MSE News: Energy users are put off switching because they haven't heard of the...

grumpycrab

poppellerant wrote: »

I took a gamble when I switched to Iresa, because they were a relatively new company that I had never heard of before... they were a complete shambles.

And still are a complete shambles. Users that don't switch because they've never heard of companies like Iresa are totally vindicated.

Raine_E_Day

[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]I have decided not to switch just yet. This the reality, once I have whittled down list to include, 1) Warm Home Discount (Core) participants, 2) those I know who will not have problem with the Economy 7 metre (never had Economy 7 since I moved here 17 years ago ) with the need to total up day and night for 'normal' rate, and 3) those who have a level of customer service that does not send alarm signals. I realise I will only save a max of £75 a year with the cheapest (and dodgiest) , ao am sticking with British Gas Standard (with a view to switching early next year perhaps). Better the devil you know.

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Mark HodgesCEO, Centrica Consumer[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]https://www.britishgas.co.uk/media/r/1486/why_we_ve_had_to_raise_electricity_prices__but_ar[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]....But there’s another very important group that we will ensure is protected from the price increase this winter: our most vulnerable customers. For more than 200,000 standard tariff customers in the core group who automatically receive the Warm Home Discount, British Gas will credit their account with £76 over the winter months.....[/FONT]

harz99

Consumerist wrote: »

Have you asked for a refund?

In my view, the best time to ask for refunds is in the Spring but if your credit is excessive compared to your annual consumption you should be able to get some back even at this time of year.

Have you asked them to justify the DD based on your consumption? If you have asked and they haven't explained then complain.

It seems a shame to have to fork out early termination charges by changing supplier before the end of your contract.

Not asked for refund because they have just reduced my DD to stupidly low, and as I'm switching out I'll get it back anyway. No early exit charges on the tariff, so no cost involved.

Caddyman

harz99 wrote: »

Also I have lost patience with Npower over taking excessively high DDs, and then not following through with arrangements to reduce them, result being they are sitting on almost £400 of my money.

Thanks for taking the time to clarify the questions.

Concerning your £400 in credit balance, I don't disbelieve you, however, I am truly baffled by your situation. I've been an Npower customer for years and I've never built up an in credit balance the like of which you have. Excessively high or low monthly direct debits can sometimes occur because of inaccurate meter readings.

I'm clearly unsure of your meter reading regime, but if you're constantly getting estimated bills for instance and if you never question them and your D/D just keeps getting paid and then one day an actual reading is taken and it's clear you've used far less energy than what you've been paying for, from what I see, that's how one could get a substantial credit build up.

In my own case, this never happens. Every single month, first of the month, I take gas/electric meter readings and submit them via Npower's App. Takes just about 3 minutes of my time. 12 meter read submissions a year by me, OCD? probably! but my bills are never a surprise to me, my monthly direct debit is spot on and I don't build up a hefty in credit or minus balance. On 3rd of August 2017, an official Npower meter reader pitched up, took actual readings and unsurprisingly, they were within a few kwh of my own readings I'd submitted just 48 hours previously. I received an actual bill one week later. No surprises, not in debt, no raising or lowering of my D/D, just over £5 in credit balance which will get consumed by the winter bill. Over the next two months, I won't be surprised if my monthly D/D is increased slightly to take account of my increased winter energy useage because of my OCD meter read regime. To be honest, I am hankering after smart meters, but Npower are being very slow on installations in my region. I've just had my water meter replaced with a smart meter. Saves me having to send readings or check the accuracy.

I see from your last post, you're not asking for your in credit balance back because a. your switching, and b. you say they've reduced your D/D to 'stupidly low'. Hardly surprising really, however, I cannot fathom why they have not previously auto refunded you. Trust me, I would have been ranting on the phone at them to refund me if I had built up the in credit balance you say you have built up. There's no way they'd get to sit on that amount of my money.

To be honest, if I'd experienced the sort of poor customer service you say you have experienced and seemingly not getting anywhere, I'd have approached the energy ombudsman by now. It doesn't cost a penny and it isn't necessarily onerous. I know, because a few years back when I was with Powergen, I had to get the ombudsman involved. My complaint was resolved within a month.

