Add your feedback on energy supplier Shell Energy (formerly First Utility)

yvonne2561

Been with First Utility for 3 years, first 2 years no problems paid by DD £100 per month. However had issues when tariff suddenly changed ( were taken off Economy 7 with no notification) the last 2 years bills went up and up, sent me email saying I needed to up DD to £200 per month. When I finally went online to view my account realised I was £800 in debt!! Rang them, after realising I had been taken off Economy 7 they reduced my bill to £300. Had my bill for this month ( 4 weeks usage) and find that apparently I have used even more electric than 2 months ago. I have cut down on all appliances and there's no way I have used that amount of electricity. Rang them this evening ( after waiting an hour), and now I got to take photos of readings for the next 7 days!! They have now said there might be a problem with the meter but if I want someone out to check it, they will have to charge me!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Can't wait to change suppliers, but till this can be rectified I will have to stay with them!!Customer service very poor; no one available to sort anything out and you're not helped at all with any issues. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!

Richard_Hitchcock

After over 8 years as a First Utility customer, we have just had a bill for over £1,200 including nearly £400 for "extra charges" which were unjustified, unexplained and undated.

It appears we have not been sent any bills for the last 8 months, so without warning, explanation or apology we then got one to cover the whole period with a note saying they would take all the money by direct debit within 2 weeks.

On contacting Shell Energy, who have taken over, we have just been fobbed off. Shocking behaviour. Do not use this supplier.

mr_brown

Having been with first utility for 5 years, for the last two have been paying £39 per month. Shell energy have put up my payments to £58 per month even though I am £74 in credit and will not listen to reason when I ring them. Am not impressed and as soon as my tariff date is up will change companies

JLDP

I have just cancelled the switch to Shell Energy set up through the MSE Cheap Energy Club. Shell Energy wanted to set a direct debit which was 40% too high, and to get this reduced I would apparently have to submit monthly readings for 12 months.

There does not appear to be any sensible way to communicate with them - only a web chat operated by a zombie AI, which is utterly useless, no phone number, no email address, no web messaging - but you can try emailing <customer.service@first-utility.com>. However, they do not reply within 3 days as promised.


I do not wish to deal with a supplier whose customer service is this poor - and I am very surprised that MSE recommend them.

fira

JLDP, I must have been lucky. Their contact number (0330 094 5800) was on all emails sent to me. Called them twice and they were friendly and helpful. I'm in the process of switching to them and should save more than £250 against the EDF tariff I am on at the moment. Being honest, I'd have preferred to stay with EDF but they have nothing to match what Shell (and a few others) are offering on a fixed tariff.

I chose not to use the fixed direct debit option as I preferred the variable D/D i.e. give them monthly readings, they debit me monthly for what I've used.

I applied straight from Shell's website rather than use USwitch or MSE and wonder if that's why I got the phone number right away and the choice of the variable rather than fixed D/D option.

2010

I`ve just switched to Shell from Scottish Power.
Everything went through smoothly and on the exact date given by Shell.
I pay by fixed DD but you an log in and changed to whatever you like including tariffs.
I`ve been with FU in the past and again no problems in the two years I was with them.
The last two years with SP has also been hassle free.
I put my meter readings in every month and keep an eye on the amount of the DD, which has always been correct so far.
Shell can be contacted by phone, email, post or live chat.(same as SP).

wandeleye

Bad service! be very careful.-Very disappointed
I did a dual fuel comparison on 30th March 2019, ahead of April 1st price hike the via cheap energy site and whilst Shell energy was not the most saving, I went for it as I had more confidence in the name shell -being an established organisation or so I thought. Had I known they were Fist utility perhaps I would not have ventured anywhere near ( I think cheap energy must publish all previous trading names of these organisations).

I submitted the application successfully and very shortly had to travel, so did not have time to check if I had received a welcome pack as I had done in the past upon completing a switch. Upon my return, which is now 29th April 2019, a month after the switch, I search my inbox and nothing from Shell Energy. I log back into cheap energy to be sure the switch was submitted and it said switch in progress and cannot submit a new or replace prior submission. I ring Shell Energy and was on hold for 25minutes. When I finally got a customer rep on the phone, she says there is an error on the account, WHAT!!!. how do you mean I respond? she says we need your gas and electric meter number, point reference number etc. I said and no one had the gorm to contact me within a reasonable time to request such information which I have never had to provide in all the years I ve been switching. Such is done in the background between current and incoming provider and if information necessary to facilitate a switch was not asked for during application, it is common sense and normal practise to contact the customer to provide it.

If I had not rang them, a month later to chase, nothing would have happened. Now the hard pill is, while I gave this information on the phone, I was told the system have no way of immediately confirming they' re correct and if they aren't it would mean another 15 days delay in addition to the 15 days delay as at today. Therefore as a customer, I am now left out of pocket as my current fixed rate runs out tomorrow and reverts to a variable rate plus prices are now hiked, which was the main reason for the switch to start with and here I am, landed right into it by an incompetent provider.

Any advice on how, I can make them cover any additional cost incurred on my reverted variable rate?

Benight

wandeleye wrote: »

...Had I known they were Fist utility perhaps I would not have ventured anywhere near ( I think cheap energy must publish all previous trading names of these organisations)....

I agree, and so presumably does MSE, and hence:

If you look at the tariff information of any offering onn the CEC, you will see a link to "Add/read feedback on..."

The opening post of this thread could not be any clearer

Former_MSE_Samantha wrote: »

This is a feedback thread on energy supplier

Shell Energy (formerly First Utility)

Please share your experience with other MoneySavers. Click reply to take part

• Did you switch go smoothly?
• Have you had problems since?
• Is it easy to contact?

The feedback comes as part of the

Cheap Energy Club

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, watch our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

There is also this at the top of the tariff information retaing to Shell tariffs on the CEC

Further info: Shell Energy (rebranded from First Utility in March 2019) takes direct debits in advance, so your first payment may overlap with your final payment(s) to your current provider.

Benight

wandeleye wrote: »

...
I submitted the application successfully and very shortly had to travel, so did not have time to check if I had received a welcome pack as I had done in the past upon completing a switch. Upon my return, which is now 29th April 2019, a month after the switch, I search my inbox and nothing from Shell Energy....

You should have received a confirmation email from MSE CEC within 24 hours of your application.

It's perhaps unwise to make an application to switch to any supplier and then immediately disappear for a month where you are incommunicado.

Any number of issues can arise, including but not limited to your existing supplier refusing the switch which would need your attention.
Even if everything does go smoothly, you would expect to be sent a message to provide meter readings on the day of the switch which is typically 17-21 days from application.

2010

There seems to be a few posts recently by people who join MSE to slag off Shell /FU by making just the one post and then never ever to be heard from again.