Are any suppliers any good?

System

sandh wrote: »

We've just this week moved to Good Energy from sse. it looks on paper as if our bills are going to be halved. My husband is so astonished with this prediction that he's going to ask if they've got the facts right. If they have, it will be brilliant. They are a 'green energy' supplier, which as well as a cheaper tariff, was one of the things we were looking for

Are you switching from a standard variable tariff to a fixed tariff? If the answer is YES, then provided you gave GBEnergy an accurate projection of your energy use, in kWHs, then the projection and savings should be accurate.

If you are switching from a fixed tariff to another fixed tariff, then it is possible that your projected savings are inflated. The Ofgem calculation assumes that you do nothing at the end of your current tariff which would result in a switch back to the standard variable tariff.

I always check my present and future tariffs via a simple spreadsheet.

Consumerist

Looking at <Good Energy tariffs> it looks very expensive to me. I seriously doubt that you bills will be halved.

If you know your region and your consumption in kWh, I really do recommend that you work out the annual cost for yourself. You can normally cancel a switch within 14 days of your switch request.

FreddieFrugal

I think as with an insurance company. All energy providers are equally as bad/good (depending on how you look at it) it's just whether you end up being unlucky enough to get a problem with one of their systems.

For instance we had Npower for two years and they were fine. Right up until we moved house and for some reason they just could not sort out the gas switching in our new property. Despite repeated phone calls and messages it seemed to be a system error that they just couldn't fix. So I had electricity with them but gas on standard tariff with the provider that originally sorted the house before we bought it.

In the end switching both fuels to another company sorted that mess out and this time they were both switched quickly and easily. Been with Eon for a year now and they've been fine. Everything's worked well, haven't had to contact their customer services about anything. Which is what you want really. Simple service that just works and doesn't take up hours of phone calls.

Though really, the best energy provider is the cheapest. As you cannot guarantee a good experience, you might as well know that you've got the cheapest possible. It's such an expensive thing after all.

System

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

I think as with an insurance company. All energy providers are equally as bad/good (depending on how you look at it) it's just whether you end up being unlucky enough to get a problem with one of their systems.

For instance we had Npower for two years and they were fine. Right up until we moved house and for some reason they just could not sort out the gas switching in our new property. Despite repeated phone calls and messages it seemed to be a system error that they just couldn't fix. So I had electricity with them but gas on standard tariff with the provider that originally sorted the house before we bought it.

In the end switching both fuels to another company sorted that mess out and this time they were both switched quickly and easily. Been with Eon for a year now and they've been fine. Everything's worked well, haven't had to contact their customer services about anything. Which is what you want really. Simple service that just works and doesn't take up hours of phone calls.

Though really, the best energy provider is the cheapest. As you cannot guarantee a good experience, you might as well know that you've got the cheapest possible. It's such an expensive thing after all.

I am not sure that I agree with your insurance company analogy as not all insurance cover is the same. The thing with energy is that what comes out of the wire/pipe is exactly the same irrespective of the supplier. Yes, I agree that price is a key factor; however, so is management of the switching process and accurate billing. Get these two things right then there would be no need for millions of customer service and complaints staffs. Sadly, all too often, this isn't the case so a review of company feedback from a variety of sources (including MSE) is a secondary consideration for me.

My experience over the past 3 years has been:

1. EDF - poor online account management initially due to system upgrade issues. Good CS.

2. E.oN. Poor CS and complaint handling . Website and bills have too much information.

3. Ovo (twice). Difficulty handling IGT gas transfers. Polite CS - but limited in their ability to deal with complex issues due to a restriction on customer account access. Good monthly billing.

It's a personal choice at the end of the day.

FreddieFrugal

Hengus wrote: »

I am not sure that I agree with your insurance company analogy as not all insurance cover is the same.

You're right, not quite the same. I do go for the cheapest 5 star defaqto cover, and obviously if one company costs £3 more a year but includes breakdown then it's worth paying the extra.

But as you've suggested all three of those energy providers you've had issues with. I would never pay extra to go with one particular provider.