Sainsburys Energy

redcollie

We switched to Sainsburys Energy a year ago and were pleasantly surprised how little they charged us by direct debit. They did eventually increase the amount demanded...but it was still clearly inadequate for the energy we consume, and we steadily ran up a large debt to them. We decided to switch to another company and the estimate given by Eon was much more realistic.

However, had we not had sufficient money to pay the debt to Sainsbury's we would have been unable to make this switch and would have been stuck with a new tariff rate which was considerably more expensive into the bargain.

I doubt if this is a deliberate policy of entrapment by these energy companies, but it is a point worth noting: ensure if you ARE underpaying to an energy company that you are saving the money to repay them at some point, or you will be unable to switch companies later when they want to give you a more expensive tariff.

System

redcollie wrote: »

We switched to Sainsburys Energy a year ago and were pleasantly surprised how little they charged us by direct debit. They did eventually increase the amount demanded...but it was still clearly inadequate for the energy we consume, and we steadily ran up a large debt to them. We decided to switch to another company and the estimate given by Eon was much more realistic.

However, had we not had sufficient money to pay the debt to Sainsbury's we would have been unable to make this switch and would have been stuck with a new tariff rate which was considerably more expensive into the bargain.

I doubt if this is a deliberate policy of entrapment by these energy companies, but it is a point worth noting: ensure if you ARE underpaying to an energy company that you are saving the money to repay them at some point, or you will be unable to switch companies later when they want to give you a more expensive tariff.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I have switched many many times and I do not recognise the scenario that you are attempting to demonstrate. If energy users would take a little time to provide their supplier with accurate meter readings then there is no need for estimated bills and the accumulation of debt.

For example, my historical usage is 10000kWhs of gas and 3000kWhs of electricity each year. I use these figures to compare deals etc. When I transfer, my initial DD is 1/12 of the annual projected sum based on the above usage. The DD, however, is only a payment on account and I cannot really expect my supplier to monitor my usage when it is only required to read the meter once every two years.

You are correct that if a large debt builds up then the supplier will block the switch until the debt is re-paid, so I provide my two suppliers with at least one accurate meter reading per supply each month.