Goodbye BG Collective Fix Feb 2017

martyp

Hengus wrote: »

A Chief Executive of one of the smaller but growing suppliers said recently that the industry was finding it extremely difficult to recruit enough staff with experience of the domestic energy sector. That said, I would have thought that a supplier the size of BG would have a top notch staff training organisation.

Near the end of last year British Gas closed a customer services building not too far from me, I think the work may have been transferred abroad. It's quite possible that any other UK call centres have had to inherit some of the responsibilities of that office? Sadly NPower had offices across the road which met the same fate years before.

dav485

phillw wrote: »

Enter your current meter read.

Then go here for electricity consumption:



Then tick gas and untick electricity (no idea why they let you tick both when displaying kwH).

I would guess they are a month short, so the simplest option would be to multiply them by 1.09. But it's a cold month, so if you know how much you used in the last 30 days then add that in. But of course the weather next year could be completely different & so getting a 100% accurate figure is not that important.

I found the energy consumption graphs on the website were completely inaccurate. They were showing consumption figures of less than half the amounts stated on my bills??

I think it is best to get the usage figures from the actual bills.

applicationcen

Lets say for instance I switch to Avro, and as we know Avro has no exit fee.
Then in a few weeks there is hopefully an MSE Group Switch.

Can I cancel during the switch phase?

phillw

applicationcen wrote: »

Lets say for instance I switch to Avro, and as we know Avro has no exit fee.
Then in a few weeks there is hopefully an MSE Group Switch.

Can I cancel during the switch phase?

You get a 14 days cooling off period, after that then you'll probably have to wait for it to go through. My guess is that there won't be a better offer revealed in the next 14 days though.

martyp

I think I might have had a revelation now...
Owing to Iresa having issues with the calorific value and Zog Energy being about £7 cheaper over the year anyway and both have no exit fees, I'll probably go to two different suppliers.
Zog being just gas they know what they're doing and get great reviews here and Iresa have the best rates for electric (for me anyway) and can't go far wrong there (hopefully!) using just basic unit calculations!
Then just await the collective switches

Malcontent

Yes, I was aware that my BG Collective Fix Feb 2017 was ending so I tested the water through Cheap Energy Club etc. I also decided to give BG a try through their own Tariff check/quote option (for those who use their online account - which I do). During 2016, according to BG's data I used 12090 kWh of gas and 4778 kWh of elec. This, according to them cost me £945 for the year under Collective Fix Feb 2017.


I requested quotes for their other current tariffs and was amazed to receive a quote for their Home Energy Free Time (Saturday) March 2018 tariff of no more than I had been paying in 2016 (£945). I checked this against the other quotes I had already got and concluded that this was the one to go for.


A few days ago I asked them to change me over to this tariff.


Yesterday I decided to check that all was in order through my online BG account. It was only then that a query came into my mind when I saw that my new Home Energy Free Time tariff was based on BG's Basic Tariff. Knowing that I would have expected that it would mean my annual energy costs would be much higher, not the same - strange? I decided to re-look at BG's quotes for these tariffs. I found that they were still broadly the same. On the same page however, there was a small link, "more details", under each quote. I decided to check these out.


It was only then, well down each details page, that I found that the quotes I had been given were based on 9085 kWh gas (not the 12090 I had used in 2016) and 4045 kWh electricity (not the 4778 kWh I had used in 2016). As such, the annual consumption figure used for the quote for gas alone was 25% less than my consumption for last year!


Today, I telephone the BG Complaints number and asked for them to explain what was going on - especially since my weekly, monthly and yearly consumption figures were all in their system. I did not understand their response. I requested that they revert me to the Feb 2017 Fix tariff - which they have agreed to do within 10 days (from where I will find a more suitable tariff elsewhere). I also requested that they ensure that their system be changed so that in future it yielded tariff quotes based on individual customers actual annual consumption figures. They said they would look at this.


So, all you out there, beware the BG tariff quote system!


Thanks to all of you for the info regarding alternative tariffs. I will be looking at these again in the next few days.


Not quite so Malcontent as I was yesterday!

minimike2

I am sad it is at an end already. As a heavy electricity user the unit rate has been very peachy. I think I only got 11 months out of it too by the time it went through.

Same boat as everyone else deciding what to do.

Has anyone else signed up to the "Big Community Switch"? - It's a collective which is auctioning on 14th Feb and will be pricing out the offers from 27th Feb Onwards...... I am thinking of holding out for the result of this before deciding.

https://bigcommunityswitch.ichoosr.com/Product/index.rails?actionId=544

rusty_frog

minimike2 wrote: »

Has anyone else signed up to the "Big Community Switch"? - It's a collective which is auctioning on 14th Feb and will be pricing out the offers from 27th Feb Onwards...... I am thinking of holding out for the result of this before deciding.

https://bigcommunityswitch.ichoosr.com/Product/index.rails?actionId=544

The problem with the 'big community switch' as I see it is, that with only 12,641 (to date) interested parties, they just wont carry enough clout to get a good deal out of anyone.
Didnt I read somewhere that MSE attracted in excess of 100,000?

AndyJ52

Malcontent,
I'm in the same position as you, coming to the end of MSE's BG Collective Fix so I too looked at BG's quote's and got 3 products called
1) Home Energy Capped Feb 2018 (Exit fees of £20 per fuel)
2) Standard
3) Home Energy Fixed March 2019 (Exit fees of £40 per fuel!)
Standing charge of 26.01/day per fuel for each 'deal' listed.

No sign of anything called Home Energy Free Time 2018 (must be a regional difference I guess) but interestingly, the quotes were worked out on kwh usage that's way in excess of my actual usage.
Quote based on usage of: Gas 19,724.07 Elec: 6052.38
Actual usage Jan-Dec 2016: Gas 11253 Elec:4499

Think I'm off to either AVRO or SO Energy a they are by far the best quotes for my situation.

phillw

dav485 wrote: »

I found the energy consumption graphs on the website were completely inaccurate. They were showing consumption figures of less than half the amounts stated on my bills??

I think it is best to get the usage figures from the actual bills.

I had entered a meter reading and just got a bill produced which included my yearly usage (March to January so not really a year though) and my energy tracker shows the same figure. If I calculate it from the meter readings then I get the same figure for electricity and roughly the same figure for gas (converting meter readings to kwh is complex, I have no idea if they are just making it up).

I multiplied the March to January figure by 1.09 to get closer to the right figure for new comparisons. But I really have no idea how much energy I will use in the next 12 months.

I have no idea why yours are!half.