Are any suppliers any good?

downshifted

I can find cheaper suppliers for my elderly neighbour - Scottish Power have just messed up a simple request for him - but I don't want him jumping from the frying pan into the fire (especially as I am with the Co-op and can't get into my account any more!)

Has anyone got a brilliant energy supplier to recommend?

JJ_Egan

Preference for me would be Ovo but i have never had a bad experience with any of the many suppliers i have been with .

modsandmockers

It probably depends upon how much money can be saved by switching, and the extent to which your neighbour is interested in switching. If you advise your neighbour to switch, and the switch goes wrong, then both of you will have a problem which doesn't currently exist. Have you tried to contact your neighbour's existing supplier in order to try to get a better deal?

teddysmum

I think that all suppliers will have some dissatisfied customers.


Numbers of complaints quoted are not a guide, as a company with a large customer base could have more than a smaller company, but actually a smaller percentage of that customer base.


Also, it is usually only dissatisfied customers who post; the satisfied ones seeing no reason to do so.

Consumerist

After the backlash against the big six, the smaller suppliers did their best to pick up the slack but, unfortunately, it is now emerging that they have bitten off more than they can chew. The upshot is that now it is becoming quite difficult to pick a supplier who can be relied on for "good" customer service.

I've had my problems when leaving Ovo but whilst I was with them, for about four years, their CS was great. I don't know about now though.

lstar337

teddysmum wrote: »

I think that all suppliers will have some dissatisfied customers.

^This.

Your best bet is to avoid the really awful ones.

Scottish power - seem to be pretty terrible at the moment.
NPower - haven't heard anything good said about them for a long time.
Spark - haven't heard anything good said about them ever.
First Utility - terrible customer service, if you can get to it.

When you have millions of customers, it's hard to keep a clean slate!

kgw1009

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Preference for me would be Ovo but i have never had a bad experience with any of the many suppliers i have been with .

Totally agree and not the usual scam that the Big6 are.

Frozen_up_north

I think it's important not to confuse "service" with money saving. Equally, opting for dual fuel isn't always the saving it might appear to be.

Friends are currently with nPower for electricity and due to their particular circumstances use very little electricity. Their standard tariff has no standing charge which results in good value. They are with British Gas for gas and appear from the comparison sites to be able to save quite an amount by switching gas supply to e.on, except e.on don't include gas only on their web site! They are switching to nPower for gas, but not one of their dual fuel tariffs as that would foul up their good deal on the electricity. The saving is still significant and worth the hassle of dealing with nPower.

lstar337

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

I think it's important not to confuse "service" with money saving. Equally, opting for dual fuel isn't always the saving it might appear to be.

Friends are currently with nPower for electricity and due to their particular circumstances use very little electricity. Their standard tariff has no standing charge which results in good value. They are with British Gas for gas and appear from the comparison sites to be able to save quite an amount by switching gas supply to e.on, except e.on don't include gas only on their web site! They are switching to nPower for gas, but not one of their dual fuel tariffs as that would foul up their good deal on the electricity. The saving is still significant and worth the hassle of dealing with nPower.

Duel fuel rarely offers a saving, just convenience.

The cheapest DF for me would be a £50 increase in what I pay now.

joncombe

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Friends are currently with nPower for electricity and due to their particular circumstances use very little electricity. Their standard tariff has no standing charge which results in good value.

Thanks for sharing this. I thought it was now only Ebico that have no standing charge. Whilst I have no intention of going back to Npower it is interesting that they have re-introduced no standing charge tariff. Although there website does seem rather confused about it.

When I do a quote the Standard tariff shows "As with all npower tariffs, there's a standing charge". If I click the TCR it says "If you pay by Direct Debit, your daily standing charge will be discounted so that over a year you'll receive a discount of £40 on your electricity charges". I'm not sure how they can discount £40 of a charge of £0! However if I ask for the price breakdown it does show the standing charge of 366*0p.

Beverly_77

Hi I am new to all this I wonder if someone can help me, today I recievd a letter off SSE about my gas saying I owed them money, thought this was strange as I am a PAYG customer only pay for what I use, no standing charge, so I call them, explain and he said it had something to do with the amount it charges me for the gas, the man said it was wrong and said he would send me a new card which would rectifythe problem though they will charge me more. He said because for whatever reason changes hhadn't been made to my Meyerand I have an outstanding bill of £120, I am not quite sure about any of it, can they change how I am charged via a card I am at a,lost.