Outrageous saving money email from First Utility

bohica

"Update your energy tariff and save £225*"

I'm coming to the end of my First Utility tariff and received an email from them last week saying I could "Update your energy tariff and save £225*". Sounds good, what's to think about, of course I want to save £225.

"There are only a few days left before your tariff expires. On 1 October you will move onto our iSave Everyday variable tariff and you could be paying more than you need to for your energy.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, you can now extend your price protection for three years with the market’s cheapest 2018 fixed tariff** iSave Fixed September 2018."

and in big graphics SAVE £225*.

Being the cynic I am I wasn't going to take this on face value and it turns out that "*" next to the SAVE £225 hides a note:

"* Your saving calculation is based on the difference between your annual Personal Projection for the iSave Everyday product priced at £1786 (which you will default on to if you don’t select a new tariff before your current one expires) and the iSave Fixed September 2018 v4 product priced at £1561 (figures are rounded). Your Personal Projection is how much we estimate you will spend on energy throughout the year on a tariff. This information was accurate at the time this email was sent. For your most up to date Personal Projections you can log into your online account."

This is outrageous, misleading at best and perhaps even dishonest.
I'm only saving money IF THEY switch me to the poor variable rate at the end of my tariff and switch to their slightly less poor 2018 v4 tariff. In fact it would cost me more to take their new 2018 v4 plan than I am already paying.

First Utility, bad on you, I switched to a MUCH cheaper GB Energy tariff (in fact cheaper than the tariff I was on, cheaper than the 2018 v4 tariff and cheaper than your variable rate). I cannot believe they are allowed to get away with this.

I thought the energy providers were supposed to offer their cheapest rate to you now.

System

Blame Ofgem: FU is only doing what they have been told to do as an energy supply licence holder. Complain to Ofgem at consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk but don't expect any sympathy.

victor2

Good on you for not taking the "savings" at face value.
As above, suppliers and comparison sites are doing what OFGEM have told them to, although some comparison sites now optionally display a more realistic saving figure.
FU perhaps have offered their currently best tariff for the coming 3 years. What they should have said was something along the lines of "Take our 2018 v4 tariff and your annual price will only increase by £50 <my made up example> , instead of £275 if you do nothing and automatically go onto our most expensive variable tariff." Not as inviting as "Save £225", but more realistic.

nocash

How was the service from British Energy, we have just moved and are seeking a good deal.

Thanks

bohica

nocash wrote: »

How was the service from British Energy, we have just moved and are seeking a good deal.

Thanks

I swapped last Tuesday online and it took no time at all. They emailed me a welcome pack detailing exactly what would happen when and asked me to check the meter numbers they had obtained. They've followed it up with a letter describing the process. That is as far as it has gone so I really can't anymore. I swapped for the price, having had at least 5 different suppliers in the recent past, I don't expect any of them to outshine the others.

bohica

victor2 wrote: »

Good on you for not taking the "savings" at face value.
As above, suppliers and comparison sites are doing what OFGEM have told them to, although some comparison sites now optionally display a more realistic saving figure.
FU perhaps have offered their currently best tariff for the coming 3 years. What they should have said was something along the lines of "Take our 2018 v4 tariff and your annual price will only increase by £50 <my made up example> , instead of £275 if you do nothing and automatically go onto our most expensive variable tariff." Not as inviting as "Save £225", but more realistic.

Agreed, wording is everything. The truth is, if you do nothing your bill will go up a lot and if you switch to v4 it will go up not so much. There is no saving in this at all. The email is misleading. I wonder how many people fell for this.

FreddieFrugal

bohica wrote: »

This is outrageous, misleading at best and perhaps even dishonest.

At least they're alerting you to the possibility to switch. Some people would otherwise just not even realise that their fix was ending and they would be paying a ridiculous amount more.

Surely it should be common sense (as you obviously have) to search the whole market and not just trust what one company tells you in an email.

