Budget energy

spike7451

I got the gas installed last year by the NIHE,the fitters didn't tell me I needed to get the E-7 meter removed so I didn't bother & it was only chatting to my neighbor that I needed to have the meter removed.
When I called the NIE to get the meter swapped out,I was told they (NIE) have put a 12p a day standing charge on E-7 & even tho I'd not used the E-7 I'd been paying the 12p a day for x months.
I gather from the chat,it's a charge levied by the electricity suppliers & not NIE/Budget ect so they (NIE ect) have no control over it.

spike7451

Just went to top up the meter for the first time & was talking to a couple of people who asked what it was,so that's 2 more 'converts'...one from Airtricity who found their customer service atrocious.

rolo1_2

The simple fact of the matter is Budget are cheaper than the rest.

We have been with budget keypad for 6 weeks now and have defo noticed savings.

For those out there still thinking about it, I would say go for it - espically those on keypads - same keypad - same electricity (its not budget electricity that cuts out all the time :rotfl:)

Why pay PowerNi prices when you don't have to

spike7451

Same here rolo1.
I'm using around £6 a week now as opposed with £8 with PowerNI,so a saving of £2.00 a week give or take a few pence..

hazelc56

BUMP this post

rolo1_2

spike7451 wrote: »

Same here rolo1.
I'm using around £6 a week now as opposed with £8 with PowerNI,so a saving of £2.00 a week give or take a few pence..

fair play Spike for only using about £6 a week Lecky. With two kids in the house who never switch off anything my weekly electric cost is around £15 p/w.

That is why I got the keypad fitted in the first place so I know exactly what I am spending

Just as a footnote to this. For those on meter payments I highly recommend moving to a keypad. It's free!!. You just have to settle any bill outstanding with PowerNI. Get them to install the keypad and then move over to Budget - easy.

The keypad shows you daily and weekly cost as well as estimate of how many days electric you have left. It also shows you current use in real time so you can identify the real real high electric guzzling culprits!!

hazelc56

rolo1 wrote: »

fair play Spike for only using about £6 a week Lecky. With two kids in the house who never switch off anything my weekly electric cost is around £15 p/w.

That is why I got the keypad fitted in the first place so I know exactly what I am spending

Just as a footnote to this. For those on meter payments I highly recommend moving to a keypad. It's free!!. You just have to settle any bill outstanding with PowerNI. Get them to install the keypad and then move over to Budget - easy.

The keypad shows you daily and weekly cost as well as estimate of how many days electric you have left. It also shows you current use in real time so you can identify the real real high electric guzzling culprits!!

Here! Here! totally agrees with rolo1.Much easier to keep an eye on it and not have an enormous bill every 12/13 weeks...phew what a nightmare that used to be:eek:

2gorgeousgirls

Switched to Budget 3 weeks ago with no problem.

Have checked the new rates for powershift as of 25/11/11 and they are not much less than NIE but still worth the shift (for me anyway), especially as I can now top up on my cash back credit card.

New rates for anyone who's interested

9.9 (PowerNI 10.41)
14.9 (PowerNI 15.61)
26.6 (PowerNI 27.77)

Chickabee

How come i'm the only unlucky one who has had a shambles of a service from Budget Energy? I completed the switch over form online 1 Oct, didn't hear anything from them for weeks so i rang and they said they would be contacting me at end of Oct. I didn't get any emails, text or anwser phone message but i noticed a missed call on my mobile and when i rang the number it was Budget Energy. So i left a message on their answerphone and asked them to contact me.
When i hadn't heard from them in a few days i rang again and spoke to one of the girls who said my switch over had timed out because they hadn't been able to reach me. Now they didn't exactly try too hard to contact me (no email/ text/ answer phone message) I was told i had to start the whole process again. So at the start of Nov the girl said she would log it again.
Anyhow another 2 weeks later and nothing so i emailed their switching dept and told them basically what poor service i had received. " oh its been passed on to our managing director, and she will phone you personally if you give her a date and time"
So i gave them 2 dates/times and what do you know- didn't hear a thing . So i just phoned again and explained situation to a girl who couldn't sound less interested if she tried. She said i SHOULD hear from them by 29th Nov.
Seriously i don't think i'm over reacting am i? Is that not just the worst service you could imagine

hazelc56

Chickabee wrote: »

How come i'm the only unlucky one who has had a shambles of a service from Budget Energy? I completed the switch over form online 1 Oct, didn't hear anything from them for weeks so i rang and they said they would be contacting me at end of Oct. I didn't get any emails, text or anwser phone message but i noticed a missed call on my mobile and when i rang the number it was Budget Energy. So i left a message on their answerphone and asked them to contact me.
When i hadn't heard from them in a few days i rang again and spoke to one of the girls who said my switch over had timed out because they hadn't been able to reach me. Now they didn't exactly try too hard to contact me (no email/ text/ answer phone message) I was told i had to start the whole process again. So at the start of Nov the girl said she would log it again.
Anyhow another 2 weeks later and nothing so i emailed their switching dept and told them basically what poor service i had received. " oh its been passed on to our managing director, and she will phone you personally if you give her a date and time"
So i gave them 2 dates/times and what do you know- didn't hear a thing . So i just phoned again and explained situation to a girl who couldn't sound less interested if she tried. She said i SHOULD hear from them by 29th Nov.
Seriously i don't think i'm over reacting am i? Is that not just the worst service you could imagine

I see you are still having bother with switching.All i can say is that reading from the posts on here that most seem to be satisfied with their switch.Cant understand why you are having all this trouble with them.I suppose the only thing to do is to be patient with them and hopefully all will end up fine in the end.Failing that ring them and ask for their manager's name and address and threaten to write a letter of complaint to them if it isnt sorted soon.
If i was in your situation i would try to stick to the one route when contacting them ie.by phone or email but preferably phone as you will always be able to speak to a person and get any questions answered there and then and contact them during their opening hours and dont leave messages for them to get back to you as you end up putting the power into their hands.Be nice with them even though you may be angry as you will get much further with your problem.
I hope you get it sorted out very soon.