MSE News: Energy switches set to take three weeks

barnabee

Switch to NPower successfully in 3 weeks? Got more chance than England winning the World Cup.

barnabee

Also, be very wary of the Cheap Energy Club. 3 of the 6+ months was due to them submitting invalid data on my behalf

Would be interested in any additional information on this. Hadn't considered that perhaps this could be why my switch has gone t*ts up.

tbones1957

If you want to switch to npower don't!!! Six months no bills paid!! Owe £230+! They have been unable to get their computer to work since July 2011 for gas!!! This info was given during conversation with executive complaints!!!!!!

footyguy

tbones1957 wrote: »

If you want to switch to npower don't!!! Six months no bills paid!! Owe £230+! They have been unable to get their computer to work since July 2011 for gas!!! This info was given during conversation with executive complaints!!!!!!

I wish my supplier wouldn't send me any bills for 6 months

And presumably if nPower's gas computer has been bust since July 2011, no nPower customer has had a gas bill from them since then?

Where do I sign up?

:cool:


Edit: 3 weeks ago you posted saying you have paid the £140 since joining them 6 months ago
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65079365#Comment_65079365

Presumably you are about to pay another £28 or just have done.

Didn't you think £28 a month was a little low for gas & electricity consumption? :huh:

Edit2: 2 months ago you claimed to be at the ombudsman stage with your complaint
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64753013#Comment_64753013
so not sure why you are still discussing the complaint directly with nPower :huh:
Also it says you received 2 bills from them (although you say they were later removed) :cool:

Ryune

ashleyriot wrote: »

If banks can move all your standing orders, direct debits and balance in one working week why can't utility companies do it?

They can. I've had supplies transfered in under a week when things have been urgent. That's the business market though (though they still do a month as standard unless you push).

Same day transfers aren't really feasible as you need to give the incumbent time to object since they don't know the supplies going to leave them until the new supplier actually applies for a transfer date. That's important for consumer protection..

If the old woman in the flat next door tries to transfer my electricity supply as she doesn't know what meter is hers there needs to be time for my supplier to let me know the switch is happening so I can advise them to object (this is one of the reasons why there's a window for objections). If the switch is same day then there's no guarantee I will find out in time to stop it (chances are I won't).

You can have consumer protection or you can have faster switching. The trick is finding the balance. 4 weeks is too long but same day would be horrific. Banks have the advantage that no one else can switch your things. In the utilities market you get people who don't know what they're doing switching the wrong supplies because they don't know what meter is there's (or don't care).

OhReally_2

Ryune wrote: »

They can. I've had supplies transfered in under a week when things have been urgent. That's the business market though (though they still do a month as standard unless you push)....

I believe you; thousands wouldn't.

I always push for my energy switches to occur quickly; they usually occur before I even apply

jez1234_2

6 weeks and still waiting for switch from m and s to british gas shameful!

davidgmmafan

"Why not have same day switching?"

Slamming as someone already suggested.

Also as others have pointed out the current timescales can and do benefit customers. This isn't the first time some wizard wheeze by Ofgem has ended up being to consumers detriment, I suppose we should expect it.

There are frankly far far more important areas for them to focus thier... I was going to say expertise on but they don't seem to have much of that so I'll go with attention.

For example the other side of this, the erroneous transfer which sends a wrongly transferred customer back to the original supplier is a shambles.

The theory is you go back to the original supplier as if you had never left. The reality is they will close your account, there will be an account setup by the new supplier, probably some confusion about meter readings.

Then when you end up back with the old supplier the energy history won't be quite right as, once the readings are eventually sorted out, they will have perhaps the same reading for March and June. This can lead to some wacky direct debit reassessments...

I do agree there should be SOME sort of requirement on companies in terms of timescale, but I really don't see what this adds. Most switches I have done have been done within the timescales proposed.

There is a huge gap in the system where something goes wrong and I have heard horror stories of people being transferred to a supplier they tried to join months ago (sometimes even after they had joined another supplier entirely).

The supplier insists they have a valid contract, but I do not believe this would stand up in court.

I think I might actually comment on this, the proposals are flimsy and pointless; they also restrict my ability to be charged the lower prices whilst a company takes its sweet time to switch me following a price increase.

Interestingly I don't believe this is a right Ofgem has mandated, I think for once the companies are applying a very conservative interpretation of the rules.

This has been debated before on MSE.

spiro

bbb_uk wrote: »

3 Weeks not including the 2 weeks in case you change your mind.

That's 5 weeks in total.

Why does it even take 5 weeks? What exactly is involved in the switching process that justifies that amount of time?

Incorrect the cooling off period will be in parallel. The switching process is not going to be 3 weeks it is actually 2+2, 2 calendar weeks plus 2 working days.

wakeupalarm

davidgmmafan wrote: »

"Why not have same day switching?"

Slamming as someone already suggested.

Well Next day switching is apparently in future plans.

From Ofgem
Industry has committed to halve the switching time (currently over five weeks) within a year and Ofgem is consulting on a licence change to require a faster and more reliable switching process. Ofgem is also exploring the potential to move to next day switching with the advent of smart metering.