Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

Powershop_UK

Hi fewkeste,

Thanks for the replies earlier. Glad to hear you are getting on well with the app!
To answer your questions...

fewkeste wrote: »

Does this mean that for example in October you will offer Special Packs that will offer approximately the same 23.5% discount as the November Future Packs?

Yes approximately. There will be a couple very discounted Winter Packs that you'll also want to grab at the time. It doesn't matter if you've already bought enough for a billing cycle a Powerpack is released in it will just add on to whatever you need for the coming months.

As for how the timing of future packs works...

fewkeste wrote: »

(Given the November Future Packs predominantly cover October's consumption.)

We target future packs to start on the first of every month. It fills up your billing cycle that's primarily in October because you have a billing cycle that ends on the 4th of November.

fewkeste wrote: »

Also, if a customer has purchased Future Packs for a given period, will they still be offered Special Packs covering that same time period with a similar % discount and of a comparable magnitude to other customers with a similar annual consumption who have NOT bought Future Packs for the same relevant period?

Yes, all Powerpacks are offered to all customers at the same % discount. We don't hide Powerpacks just because you were proactive enough to buy future packs!

Hope this helps.

- Powershop Pricing Team

fredandwilma

At a time when comparison sites aren't displaying the cheapest tariffs, it appears the same is happening with Powershop, itself?

Unless I'm missing something, if i get a quote, only the Standard tariff is displayed, and as I've mentioned before, only if you sign up with Powershop, do you get to see the 'cheaper' tariffs?

We offer See Shop for Powerpack offers (Easy Saver)

We offer discounts when you purchase Powerpacks in our shop

You can only access the 'shop' if you have already signed up?

Somewhat lacking in transparency itself, i feel.

Powershop_UK

Hi fredandwilma,

Thanks for the post. The full range of achievable prices is displayed in a single quote via our quote tool for your region and consumption. That's accessed by the blue switch now button on the top right hand corner of our homepage. http://www.powershop.co.uk/

When you do a quote, you will see...
1) Our standard price which you would be billed at if you did nothing.
2) Our early July introductory "Promise" that you'll achieve at least of better than in the first year or we'll make up the difference.
3) Our best achievable price that you can achieve by covering your usage with discounted Powerpacks (future, top-up or specials).

We have provided our pricing including our best achievable price to price comparison websites as well but as you say ultimately the decision on how to display our tariff is up to them.

We don't allow anyone to sign up without an introductory "Promise", as we understand requiring customer engagement with their usage and reads is a new in the market.

Have a good one.
- Powershop Pricing Team

System

fredandwilma wrote: »

At a time when comparison sites aren't displaying the cheapest tariffs, it appears the same is happening with Powershop, itself?

Unless I'm missing something, if i get a quote, only the Standard tariff is displayed, and as I've mentioned before, only if you sign up with Powershop, do you get to see the 'cheaper' tariffs?



You can only access the 'shop' if you have already signed up?

Somewhat lacking in transparency itself, i feel.

If you click on COMPARE NOW on the quote page, it will take you a 2nd page with three projections:

Shop for Powerpack offers

Easy Saver Promise

Our Standard Price

Click again and you get three personal projections

IIt is worth pointing out that no written guarantee is offered in the terms and conditions that if all the energy is purchased via powerpacks that the Easy Saver price is actually achievable.

Easy saver (displayed in the quote as "Shop for Powerpack offers"): is the price quoted showing how you can beat our Easy Saver Promise price by buying bundles of electricity called Powerpacks to cover your usage before the end of you're monthly billing cycle.

Whereas:

* Terms and conditions: The Easy Saver Promise works out the maximum annual cost of your electricity with Powershop over the next year at your property based on the standing daily charge (£/day) and unit rate (£/kWh) and the usage information you provided

is a guarantee.

System

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Hi fredandwilma,

Thanks for the post. The full range of achievable prices is displayed in a single quote via our quote tool for your region and consumption. That's accessed by the blue switch now button on the top right hand corner of our homepage. http://www.powershop.co.uk/

When you do a quote, you will see...
1) Our standard price which you would be billed at if you did nothing.
2) Our early July introductory "Promise" that you'll achieve at least of better than in the first year or we'll make up the difference.
3) Our best achievable price that you can achieve by covering your usage with discounted Powerpacks (future, top-up or specials).

We have provided our pricing including our best achievable price to price comparison websites as well but as you say ultimately the decision on how to display our tariff is up to them.

We don't allow anyone to sign up without an introductory "Promise", as we understand requiring customer engagement with their usage and reads is a new in the market.

Have a good one.
- Powershop Pricing Team

Our posts crossed. Please explain how you have persuaded PCWs to accept the Easy Saver Price as a Tariff when there is no guaranteed certainty that this level of saving/cost can be achieved? I am sorry to keep going on about this but it is important for people thinking of switching to Powershop.

