To Powergen ?

Poppy9

I think I am really regretting this move to Powergen. Still getting letters daily altering the DD amount for some reason. Now today I had a cheque from BG for £176 iro credit on Electricity Account. I know I have been paying the correct amount as I have been with BG for years so I rang them. They said that Powergen had passed on the meter reading I provided for them to change contract. The blooming call centre who took the reading from me obviously got it wrong. When I gave BG the reading as of today he said the rebate should be about £10. The BG was so nice and helpful is it worth the stress of dealing with PG indian call centre. He said that PG first bill will now be for £165 but I will have the cheque from them to cover it.

I know I will make money out of this error buts it blooming annoying. Now I can earn interest on the BG cheque, pay month for PG and get clubcard points.

ps_live

ps_live wrote:

I'm going to go with Powergen, at least for the near future anyway. I have applied online and the savings are £145/year right away. It remains to be seen how smoothly the changeover goes, but I'm willing to give it a bash

Hi guys, just to give you an update of the situation.

I received the DD mandate to fill in and return over the weekend. I noticed in the included contract details the following:

"The transfer itself will take a few weeks. Please pay any outstanding bill to your previous supplier or they may block your transfer".

I rang the call centre and spoke to an Indian gentleman about how exactly the transfer would take place. He told me that my transfer date was the 25th May (I already knew this as I found that online). He also told me that I would receive a letter around the 20th, asking for meter readings. The readings would then be passed onto my old suppliers and final bills would be sent.

If this is the case, and it goes smoothly, great

The wording in the contract worries me slightly though. If the transfer has already taken place, how can BG block the transfer?

Alternately, could BG block the transfer if they haven't received instructions from myself, only Powergen? Could this be why so many peoples gas takes so much longer to transfer?

We shall soon see. I'l post further updates when I have them.

cheers :beer:

Pete

BexTech

ps_live wrote:

Alternately, could BG block the transfer if they haven't received instructions from myself, only Powergen? Could this be why so many peoples gas takes so much longer to transfer?

No, no need to inform British Gas you are changing suppliers, your new suppliers does that for you.

loon_2

Agreed, you only need to inform the gaining supplier as they will do the rest. As for blocking transfers, BG may only object if there is substantial debt on the account.

Also, BG tend to object to most electricity transfers, mainly because it is cheaper. They will transfer the gas supply but not the electric, instead calling up 6-8 weeks later asking if you want BG gas as well as BG electricity. They will then preceed to tell you that only the gas was transferred, because the gaining supplier only wanted the gas. They will then tell you that BG gas is cheaper than you current supplier (usually true for single electricity only) and if you have both you will get discounts, which make it sound a lot cheaper than it is...

The problem with this is that customers leave BG for a cheaper supplier, only to be convinced that BG are cheaper now, despite having no alteration to their tariff whatsoever.

In summary, a company can only object if there is vast debt on the account, otherwise, they should transfer it.

loopy_lass

reading these posts with interest. i have just changed to powergen as it saved me £150 ish a year... so hoping all goes smoothly. Had my final account from BG and lecky..

any hassle i refuse to muck about phoning here there n everywhere, so i just refer it straight into energywatch once i sent 2 emails to each company...


loops

Hobo_2

Hi, I moved home and switched to Powergen online dualfuel, elec no problem but the gas, still no sign of a bill yet & have been transfered (had this confirmed) since 16th Nov 2004, last i spoke to them got transfered luckly to someone who seemed to be "switched on" & explained there was a glitch with their system in that the call centre could not see my gas account on screen but she could access it!
Said it would be sorted and would bill me,also mentioned however long it takes to bill they have to allow spread payments over an equal amount of time.
Anyway still no gas bill yet

ps_live

Hobo wrote:

Hi, I moved home and switched to Powergen online dualfuel, elec no problem but the gas, still no sign of a bill yet & have been transfered (had this confirmed) since 16th Nov 2004, last i spoke to them got transfered luckly to someone who seemed to be "switched on" & explained there was a glitch with their system in that the call centre could not see my gas account on screen but she could access it!
Said it would be sorted and would bill me,also mentioned however long it takes to bill they have to allow spread payments over an equal amount of time.
Anyway still no gas bill yet

Well, I plan to pay by DD, so even if I don't get a bill for several months, I shouldn't get a nasty shock.

cheers

Pete

ps_live

Ok, final update on my progress with moving to Powergen.

I received a letter yesterday from Powergen informing me that the switch has been completed and I have been an official customer since May 25th. I checked my account online and everything worked (it stopped working mid-May, which caused some concern).

Powergen have set my DD at £84.50. This is roughly £10/month less than I was paying BG and nPower combined. Can I drop this further online, or would it be wiser just to leave it?

BG took a final payment of £94 to close my account with them, and nPower informed me I was £3.50 odd in credit.

So its done, and Powergen, so far, have been pretty good. I haven't had to ring the call centre though.

I'm with the EnergyOnline package, do they send me an email when they want me to read the meter?

cheers :beer:

Pete

loobs40

ps_live wrote:

I'm with the EnergyOnline package, do they send me an email when they want me to read the meter?

cheers :beer:

Pete

No ! You have to be very canny about this otherwise you will get an estimated reading and all the hassle that goes with that in terms of changing it

aehnorwich

Poppy9 wrote:

I too am going through a transfer process with Powergen from B Gas. I don't know if they have switched over - they haven't told me. Only correspondence from them has been about clubcard points and dd. First they set up DD for £24. Rang the dreaded Indian Call Centre - after a bit of explaining set up for £58. Few days later letter confirming that my DD was now £84. Rang again - waiting for another letter.

I did look at Customer service rating before switching. Either lots of people lying or I am just unlucky.

I assumed I was just unlucky. Last September I started the transfer of my Gas supply from BG to Powergen to enjoy dual-fuel discount with my electricity ... 7 months of failed dates and unexplained cancellations and daily/weekly phone calls etc later I told them to make the transfer happen or I would stay with BG. I now have both Elec & Gas with BG after a couple of weeks of simple transfer activity. I may be paying more - I probably am - but at least I have a dual supplier and my payments are by DD once again. Those 7 months were extraordinary. And on the recent day I finally got my elec over to BG I had Powergen on the phone really hard-selling their service to me. I feel at peace once again