British Gas Collective Fix December 2016

hieveryone

Hoping this isn't a sign of trouble to come - my Gas account seems to have changed to 'Collective Fix' (although my DD information is still the previous amounts), but Electricity is still showing as the old tariff.. time will tell....!

luckwudaveit

I have switched from Sainsbury's to BG. My direct debit amount has changed, I've been refunded the credit on my Sainsbury's account without having to nudge anyone and my BG online account didn't require me to re-register. If I get the CEC cashback pronto, then this will be the smoothest switch ever.

alb1

Just switched mine as I had changed over to BG Standard at the end of November. I got an email confirming the Electricity had switched within 2 days and a letter confirming the same for the Gas (I've no idea why it was an email for one and a letter for the other) about 3 days later. All done within 5 days and I'm saving £200 a year. I might be moving within the year so I'd have to pay the exit fees, but I'll save that over the winter anyway.

BlueIsTheColour

Still no update from BG technical support about why my historic data disappeared when I switched... Would really like it back haha!

ultracheapskate

Hi. I signed up for the switch to BG for both electricity and gas. I was previously with BG for gas, and EDF for electricity. I signed up for the switch on 1/12/15.

I have spoken to British Gas today and they confirmed I am on the new tariff for the gas but have no request for the electricity switch. They have checked the national database and no switch is forthcoming, and thus I am still with EDF.

Any ideas on what I should do next? On holiday for a week from tomorrow.

wilfred3

Be careful when switching to BG, as I found out. The kWh may be slightly cheaper, but BG's standing charge is very high compared to other utility companies. This wipes out any savings, even with the £30 switch. I'm better off with my old provider.

You have to decide whether it works out cheaper to have a higher standing charge and cheaper unit charge, or a lower standing charge and a higher unit charge.

wilfred3

YKay wrote: »

I heard British Gas have changed requirements for the Warm Home Discount.

Myself and partner claim Income Based JSA, Housing Benefit & Council Tax. We are both under 26, unemployed and have no children, no disabilities, no medical conditions.

Are we entitled to claim? If so, when is the shut of date, and when is the £140 discount paid?

Have you had the Warm Home Discount before with another utility company, when did they pay the money into your account?
I am unaware that BG have changed their policy on this!
The Warm Home discount is usually paid to those on DLA, have you received notification from the benefits office that you are entitled to this? They usually send you a certificate to state you are entitled to the a Warm Home Discount, you then send a copy of this to the utilities company.
The money goes into your account around March.

hieveryone

ultracheapskate wrote: »

Hi. I signed up for the switch to BG for both electricity and gas. I was previously with BG for gas, and EDF for electricity. I signed up for the switch on 1/12/15.

I have spoken to British Gas today and they confirmed I am on the new tariff for the gas but have no request for the electricity switch. They have checked the national database and no switch is forthcoming, and thus I am still with EDF.

Any ideas on what I should do next? On holiday for a week from tomorrow.

Will be watching for any advice re: this, as my gas shows up as switched, but not my electricity. Nothing is ever simple!

Joyful

Wilfred3. I think you are getting confused re the WHD.This is open to everyone to apply for as long as the income is under £16190 and there is a vulnerability. For YKAY they may qualify under fuel poverty if they are using more than 10% of income on energy. Alternatively they may have a chronic health condition but not getting DLA.

Those on guaranteed pension credit do not need to apply though as the DWP forwards the info to the energy suppliers. BG will close the WHD very soon so if any one wishes to apply make sure it is done asap.

MSE_Dan_L

ultracheapskate wrote: »

Hi. I signed up for the switch to BG for both electricity and gas. I was previously with BG for gas, and EDF for electricity. I signed up for the switch on 1/12/15.

I have spoken to British Gas today and they confirmed I am on the new tariff for the gas but have no request for the electricity switch. They have checked the national database and no switch is forthcoming, and thus I am still with EDF.

Any ideas on what I should do next? On holiday for a week from tomorrow.

Hi Ultracheapskate

That sounds pretty frustrating. Unfortunately I think the person you spoke to at British Gas has provided you with incorrect information.

The gas part will be a quick tariff change, but the electric will take a few weeks longer as you'll initially have a 14 day cooling off period and only after that will the fuel switch over (normally into total around 3 weeks).

Here at MSE we've been voicing our concerns loudly and frequently to the British Gas management team responsible for this switch as we've had quite a few similar queries where our users have been told incorrect information by the call agent. We've also added a couple of FAQs on this scenario to the CEC FAQ page.
https://cheapenergyclub.moneysavingexpert.com/faq

To be clear, both parts of your switch will definitely have been received by British Gas, but in this scenario it needs to go through a two-stage process and is likely why the person you spoke to couldn't see the remaining part on their system. However rather than leaving you in limbo, they have been told to follow an internal flagging process to ensure this gets checked through.

Following our complaints to it, the BG call agents are being retrained to ensure that more accurate information is provided, disappointingly this seems to be taking longer than we'd like. However if you do have further concerns I'd suggest making a formal complaint to British Gas which may also help to tackle the root cause of the communication breakdown.

I hope this helps to clear things up for you.