It's certainly not worth getting that worked up about!

victor2

bohica wrote: »

Agreed, wording is everything. The truth is, if you do nothing your bill will go up a lot and if you switch to v4 it will go up not so much. There is no saving in this at all. The email is misleading. I wonder how many people fell for this.

It's what leads to people posting on here with "My supplier said I would save £xx by going onto this tariff, but my direct debit amount has gone up..."

victor2

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

At least they're alerting you to the possibility to switch. Some people would otherwise just not even realise that their fix was ending and they would be paying a ridiculous amount more.

Surely it should be common sense (as you obviously have) to search the whole market and not just trust what one company tells you in an email.

It's certainly not worth getting that worked up about!

Those people that have a little understanding of what goes on would know to shop around. But I wouldn't mind betting a majority will see the "saving" their current supplier is offering them an accept the switch onto a new tariff. Better than doing nothing, but not necessarily the best option they could take from a money saving perspective.

FreddieFrugal

victor2 wrote: »

Those people that have a little understanding of what goes on would know to shop around. But I wouldn't mind betting a majority will see the "saving" their current supplier is offering them an accept the switch onto a new tariff. Better than doing nothing, but not necessarily the best option they could take from a money saving perspective.

indeed, but why on earth would a business recommend another company's tariff over their own?

It's not something to get angry at them for, it would be ridiculous to expect them to.

If people can't be bothered to look around, considering the huge amount of publicity that switching has had in the News, on TV - watchdog, on websites like this. Then that is their fault for being ignorant. I managed to figure it out as soon as I first lived in my own place, but no family member or friend told me about it, the saturation of information about switching was obviously so high that despite never being interested in anything remotely to do with homeowning, I knew about switching. There's no excuse for it anymore.

If you went and bought a laptop from Currys for £399, then found later on that day, that the same laptop was available online from another retailer for £349. You wouldn't complain at Currys for not advertising their rivals prices would you?

You might feel miffed about paying over the odds for it, but at the end of the day it was your fault for not looking around for the best deal beforehand.

victor2

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

indeed, but why on earth would a business recommend another company's tariff over their own?

It's not something to get angry at them for, it would be ridiculous to expect them to.

But they do, as a recent email from my supplier indicates:

We promised to tell you if anyone launches a new tariff that could save you more than £1 a week (on average, at typical use*). So that's what we're doing.

We've spotted the following^:
• Robin Hood Energy has introduced Robin Hood Nottingham (certain postcodes only)
• Robin Hood Energy has introduced Robin Hood Prime
Remember better prices don't always mean better value
If you are considering a competitor tariff, you should also check if the others also offer you:
• A fixed price, with no rises guaranteed for the length of the tariff
• No exit fees - we won't charge you a fee to leave
• Electricity backed by low-carbon generation**, from a company you know
• Award winning customer service (Consumer Moneyfacts)†.
All in all, we think it still feels better to be powered by Blue+Price Promise from EDF Energy. We hope you agree.

Thanks for being with us.

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

If people can't be bothered to look around, considering the huge amount of publicity that switching has had in the News, on TV - watchdog, on websites like this. Then that is their fault for being ignorant. I managed to figure it out as soon as I first lived in my own place, but no family member or friend told me about it, the saturation of information about switching was obviously so high that despite never being interested in anything remotely to do with homeowning, I knew about switching. There's no excuse for it anymore.

If you went and bought a laptop from Currys for £399, then found later on that day, that the same laptop was available online from another retailer for £349. You wouldn't complain at Currys for not advertising their rivals prices would you?

You might feel miffed about paying over the odds for it, but at the end of the day it was your fault for not looking around for the best deal beforehand.

But think of the increasing number of elderly members of our population. Of those, a small percentage might have access to a computer, but an even smaller percentage of them would have the skills or knowledge required to shop around for a better deal. Try doing it without a computer!
For a number of years I have been helping out with a group that shows senior members of our society how to use a computer. To this day, I have yet to meet one whose objective is to be able to compare services available. Most just want to get to grips with email, use social media because of pressure from their offspring, and just get an idea of what is meant by "The Internet".