Powershop_UK

Hi Hengus,

Thanks for replying and explaining the quoting tool.
We've provided full transparency to comparison websites on what the price point is, provided the prices, and allowed sites to make their own choices on what to display.

Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 for comparison sites. Showing the prices can be perceived as misleading and not showing prices which are some of the best on the market can be perceived as non-transparent.

Given the latest guidelines that sites no longer have to display the whole market, we would expect that many of them won't be listing our best achievable price by the end of the month.

Hope this makes sense.

- Powershop Pricing Team

System

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Hi Hengus,

Thanks for replying and explaining the quoting tool.
We've provided full transparency to comparison websites on what the price point is, provided the prices, and allowed sites to make their own choices on what to display.

Unfortunately, it's a bit of a catch 22 for comparison sites. Showing the prices can be perceived as misleading and not showing prices which are some of the best on the market can be perceived as non-transparent.

Given the latest guidelines that sites no longer have to display the whole market, we would expect that many of them won't be listing our best achievable price by the end of the month.

Hope this makes sense.

- Powershop Pricing Team

Thanks for the clarification. Have you run your advertising past the ASA? Only you at Powershop know whether the Easy Saver price is achievable. It is the potential for mis-selling that concerns me given that I have only achieved 14% discount so far.

Powershop_UK

Hi Hengus,

Thanks for the post. We have had external legal advice on the price point, and it is very achievable.

14% is what we have in plan for summer. Winter they will get significantly higher. The future packs and a couple of Winter specials here and there, I think at your level of engagement you'll have no problem at the very least achieving our lowest quoted price.

Have a good one.

- Powershop Pricing Team

fewkeste

@Powershop

Powershop_UK wrote: »

We target future packs to start on the first of every month. It fills up your billing cycle that's primarily in October because you have a billing cycle that ends on the 4th of November.

Thanks for clarifying the discount on Special Packs roughly being the same as Future Packs.

Can you clarify timing?

You've already explained new Future Packs appear at the beginning of the month - what about Special Packs? - do they always appear at the beginning of the month or can they appear at any time?

Do you alert customers by email or text when Special and new Future Packs appear or is it up to us to keep checking our account?

Also, when Future Packs and Specials appear, typically how long are they available for? Is there one time period of availability for Future Packs and a different time period of availability for Special Packs? Is it usually the same availability period for each type of pack all the time?

The reason I ask is at the moment I check my account every day - am I wasting my time because you will alert me by email/text when new packs (of either type) appear anyway or should I check daily?

Out of interest - how do you decide when to offer Special Packs and how do you decide what % discount to offer them at?

Can you list what % discounts Future Packs have been since you started offering them? I know what August, September, October and November are (12.8%, 13.6%, 14.5% & 23.5% respectively) but out of interest what was the % discount for July, June, May, April etc?

Does the % discount offered on a Future Pack stay the same all the way through its availability period or does it change?

Can you give us any teasers as to any other Special Packs you are thinking about for the future?

Specifically, what sort of % discounts are you considering for December, January and February Future Packs? Do you calculate it or does someone say "I think we should offer x% off".

You've hinted at wanting to make Future Packs more attractive.

Would you consider even bigger discounts for customers who are prepared to buy well in advance? (a bit like how the electricity companies do in the bulk market)

Powershop_UK

Hello fewkeste,

Thanks for the post.
We'll tell you want we can, although we can't give away the whole recipe as who knows who reads these forums!
We'll break this two halfs 1) on how it works now and 2) on ideas for the future.

First of all on notifications, you can get automatic notifications to your smartphone with our mobile app. (Believe you said you use the Android app) You definitely don't need to check your account every day! _pale_

1) How it works now

Top-up packs: Released on the first of every month available for use in month and are removed from the shop at the end of the month. (The Simple Saver pack will send out a notification when this happens.)

Future packs: Released at the start of the month, and may or may not be refreshed at the start of the next month.

Special packs: These attempt to tie in to current topical events and are released as and when. A notification is sent out each time these are loaded. We aim for about 10-14 day gap between them. These have "Special" in the title and generally expire after 5 days. (as the half life of the topic is probably shorter than that.)

Big Winter Specials: Plans still being worked up here but these will be valid for 14 days or more before expiry (also potentially accompanied by an email campaign to drive engagement)

Right now we are trying to give people a chance to get used to the model and the discounting is pretty basic. We have an overall discount pot and budget specials to hit the rates budgeted for in the TIL. When the upper and lower prices change we would communicate this like a standard price change.

2) Future blue sky ideas :idea:
We've currently avoided these for all of the reason's pointed out previously about transparency and complexity.
a. Market spot price linked powerpacks
b. Tracker product for powerpacks on a public index of prices
c. Fixed and pre-communicated quarterly or annual reprices
d. Big annual or 6 monthly packs
Not sure any of these will go anywhere in the future we want to get people used to the basics and then gauge interest.

Hope this helps. Have a good evening.

-Powershop Pricing Team