Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

fewkeste

Tafrock wrote: »

The 'you need to buy all powrpacks to meet top shopper rate' doesn't wash with me.....

If discounts fall back to low levels in spring as I anticipate them doing so I may well have to jump ship even if its just temporarily and I return next winter

My thoughts exactly.

I'm even considering creating a new tab on my spreadsheet to monthly calculate what my effective annual bill would be if I achieved the discount shown in the previous month. This will clearly indicate what real discounted annual bill I will achieve, so I've got a more realistic value to compare against other suppliers.

The key problem at the moment is that when doing a price comparison, you are always comparing alternative suppliers' quotes against a possibly unattainable Top Shopper rate, and so Powershop always seems to be the best/cheapest deal.

By annualising my monthly achieved discounts and bill, I can calculate likely actually achievable annual bills and I can also work out a representative pro rata overall annual bill which would be even more representative. i.e. taking just one month's winter discount and applying that to the whole year would give an unrealistically high discount/low annual bill.

Tafrock

My last billing period showed an increase in cost of £1.23 for one kWh less electricity ie 248 kwh instead of 249 for October 13 to November 13. Only part of that billing period was at my new increased tariff rate

So my total cost was £30.32 compared to 29.09

I calculated pence per kWh to have increased in one year from 9.54 to 10.03 p

This is using my own calculation methods where I keep the standing charge constant at 17.57p per day. Powershop claim it varies and reduces to 16.6p per day as you buy powerpacks. I prefer to simplify it and calculate the standing charge at the maximum quoted

Powershop quotes my effective pence per kWh as 12.23 up from 11.68 in the bill information tab on their website. This price basically divides monthly cost by kWh used and makes no allowance for standing charge

Both price increases seem acceptable to me at the moment given the current state of the energy supply market and wholesale cost of electricity

fewkeste

Umiamz wrote: »

@fewkeste
By 'speculation' I meant the "ifs" and "mights" in your post. We don't yet know what other packs will be offered. Also, where does it say that the Top Shopper rate isn't guaranteed? I've looked through the T&Cs, but it's rather a long document so I may have missed something.

You are correct - we don't yet know what in-month Powerpacks will be offered for March and April. However, in a few days time (1st December) we will see what May Future Packs will be released and what discount they will be.

Regarding the Top Shopper rate - the first year promise is guaranteed in writing I know for certain but the first year promise is a pawltry discount off the Baseline rate.

Why don't you ring or email PS customer services again and ask if there is anything in writing to say they will guarantee a customer will achieve the Top Shopper rate [if they buy all available Powerpacks of course]. I'd be interested to know what they say to you.

They'll probably refer you to the first year promise but press them on if there's a written guarantee about achieving the Top Shopper rate if or when you contact them.

I/we will be fascinated to know what they say.

fewkeste

I've now calculated my personal tipping point. At present it's 19.6% discount. If in any given month I achieve (or I'm on target to achieve) less than 19.6% discount off the Baseline Tariff, then the next cheapest supplier (Bulb) would be better value for money.

What I've done is calculated the monthly discount achieved from my PS bill - (they show what you've paid and how much you've saved each month) so you can work out the % savings in that particular billing period (month).

I then apply that discount to the non discounted Baseline Tariff annual figure to give an annual figure that would be achieved if I got the particular month's discount all year round.

Why do I do this you may ask?

The key thing is that it gives me a realistic annual figure to compare with other suppliers' offers on price comparison sites.

The problem at the moment is the alternatives always look inferior compared to the Powershop annual Top Shopper rate/quote but, as I've commented in previous posts, I'm unconvinced at present that the Top Shopper rate is achievable for the whole year.

What I've done allows me to calculate a 'spot' (monthly) estimate of what my annual bill would be at the currently achieved discount level for the latest billing period. This is a more accurate estimate of the current month's performance annualised, but what I plan below would be a better true annual achieved discount estimate.

The next level of refinement I'm considering is to calculate a running annual achieved discount, whereby the contribution to annual discount per month is weighted by each month's achieved discount and the bill for each month. i.e. each month's discount contribution is pro-rated according to what proportion of the annual spend is incurred in that month.

So, for example, if in a given month say 8% of the annual expenditure was incurred, then only an 8% proportion of that month's achieved discount level would be counted to the annual achieved discount calculation.

It sounds complicated but really isn't with a spreadsheet. Hope that helps those who have asked about my spreadsheet.

Umiamz

Personally I shall just give it a year and see whether I have achieved the Top Shopper rate at the end of the first year. I'm not bothered about a few pounds here or there - I'm in it for the unique way of managing my energy.

grumpycrab

fewkeste wrote: »

It sounds complicated but really isn't with a spreadsheet.

An ideal candidate for a spreadsheet. And so great fun for those who have a bit of time and don't care too much if they don't end up paying the lowest gas/electric charge in any 12 month period.

KTF

Can the spreadsheet be shared?

grumpycrab

KTF wrote: »

Can the spreadsheet be shared?

Don't think fewkeste would make it public (people will review it!) but send him a direct message and I'm sure he'll help.

fewkeste

KTF wrote: »

Can the spreadsheet be shared?

I have already been asked that question by someone who isn't very good with formulas.

The problem is you need to be good with formulas to amend the spreadsheet to your particular circumstances and regional tariff. The other thing is that it's an online Excel spreadsheet so I'm not sure how I would do that. I've put it online because I use different devices and I wanted access to it irrespective of what device I was using at any given time.

I have no problem with people seeing it - there's no personal information in it. When I've figured out how to do the rolling achieved annual discount bit (the most valuable part in my opinion) I'll ask for suggestions on how to make it available.

Somebody in a PM mentioned Google documents - I don't know what that is but I assume it's some sort of document sharing portal that allows people to share (and presumably work on/alter) a document.

I'll give it some thought.

It really is worth benchmarking the reality of what you're actually achieving on a month by month basis because it makes you realise those other suppliers whose annual quotes initially seem uncompetitive compared to Powershop, are in reality quite competitive at the time of year when Powershop ramps discounts down.

@Umiamz - have you asked PS if Top Shopper rate is guaranteed in writing anywhere yet?

Umiamz

fewkeste wrote: »

@Umiamz - have you asked PS if Top Shopper rate is guaranteed in writing anywhere yet?

No - it's not that important to me.