Powergen Massive business price increase?

alm721

Hi there, Im not sure whether this should be here or in small biz forum as its about business utilities. I have just recieved our gas and electric bills from powergen and have found that our standing charge and tariff on our gas bill has gone up nearly 40% while our tariff on our electric bill has increased by just over 60%, since our last bills in Novemeber. Can this possibly be right.
I realise there are likely to be fluctations but an average of 50% increase cannot possibly be justified can it? (I must stress these are increases on the amount charged per unit not an increase in the number of units)
Can anyone give me any advice, or is anyone else with business utilities experiencing these sorts of increases? I'm obviously going to look to change suppliers so if anyone feeld like they are getting a good deal from their suppliers I'd be really pleased to hear about it. Unfortuatly uswitch and the like don't seem to work with business tariffs just domestics.
Many Thanks

Gal

Is that because you were on a fixed contract that has recently expired?

alm721

I dont think so however its possible as this is a business we have taken over so I'm not 100% sure of the contract to start with however for the gas there is no plan name on any of the bills so its hard to say but looking at the electic we were on business electricity plan 2 baserate and it now says electricity plan 3 baserate so whether that means we changes plans or just that the baserate of the plan has changed Im not sure. Still seems like a big jump though.
Thanks

Choc

I may be able to help e-mail me..chocuk@hotmail.co.uk

hurrah

alm721 wrote:

I dont think so however its possible as this is a business we have taken over so I'm not 100% sure of the contract to start with however for the gas there is no plan name on any of the bills so its hard to say but looking at the electic we were on business electricity plan 2 baserate and it now says electricity plan 3 baserate so whether that means we changes plans or just that the baserate of the plan has changed Im not sure. Still seems like a big jump though.
Thanks

Have a look at this thread,perhaps the people mentioned can advise you.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=49333

fatboy88

I find any business contract as you are enarly the end they just arent bothered to offer you anything good. I had 4 contracts with Powergen as i told them i was leaving they doubled my rate and blocked any migration with reason. I basically had to fight them for a few weeks before they backed down. I always thought BG were the worse but i think its just the indutry in general.
I think when i brought a new premises they made me give a months notice to change suppliers even though i was new to the property

Mr&MrsSkint

I've worked in the Business energy retailing business for 14 years and recently left to become that dreaded Consultant!

A word of advice for all businesses- read your contract fully, the supplier is usually bound to tell you when it is due for renewal, but if they don't you can challenge "Out of Contract Rates", BUT it is in your interests to schedule a reminder because you may get a better deal elsewhere.

What the legal position is, should you decide to go to court, is that you have signed a contract and would be expected to have fully read the terms and conditions- ignorance is not a defence. But I would expect them to change the OOC rate to something else if you respond to the first bill if you missed the renewal date. What you should ask though is for proof that they wrote to you offering you a new contract- if you haven't had a good payment record though this can be used as a stick.

alm721

Thanks for that. It appears we were out of contract and they had sent out correspondance to say that, which I did'nt see. Apparently this paperwork also explained that if you did nothing you were tied into a new contract with them!. However this may be because we have only just taken over the business so its possible that it was still with the old owner. I have rang Powergen this morning after having an email explaining that the charges were high beacuse they had estimated several previous bills. I was livid as my email was explicily clear that I was quering the tariff increase not the usage (They mentioned nothing about this). They also said they could not do anything about the increase but when I queried the legaglity of being tied in to a contract that we havent even seen they said we weren't if we were new owners and that we had to just send them evidence of the take over and they would then give us a new deal. So eventually getting there, I'll start looking around at new deals.
Many Thanks for all the replies.