Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

System

Interesting: there is an article in Utility Week (paywalled) suggesting that Citizens Advice has written to Ofgem suggesting that when the Safety Net was introduced that it was never envisaged that consumers would accrue significant credit balances. Perhaps the time has come for Ofgem to insist that all suppliers take out an insurance bond.

fewkeste

OnePound wrote: »

I have been with PS for just over a year,. I have a notification from Cheap Energy Club that i could save 20% by switching. However this is calculated on the baseline rate, so Im thinking as long as I pay on average with packs over 20% discount, then i should be ok. I have been buying up discounted packs (over 18% saving) for a few months meaning I've paid for energy up to mid March according to the App.
Does this make sense, anyone else in a similar situation? I sometime think it would be simpler to go with a standard supplier where I know exactly what the rate will be.

Your strategy is correct. I know what you mean about the temptation to go with a standard supplier but you will almost certainly pay more.

I agree that the PS pricing is a bit opaque - you don't really know what overall discount you've achieved until the following month/accounting period when you can see your bill statement and see what you saved that month, what it cost you after discount and therefore what you have saved as a % is easily calculated.

fewkeste

gsmlnx wrote: »

The CEC never calculates the Powershop tariffs correctly.
The Citizens Advice Bureau site does however (it is powered by energylinx) https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

I was pleased to see your post and I've just visited the site but it doesn't work!

I'm on Baseline 2018 version 1 tariff and it comes up with an error message shown below to say my combination doesn't exist.

Important Message
Our records indicate that the information you have entered in regards to your current electric supplier and the tariff or payment method is not correct, as this specific combination does not appear to be currently available. Please go back to the energy calculator and double check the information entered. If you have any difficulty please contact us and we will be delighted to assist.

I remember seeing this on another comparison site but I cannot recall which one it was (either Which or Energyhelpline I suspect as they are the two I use most.)

I'll contact them to let them know.

EddyM

Hi,

My account with Powershop just went live (yesterday), although they've actually been supplying my electricity since the 8th of November (I don't have any gas). So I just thought I'd post my available packs/discounts here for comparison as someone mentioned above.

Winter Shaker: 38% off, £8.31, worth £13.40
Little Extra: 32.7% off, £5.31, worth £7.89
Simple Saver: 19.4% off, £5.40, worth £6.70

The thing is though, it looks like my usage may have been hugely underestimated. I'm not sure what figure they've used - when I signed up, I gave an estimated annual consumption that I'd calculated myself, as I had recently discovered that my previous supplier (E.ON) had been hugely underestimating my readings, and also made a complete mess of things when I tried to give them actual historical readings that I had. So if they've used any sort of estimate from E.ON, that could have come out as absolutely anything from 0 upwards, depending on how they decided to calculate it.

When I first logged into my new Powershop account yesterday, it said I'd used £35 more than I'd bought (in the 25 days between them starting to supply my electricity and me actually being able to log into my account). So the first thing I did was give a new meter reading, and then it changed to saying I'd used £87 more than I'd bought. The available Powerpacks haven't changed at all though, and they say they will cover 3 days, 2 days and 1 day respectively.

So unless I'm missing something, I can only buy enough Powerpacks to cover 6 days of usage this month. Does this make any sense? I thought I was supposed to be able to buy enough to cover my usage, and it sounds like others here have enough to cover even into future months.

So I would be grateful for any advice or tips anyone can offer
(I have read through quite a bit of this thread, but definitely not all of it, as there is so much now!)

[Deleted User]

@fewkeste
I had never tried using powershop as my supplier. I use my actual one so I hadn't tried what you did.
I meant that CEC never shows the powershop results correctly (starting from another supplier) unlike the CAB/energylinx sites.
Hope you get a reply about why that error occurs.

grumpycrab

EddyM wrote: »

My account with Powershop just went live (3rd December), although they've actually been supplying my electricity since the 8th of November

Question (I'm not a PS customer). Does that mean you've paid full (basleline) price to end of month? Is the end of month 30th November or 8th December?

fewkeste

EddyM wrote: »

So I would be grateful for any advice or tips anyone can offer
(I have read through quite a bit of this thread, but definitely not all of it, as there is so much now!)

It's quite normal to have to buy some undiscounted power as a new customer, because the Future Packs that apply to your consumption now would have to have been bought several months ago when you were not a customer!

Try emailing them via the 'contact us' tab and let them know you think your annual usage is much lower on their system because of the reasons you mentioned in your post.

They may say if you input regular readings the system will quickly 'learn' and more accurately estimate your annual consumption so that in future, Powerpacks matched to your consumption will be offered.

That won't solve your current Powerpack shortfall though.

Don't buy any Baseline Energy; if necessary let your account enter the account review date with a shortfall of credit if there are no more Powerpacks to buy.

Let PS buy the Baseline Energy for you, because they will only buy the minimum needed on your behalf to settle your account. If you buy it, you may buy too much which is the last thing you want.

This situation happens to many new customers.

fewkeste

EddyM wrote: »

So I would be grateful for any advice or tips anyone can offer
(I have read through quite a bit of this thread, but definitely not all of it, as there is so much now!)

I forgot to mention in my earlier post - for now buy everything irrespective of the discount. See my previous advice about this in recent earlier postings.

It really is worthwhile reading the entire thread from beginning to end - you will learn a lot. Invest an hour of your time and you will be much better informed and able to optimise your experience as a customer and maximise your savings.

Try to remember how 'overwhelming' this all appears at present, then in a few months, when you're a more experienced and knowledgeable customer, how easy it is to manage your account because you read the thread:)

Umiamz

Still waiting for access to the shop. Electricity switched on the 22nd November and gas on the 26th. The welcome pack claims 'up to 9 working days' once on supply.

From what others have said, though, it can be quite a long wait...

Tafrock

Christmas sparkle powerpack released today with 52% discount. Best yet I believe. For £4.50 I get £9.37 and there's a teaser of more to come. In the small print it says 'Collect all of our extra-special festive specials and get Christmas wrapped up.'

Thank you powershop.