help them adjust accordingly. So what's your point? ...

Perhaps the point was that just signing up for Energy Smart will not save you money. The customer has to monitor and lower their energy useage for that to happen - that isn't stated in the clearest of ways on the adverts.

Perhaps the ads are aimed at the same people who think paying a monthly direct debit amount is the same as paying for all the energy they've used?

The adverts proclaim loudly how much savings you could make, without really wanting to say the savings are not through the price of the energy itself.

CharlieBilly

These meters only give people information of there usage in real time and or history of usage (although not 100% accurately) so that they can make an informed choice as to what if any can be cut down in terms of appliances. They cant ever make your bills lower only turning things off or getting appliances that are more energy efficient can

Devils-Advocate_3

smallblueplanet wrote: »

Perhaps the point was that just signing up for Energy Smart will not save you money. The customer has to monitor and lower their energy useage for that to happen - that isn't stated in the clearest of ways on the adverts.

Perhaps the ads are aimed at the same people who think paying a monthly direct debit amount is the same as paying for all the energy they've used?

The adverts proclaim loudly how much savings you could make, without really wanting to say the savings are not through the price of the energy itself.

But that's the point of Energysmart. It, in my opinion of course, makes it a lot EASIER for customers to monitor and lower their energy usage...a monthly statement and an electricity monitor would help with this, thereby allowing the customer TO make those savings.

If you've interpreted the advert differently, well, I guess that's up to you. :cool:

I however, see exactly what EnergySmart can do for a customer - it encourages a little bit of personal responsiblity and allows someone to monitor their energy usage easier and therefore make the necessary cut backs to save money.

I personally think it's a good system. Different strokes for different folks though I guess

Devils-Advocate_3

CharlieBilly wrote: »

These meters only give people information of there usage in real time and or history of usage (although not 100% accurately) so that they can make an informed choice as to what if any can be cut down in terms of appliances. They cant ever make your bills lower only turning things off or getting appliances that are more energy efficient can

I realise that but I think that by allowing customers to see their usage in real time etc, it makes it easier for them to cut back and is therefore, if used correctly, an effective cost-saving system.

I dont believe that BG should be stating 'it can save x amount' as this entirely depends on the customer using it - but I think it's perfectly acceptable for them to advertise that EnergySmart CAN save customers money....because it can!