MSE News: Co-op cuts energy prices: will the big six follow?

Mr_Crunch

Co-op Energy's price tariffs are bonkers. I signed up on the v2.1 tariff West Midlands. I had a price increase w.e.f. 3 Nov, which meant that electricity was increased to 10.83p per kwh and Gas was 3.75p per kwh. Ok, I did my sums and it was just about ok.

Now the v2.1 tariff is showing that w.e.f. 1 Feb electricity will be 11.49p although gas will be the same at 3.75p. That is a price increase of 6% on electricity and no change on gas. Just trying to work out by what stretch of the imagination that equates to a 3% decrease! And I have yet to receive notice of such a price increase!!

At least they now provide the old prices on each tariff version so that one can keep track of changes - prevously they were overwritten so unless you had downloaded and retained copies of the previous tariffs it was impossible to know what was going on.

Fred Karno's Army reincarnated. A complete shambles.

meggsy

Why not just keep the email they send out - i.e.,
my email of end September advised my increase would be
from 11.76 to 13.49 and 3.20 to 3.87 and I now expect to receive an email giving new rates of 12.92 and 3.77 according to their website for the South West area. I signed up on 21st July.

callum9999

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Of course and i agree with you on that. But they often offer financial, cash incentives to attract new customers. This incentive MUST at least in the most part be borne by their existing customers. That is in no way acting in the spirit of a true co-operative. That is acting like the Big 6.

How is that at all "not in the spirit" of a co-operative? I take it BOGOFs at CO-OP supermarkets are the same then? There is nothing anti-cooperative about it, it attracts new customers making the cooperative stronger and more profitable - and therefore giving more back.

Mr_Crunch

meggsy wrote: »

Why not just keep the email they send out - i.e.,
my email of end September advised my increase would be
from 11.76 to 13.49 and 3.20 to 3.87 and I now expect to receive an email giving new rates of 12.92 and 3.77 according to their website for the South West area. I signed up on 21st July.

Why not just keep the email they send out? Because they did not send me a price increase email at all. I found out about the November increase only when they requested a meter reading, referring to an earlier price increase notification email which they never sent. It didn't end up in spam, either, because I check that daily.

The issue here is that the Co-op have sent out press releases bragging about a 3% decrease for 'most customers'; which says that the decrease won't apply to earlier sign-ups; but they fail to mention that those earlier sign-ups will actually have a price increase on 1 Feb; and the media has swallowed those press releases hook line and sinker on the basis that the little guy is reducing prices. And so far I have not had any communication from them that my tariff will increase on 1 Feb - I only found out by looking at the price lists, which had been changed. What they are doing is levelling all their tariffs, having attracted people in.

Why are people so tolerant of behaviour which in reality is reminiscent of that of the Big 6, but which is cloaked in the rhetoric of so-called fairness and competitiveness?

The dividend is worth peanuts, the concept of mutuality is appealing but meaningless, and if the Coop are not competitive after Feb 1 then if I can find a fixed price tariff which is worthwhile then I will switch to it because life is too short to keep wasting time in this dysfunctional energy 'market'.

jack_spratt_2

the concept of mutuality is appealing but meaningless,

Tell that to the local communities who have benefit to the tune of £3.2 million in donations last year alone from the local communities fund !

Mr_Crunch

jack_spratt wrote: »

Tell that to the local communities who have benefit to the tune of £3.2 million in donations last year alone from the local communities fund !

the concept of mutuality is appealing but meaningless, obviously in the context of energy supply. Why take the comment out of context??

jack_spratt_2

I presume you are with Co-op Energy why do you stay with them ? I believe they do not charge an exit fee for leaving like most other energy providers .

I would think you and other customers compared prices at the time of there switch maybe you did not and as I have pointed out you are free to leave if you believe that the co-operative energy does not meet your needs or do not like its trading principles ??

Mr_Crunch

jack_spratt wrote: »

I presume you are with Co-op Energy why do you stay with them ? I believe they do not charge an exit fee for leaving like most other energy providers .

I would think you and other customers compared prices at the time of there switch maybe you did not and as I have pointed out you are free to leave if you believe that the co-operative energy does not meet your needs or do not like its trading principles ??

And I will leave them in February if there are other deals which are more competitive in the round, which is rather sad because I am actually a member of the Co-op, my wife's father worked for them for years, and mutuality is, as I said, appealing. But their shenanigans in the energy market makes them little different to the others.

What I cannot abide is partial publicity, implying that prices will go down or not be affected, when in reality according to the tariff lists they are going up by 6% in my case for electricity - and they have not actually told me that yet, either!

kar999

Mr_Crunch wrote: »

Co-op Energy's price tariffs are bonkers. I signed up on the v2.1 tariff West Midlands. I had a price increase w.e.f. 3 Nov, which meant that electricity was increased to 10.83p per kwh and Gas was 3.75p per kwh. Ok, I did my sums and it was just about ok.

Now the v2.1 tariff is showing that w.e.f. 1 Feb electricity will be 11.49p although gas will be the same at 3.75p. That is a price increase of 6% on electricity and no change on gas. .

Isn't V2.1 post Feb 2012 Region 14 electrictiy exactly the same at 10.83?

(some other regions showing decreases)

http://www.cooperativeenergy.coop/assets/documents/price-list-v2.1.pdf

kaledonia

I think the Government, or BT, or Plusnet or some such big company should buy fuel wholesale and undercut the 'Big 6' who are not Big enough to share the benefit of lowered prices