Cardiff Energy Supply: Give your feedback

Former_MSE_Karl

This is a feedback thread on energy supplier

Cardiff Energy Supply

Please share your experience with other MoneySavers. Click reply to take part

• Did your switch go smoothly?
• Have you had problems since?
• Is it easy to contact?

The feedback comes as part of the

Cheap Energy Club

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

CashStrapped

Hmm - just noticed these guys today.

Their website is very basic thus far.

http://www.cesl.me/

Do people consider a functional website to be a deal breaker before joining a company these days?

By functional I mean, online billing, bill history, energy use breakdowns etc.

I just see a simple form for supplying meter readings. I hvae no idea how they bill people, if it is paper (probably not), email or via an online account (cannot see a login).

This is the downside of small energy companies. The I.T infrastructure to support their customer base must be difficult to set-up on a budget.

[Deleted User]

@cashstrapped

I won't recommend a small supplier with a limited IT system to someone who isn't capable of tracking their own usage and calculating their own bills.

I can and do, so have no issues with my smallish supplier Daligas who's IT system just isn't there. They need to invest in a functional customer facing system to grow.

CashStrapped

Agreed

I was less asking for me - more of an unofficial poll of what would put people off moving to an older company.

southwales1

You need to note on the system that this company is only taking on prepayment meter customers at the moment. They are not interested in "standard" customers with a meter who pay by direct debit.

SammenForLivet2

This is the downside of small energy companies. The I.T infrastructure to support their customer base must be difficult to set-up on a budget.

Most reputable small-medium sized suppliers (e.g: GB Energy, PFP Energy, Robin Hood, Flow, OVO, Ecotricty, LCO2 Energy) will purchase an out of the box energy system, which will in most cases - from my experience - have just as much functionality (if correctly installed, and contracts in place with MOPS, DC's ect) as the Big Six.

This said, I doubt Cardiff Energy Supply has yet done this, given it is gas only for now.

semo

I'm not yet a customer and I've been trying to switch to them this morning. I've tried to call them several times this morning and their customer number just takes me to their voicemail.

I then decided to sign up on their site and it seems there's at least two mistakes in one sentence on their form :doh:



http://www.cesl.me/new-page-1/

I think I'll try someone else...

SammenForLivet2

'XO-Serve' the regulatory? XO-Serve is simply an industry database of gas supply points maintained by the National Grid, and until Nexus comes, a lot of new builds won't even be covered on that database (because of iGT's)

girlchops

We've been with CESL for 15 months and our fixed deal is coming to an end, I have to say that they have been great and offered a personal service. The CEO regularly answers the phone if you wish to call about anything and he and his staff are very helpful, approachable and amenable. What's more if they say they will call you back they do! If you have issues regarding switching from your old supply company they will help you and advise what to do and when. They have been great with us and very patient when we've called to double check things. Yes, they are a small company only offering gas but for us that was never an issue despite being based in London on a regular meter. They aren't and never have restricted their supply to only those with prepayment metres. They are happy to take all meters but don't have the functionality to service all smart meters so you would need to supply meter readings by phone or email as regularly or infrequently as you decide.
If I'd i've known earlier that this feedback forum was here I would have left our review sooner. They may not be the cheapest for everybody but for us we found them, cheapest, ethical, friendly and straightforward.
HTH somebody
:beer:

ahuk

Deceitful and shameful customer service. No complaints/escalation procedure and you can easily email the owner but he just blasts off replies dismissing customers' legal entitlement and claims it's blackmail to expect to get what was offered and advertised.

Last week I signed up for tariff that it claims got pulled recently but still appears on comparison sites. Thankfully saw its true colours before the switch.

I know the previous poster says the CEO regularly answers the phone but if she was encountering him that regularly he clearly hasn't got that many staff and/or don't have many customers (a recent company got shut down my OFGEM when they could not cope.)

So unprofessional (website littered with spelling errors i.e. "new tennants" showing as of 28/8/18). The crowdfunders who paid for this company to go into business should be asking serious questions about it and I predict it will go under within a year.

I will be asking the Energy Ombudsman to investigate and urge anyone else with any issue to get a final response and take their complaint (free of charge) to the Energy Ombudsman also.

macman

Can't comment on the CS, but I applied for a quote through the website and they phoned me a couple of hours later with a price considerably higher than that shown on the comp sites. When I queried it I was told that that tariff had been increased 4 days ago. However, it was still higher than the unit prices displayed on their own website. As noted above, not very professional: someone launching an energy business should be able to afford the services of a proof reader to get their their very basic website right.
Nevertheless, I would have gone with them had the original tariff quoted on CEC been correct.