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Tafrock

Just received my first full monthly bill from my new provider symbio energy. It totalled £30.79 for 254 kWh of energy. It was for 38 days electricity (one month and one week from changeover til month end)

It just emphasises how these powerpacks pull wool over our eyes. Nearest recent month for similar usage with powershop was 14th December through til 13th Jan. Yes that's right one of the months where you get maximum discount with powershop

My bill for that period with powershop came to £29.99 for 251 kWh for 31 days usage

So for 7 days less usage and 3 kWh less energy powershops bill after discounts came to 80pence less. If you add in the standing charge for the extra 7 days (£1.23) that makes powershop 53pence dearer during one of its maximum discount months

That month with powershop included 3 maximum discount packs ie a winter shaker and two January future packs. My bill before discounts would have been £48.90

I've found a similar usage month going way back to 14th Feb through til 13th march 2018. For that period I used 253 kWh during a 28 day period. That bill came to £28.94 for one kWh less electricity and 10 days less standing charge after discounts. I saved £9.87 on my bill that month ie my bill would have been £38.81 before discounts. Back then my standing charge was a lot less and 10 days standing charge would have cost me £1.66 so even that bill would have been £30.60 a mere 19pence cheaper than this most recent symbio bill.

fewkeste

Tafrock wrote: »

It just emphasises how these powerpacks pull wool over our eyes.

I absolutely agree. It's so difficult to analyse the question 'am I getting a good deal'? with the PS way of doing things.

Some people on the PS forum post that they 'over the year' do well but on a month by month basis it's difficult to be sure.

I think this obfuscation serves to keep customers with PS longer than they might otherwise stay, if they were able to do a like for like comparison.

I used to work out my monthly % discount then use that to calculate my effective tariff for that month, then use that to calculate what my annual cost would be based on those monthly achieved tariff results, then use that to compare against the top results of a search on energyhelpline (I don't trust the MSE energy club search engine.)

It sounds complicated but it isn't when you just plug the numbers into a spreadsheet.

If PS levelled the discount all year round it would be much easier to do a comparison with other suppliers. However, I don't think they want that and they disguise the real reason behind the story that they are giving the greater discounts in winter when bills are higher.

That is true of course but what really matters is what we pay annually, and the current uneven discount profile throughout the year makes a true comparison with other suppliers difficult (though not impossible.)

For less experienced customers they just see the big discounts on packs in the winter months and don't mentally pro rata them against the many more packs appearing in the spring, summer and autumn with pawltry discounts.

What's more, it takes experienced customers (like you and me Tafrock) who know the previous discount patterns to see what's going on.

Smoke and mirrors - that's what it is I think.:D

Tafrock

What it really emphasises fewkeste is how ridiculously expensive powershops standard (sorry baseline) rate is.

Looking at those examples above there's no way on this planet I would purchase 251 kWh electricity for £48.90. Its like buying petrol or diesel from a motorway service station

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my time with powershop and got excellent rates in my early days with them

But I think what powershop rely on is people focusing on the massive discounts you are getting at times. Its great to brag about 40% off this 52% off that. The customer thinks they are saving loads of money. But when the price of the undiscounted product is so much higher than competitors rates its little more than a smokescreen. It becomes more so as standard prices go up. Even if the discounts stay constant your price is increasing

To keep an eye on powershops rates in comparison to other companies I kept a log of my annual usage (powershop provide this on every bill)

I then used this to get quotes from other companies. But I looked at the effective monthly payment these quotes would cost and not the tariff rates. I then compared these to my monthly bills (not what I spent on packs but actual bills) as provided by the excellent powershop app

Once my quotes became less than actual powershop monthly bills i jumped ship

Oh yes I'm with you about the mse comparison site. It's dreadful nowadays I use energyhelpline and uswitch

A final note about powershop. I like the way that even after you have left them you have access through their website to your historical bills and energy usage charts. Very helpful indeed

Quentin

From what you experienced ex customers keep saying it seems to be jump ship at the end of year 1 is the way to do it

After the initial 12 month fix the whole thing is smoke and mirrors is the impression you give

Is that it??

Hermann

My November packs are 2 x £7.24 (7 days) with 34% discount.

Been with Powershop since July 2017.

Hermann

My current projection is for Powershop baseline to cost me £556 for next 12 months. Estimated PowerPack savings are £99.95 giving me a cost of £456.

So I'd need to average 17.9% discount to achieve the 'best' figure.

The best I can find on comparison sites is currently Symbio offering me the year for...... £456.

So it's down to whether the discount packs turn up to be able to achieve that average 17.9% discount.

I'll keep an eye on how that is going, but I'll stay for now as that could be achievable if the packs keep turning up.

Having been a customer since 2017 it does feel as though the packs are getting smaller and more limited however, for now, just enough keep turning up!

I like the model, I feel more in control plus there is a lot more flexibility as to how much and when you pay and you control how much you are in 'credit' yourself.

I wouldn't pay a large premium to stay but if it's within say £20 of the best on the comparisons I'll stay.... ideally I'd like to beat the comparisons, again, as it has the previous years!

I don't think it's necessarily true that you have to leave after 12 months, mines worked out ok in the second year.

It really boils down to how confident am I of that £99 discount, it doesn't 'feel' guaranteed and the cynic in me thinks thats how they'll get me in the end!

Tafrock

You just have to keep an eye on your costs quentin . It works well in the beginning but once your first anniversary is up you will be put on a higher standard (sorry baseline) tariff. As I said keep an eye on your actual monthly bill and not the discounts you are achieving. Buy as many high discount packs as you can afford. A time will arrive when you can't buy enough to cover your monthly usage and you will be relying on packs you have banked

Those November packs of yours are great discounts Hermann but that won't cover your monthly usage. As long as other high discounts are available come november you'll be ok though.

I managed to stay for 22 months leaving on April 24th. Once my baseline tariff arrived I couldn't buy enough packs at high enough discount to cover my costs. However I'd built up nearly £200 in high discount credit in my first year. I run this right down to £72 before giving up and getting them refunded and jumping to symbio

Symbios costs are wonderful. However their communication and overall customer service dreadful unlike powershops superb customer service

Hermann

Quentin wrote: »

From what you experienced ex customers keep saying it seems to be jump ship at the end of year 1 is the way to do it

After the initial 12 month fix the whole thing is smoke and mirrors is the impression you give

Is that it??

I'm staying in to my third year, it's still working for me, but does feel less 'discounted' than in the first year.

The real life figures are still working for me so I'm staying for now but I do keep an eye on the situation as I do feel it's going to suddenly get expensive one day and they're hoping I won't notice when it does!

Tafrock

Spot on Hermann. I do miss the flexibility of buying electricity when it suited me instead of a regular fixed monthly cost but I wasn't prepared to stay at a premium

Hermann

Tafrock wrote: »

You just have to keep an eye on your costs quentin . It works well in the beginning but once your first anniversary is up you will be put on a higher standard (sorry baseline) tariff. As I said keep an eye on your actual monthly bill and not the discounts you are achieving. Buy as many high discount packs as you can afford. A time will arrive when you can't buy enough to cover your monthly usage and you will be relying on packs you have banked

Those November packs of yours are great discounts Hermann but that won't cover your monthly usage. As long as other high discounts are available come november you'll be ok though.

The future is definitely looking less certain! I preferred it when the monthly packs covered a longer period.

They'll be a simple saver in November to add in plus I'll need another pack of some sort at 17.9% + to keep it working.

As I've said it does feel as though it won't keep working well, and as you say it's just a question of keeping an eye on the real costs to know when the balance has tipped away from Powershop. And that may well sound like too much work and faffing about for some!