Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

fewkeste

I agree it was a good response - I bet it was written by someone with a level of seniority.

I recently did a price comparison and sadly if I end up on a Baseline Tariff and manage to achieve the rates cited for Top Shopper based on July 2018 issue 1, it will be cheaper for me to be with OneSelect. Also I won't have to worry about 'Pack Anxiety'. Electric vehicle owners have range anxiety, I as a Powershop customer have pack anxiety:D

All the time I'm asking myself should I ignore this pack it's only X% discount. If I go to OneSelect I'll beat the Top Shopper rate without the hassle of juggling Powerpacks and the constant should I buy/should I wait for a better discounted pack dilemma we are all faced with.

If I knew in advance what packs were to be released in future, I could plan my purchases to match my expected consumption.

Tafrock

For me outfox is the cheapest a mere two pounds per year cheaper than powershop top shopper July. That tariff is a 19 pounds increase over the year for me which is what I would expect given the rising prices in today's electricity market.

Think I'll have to start buying packs below my self imposed 20% threshold and lower it to 15% else my credit will evaporate.

I'll hold out and see what powershop offer me in the coming months. After all the email does say initially my rates won't alter so I have a couple of months at my existing rates yet and any alternative supplier would mean an increase in costs

fewkeste

Tafrock wrote: »

Think I'll have to start buying packs below my self imposed 20% threshold and lower it to 15% else my credit will evaporate.

Yes I'm the same - I've set 15% as my lower discount 'buy' trigger. My concern about the new Baseline Tariff we will be moved onto is the massive increase in the daily standing charge.

A recent quote I did returned a daily standing charge of 24.528p per day compared to my current 15.76p per day. 365 days at 24.528p is £89.52 per year that has to be paid for out of the discounted credit 'pot' compared to £57.52 currently.

The Top Shopper supposedly achievable daily rate is 15.76p and so to achieve that from the starting rate of 24.528p a discount of 35.7% needs to be achieved. That shows the massive difference between the discounts new customers supposedly can achieve and what existing customers are offered.

The key question is do new customers on Baseline Tariff feel they can achieve a 35.7% discount with the Powerpacks they are offered because if not, the Top Shopper rate may be very difficult to achieve?

It really doesn't help not knowing what Special and Future Packs are going to be available. If I stay I would have to 'hope' that sufficient discounted packs appear throughout the year.

It may be possible to actually better the Powershop Top Shopper rate by only buying Powerpacks above a set % but it may be a lot of angst throughout the year for a minor additional saving.

Tafrock

I'm hoping this new baseline rate we are put onto does not have this ridiculously high standing charge that the current baseline has. I can't fathom how standing charge can alter between baseline and top shopper. How are you supposed to work out your unit rate. Surely it would be better to totally do away with the standing charge and charge a higher unit rate. At least we'd know where we stand. That would work for me

neilsedaka

Npower used to have a zero standing charge tariff which was great for an unoccupied property that I was responsible for. In 2017 that tariff was moved to Ebico and then to SSE.

Tafrock

I've just asked powershop if such a tariff would be possible with a slightly higher unit rate. This would also help lower usage customers like myself who have been disadvantaged by the cut in discounts recently (though I think everyone has really been disadvantaged by that). Powershop replied that no such tariff is available but they can manually work out my unit rate for me if I wish

soberton

I have been with Powershop now for 14 months. I use about 110000Kwh per annum split 40% daytime and 60% night time using Economy 7. My experience of Powershop is very positive, beating the Easy Saver promise by some £150 over the first 12 months. I bought every power pack as soon as it became available. The powerpacks I didn't use I have had reimbursed and I will continue to buy then get reimbursed if not used.
Looking at this forum gets me to ask the fundamental question about why I joined Powershop in the first place. It wasn't for their excellent Customer Service, it was because they promised to be cheapest - and they were. I am working on the assumption that Powershop isn't an amateur outfit therefore they know that me and customers like me will only stay with Powershop as long as we continue to the cheapest electricity on the market - they also know we are savvy customers otherwise we wouldn't be here in the first place. They must also know that if they let us down then we will move to the cheapest solution we can find and will never return (if not they do now!)
So, for this year, I am going to give Powershop the benefit of the doubt., they can play about with tariff names and prices, standing charges and whatever else, I will continue to buy every power pack available and monitor what I am paying against what I could pay elsewhere. If I feel that Powershop is letting me down there will be no second chance, I will vote with my feet - along with most of us using Powershop - the choice is with Powershop, I remain loyal as long as they keep their side of the deal.

neilsedaka

soberton wrote: »

I use about 110000Kwh per annum.

That is about 24 times my consumption. So, 24 times four bedrooms = about a 96 bedroom property?

soberton

Sorry - 11,000 Kwh

fewkeste

@soberton My thoughts exactly - I couldn't have put it better. My cheapest option is £2 per year cheaper than the Top Shopper rate from the latest Baseline tariff. I will stay short term and monitor the situation.