Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

Tafrock

I like the powershop way of doing things too. But the discounts have dried up. In years gone by we could buy 3 or 4 futurepacks a month thus securing a bank of high discounted packs. It's just not possible now. And who knows what rate they will transfer me to in October when my current deal runs out. I'm sure it won't be cheaper. I've been a big flag waver for powershop since signing up. Had lots of correspondence with them often at a high level. But things have changed, (not for the better sadly)

Tafrock

Just got a quick quote from powershop. At todays prices I would pay an extra £31.13 at top shopper rates in comparison to Yorkshire energy Green goose rates. That's at top shopper rates. Yes my deal with powershop until October has slightly better rates than those I can get a quote for now but the discounts aren't high enough to sustain top shopper rates at moment.

Looks like I'm following you fewkeste

Tafrock

My mind is made up. I'm outta here. Powershop has been a wonderful experience. A totally unique way of purchasing electricity. The app is the best I've ever come across on the electricity supply field

However sadly the discounts attainable aren't enough to offset the price rise I was given when my initial contract expired.

Looking at my purchases across 22 months of being a customer it appears I bought a lot of credit initially and have hardly bought any since

June 2017 I purchased 102.26 worth of powerpacks. Then as follows
July 60.34 Aug 22.70 sep 25.55 Oct 21.45 Nov 104.64 Dec 45.20
Jan 19.04 Feb 20.51march 6.44 April 6.45 may 9.96 June 12.90 July 13.48 Aug 18.67 sep 12.96 Oct 36.22 Nov 43.52 Dec 27.39 Jan 25.63 Feb 25.55 Mar 19.09 finally April 10.48 (with this mornings powchella powerpack my final pack purchased)

My bills have ranged from a high of 38. 35 (my initial month June july 2017 ) to a low of 20.08 (may to June 2018)

However my projected bill for this month is my second highest at 34.67 and I'm now using my final high discount credits with none available to replenish them

My average bill is approx 30 pounds. Therefore it appears I've been slowly eating into the high discount packs I bought and not replenishing them with fresh packs as none have been available

I will move to a fixed payment of 31.10 with my new supplier which is lower than my bills will be with powershop now I'm using my simple saver discounts of 19.4%

Ill continue to monitor this thread to see if powershop improve their discounts

fewkeste

@Tafrock - who are you going with? - I start with Yorkshire Energy on their fixed Green Goose tariff from 24th April.

A word of warning - when Powershop were notified (presumably by Yorkshire Energy) I was leaving, the functionality of my online account changed.

I could no longer buy Future Packs (obviously) but also my Power Organiser calendar disappeared to be replaced just with the legends showing what colour square means what. It makes it difficult to ensure you have enough credit to cover until the leave date.

Also, I can no longer enter meter readings and the usage monitor where you could stretch bars to zoom in on the consumption for a particular period - well that functionality has gone.

PS are looking into it -asking about my browser. I'm using a Windows XP laptop running Opera V36 in case anyone else is in this position.

In short, if you are thinking of leaving, make sure you've got enoough credit to cover up to your leave date.

I've got enough credit but some of it is in the form of unused Future Packs from Sept/October 2018 which was a poor discount of circa 15%. Therefore any opportunity to buy higher discounted Special Packs up to the leaving date I will take. Presumably my unused poorer discounted Future Packs will be refunded at final account settlement date.

I was able to buy today's Powchella Special Pack (albeit with an error screen appearing) so at least the ability to buy Special Packs isn't taken away.

I recommend you take screenshots of all your Powerpacks Purchased account pages prior to switching so you've got a record of what was left on your acount so you can calculate the refund due to you if appropriate.

I've just had my April bill so I'm going to screenshot the relevant pages again now so I can see what Powerpack credit is left on the account after the Powcella Special Pack purchase.

As Tafrock says - available discounts have been falling.

One thought that struck me was that customers who stay will have to endure a Spring, Summer and Autumn with below Top Shopper achievable discounts in the hope/belief that these lower discounts will be offset by higher ones from October through to February/March.

The problem is that the fixed tariff I was on would have ended in October 2019 and I would have to accept the tariff offered then if I wanted to stay and benefit from the higher winter discounts hoping they would offset the poor discounts I endured in the Spring, Summer and early Autumn months. Couple that complication with a tariff rise in Otober and that makes doing an 'is it worth it' calcuation a nightmare.

Too much of an unknown for me.

I'll look what PS tariffs are on offer in October and think about returning but I'm not sure at this stage.

Umiamz

Removing your ability to enter readings is understandable. Once the gaining supplier notifies the losing supplier of a switch, they are supposed to ignore all meter readings apart from the opening reading that you give to the gaining supplier (which will be sent to them via the industry partner who verifies the reading).

fewkeste

Umiamz wrote: »

Removing your ability to enter readings is understandable. Once the gaining supplier notifies the losing supplier of a switch, they are supposed to ignore all meter readings apart from the opening reading that you give to the gaining supplier (which will be sent to them via the industry partner who verifies the reading).

Thanks for that info - I wasn't aware of that. One thing that puzzles me is that I've been told I'm going to be asked for a meter reading well before my switch date. What's that all about?

Yorkshire Energy say they will ask for a reading on approximately 19th April but I don't become their customer until 24th April. I'm confused. Do they use/agree this meter reading (taken not on the switch date) as the de facto artificial end/start reading?

Umiamz

fewkeste wrote: »

Thanks for that info - I wasn't aware of that. One thing that puzzles me is that I've been told I'm going to be asked for a meter reading well before my switch date. What's that all about?

Yorkshire Energy say they will ask for a reading on approximately 19th April but I don't become their customer until 24th April. I'm confused. Do they use/agree this meter reading (taken not on the switch date) as the de facto artificial end/start reading?

That's entirely normal - every company I've switched to in the past has asked for the opening reading around 5 days before the switch date. They will then send the reading to an industry 3rd party (who has a record of your last 24 months of meter readings) and they will verify the reading. They will then return that reading to both losing and gaining suppliers to ensure that there's no overlap in billing.


Sometimes the industry partner will come up with their own estimated reading if your actual reading doesn't fit with your usage. There's a good article about it on Octopus' blog:


https://octopus.energy/blog/secret-life-opening-meter-reading/

Tafrock

I'm taking the plunge and going with symbio fewkeste. Their one year fixed April 2019 dd only tariff gives me an estimated annual bill of 373.15 which converts to a monthly payment of 31.10. The Yorkshire energy tariff you are going onto is slightly dearer at 406.92. Monthly payments of 33.91 so there's not a lot in it.

I do have concerns of going with symbio but equally I did when I joined the upstart zog for gas and I'm still with them nearly 5 years later

Symbios tariff is coming up a mere one pound cheaper than my current powershop baseline 2018 v 1 tariff (using top shopper alleged achievable rates) . However as you are aware that only runs until October. Who knows what powershop would put me on in October. Their current baseline tariffs are very expensive even if you factor in the top shopper rates

Thanks for the info about account closure. I'll be ok with credit. I have £71 in my credit bank albeit at simple saver discount rates of 19.4% or less

Tafrock

It's now green gosling not goose. That costs me a bit more still at 34.48 monthly or 413.70 annually

fewkeste

Tafrock wrote: »

It's now green gosling not goose. That costs me a bit more still at 34.48 monthly or 413.70 annually

This tariff would have cost me £25 more per year. Glad I signed up for Green Goose when I did.

They've also told me that if they bring out a cheaper tariff I can swap straight to that no problem