I hope your switch goes well.

Caddyman

grumpycrab wrote: »

And still are a complete shambles. Users that don't switch because they've never heard of companies like Iresa are totally vindicated.

I've heard of Iresa, they're actually based just a few miles away from where I live. Will I switch to them? Based on my own research, no. That's a personal decsion and not in any way intended to sway others opinions. One should always carry out their own research prior to switching.

As I've stated in an earlier post or thread, at this juncture, if I were to consider switching away from my 'Big 6' supplier, my first port of call, would probably, most likely be one of the large City Council suppliers, such as Robin Hood Energy, or Bristol Energy, which though not the cheapest, are still reasonably competitive. It all depends on where you live though as regionally, prices can and do vary.

Consumerist

Caddyman wrote: »

. . . Every single month, first of the month, I take gas/electric meter readings and submit them via Npower's App. Takes just about 3 minutes of my time. 12 meter read submissions a year by me, OCD? probably! . . .

Good sense, if you ask me. If only more people would do something similar I am sure there would be far fewer energy complaints.

That is not to say, however, that suppliers, in general, are not falling well short of a professional standard of service.

harz99

Caddyman, as regards the auto refund, my suspicion is they won't do that until you've been with them at least a year so they know your peaks and troughs of usage, which I've only just passed.


I'm not as good with readings as you, smart meters are BG ones so useless, and Gas means getting down on the ground to read it, which I find difficult. Only every 2 months I do mine.


Npower has never worked well at this house, however at a previous property over 10 years back all was well. Often though, with all these big power suppliers, it's their computer systems or rubbish CS reps (or both) that cause the problems so many people have.


I would agree about the phone rant re credit and complaining if interest rates weren't in the doldrums, but at around 1% it isn't worth the aggro to me as I'm maxed out on all the higher rates available from current a/c's, regsvr's etc. Situation would have largely resolved by next review date anyway.

harz99

Caddyman wrote: »

Concerning your £400 in credit balance, I don't disbelieve you, however, I am truly baffled by your situation. I've been an Npower customer for years and I've never built up an in credit balance the like of which you have. Excessively high or low monthly direct debits can sometimes occur because of inaccurate meter readings.


I hope your switch goes well.

Trust me, when I switched to Npower I knew the DD they proposed was far to high, after 3 months I rang up, went through it all with a CS rep and agreed a lower DD which would have still ended up with a credit balance of around £150 to go into the next heavy usage winter period - I went abroad for nearly 3 months, they never implemented the reduced DD so that was that.


Thanks for the good switch vibes.

Caddyman

harz99 wrote: »

Trust me, when I switched to Npower I knew the DD they proposed was far to high, after 3 months I rang up, went through it all with a CS rep and agreed a lower DD which would have still ended up with a credit balance of around £150 to go into the next heavy usage winter period - I went abroad for nearly 3 months, they never implemented the reduced DD so that was that.


Thanks for the good switch vibes.

No problem. I don't have a problem with switchers or switching, I've done it myself in the past, albeit quite a few years ago now! But obviously this thread is all about the fears folks have about switching to small independent energy suppliers and the merits or otherwise of doing so. I've carried out my own risk analysis and for me, I'm not ready to go down that particular road and that's an entirely personal decision.

I wasn't aware of the issue relating to time spent with an energy company assessing your useage in your first year as a customer, so thanks for enlightening me. This might be the reason why a very good friend of mine is currently in fuel poverty to the tune of over £300 and is currently forking out a rather large monthly D/D payment to reduce the debt. She moved into a property just over 12 months ago and rather oddly, never sent a single meter reading in, (she didn't think she had to....:shocked: ) just went by the estimated bills and EON, her provider didn't read the meter until only a few weeks ago. They rather rapidly installed smart meters!

As I say, good luck with the switch. Hope it all works out well!

slugslime

I have lived in my house for over 15 years. In that time I have switched energy suppliers at least 7 times. Why? To save money! I was with GB Energy which went out of business. Was I worried? Of course not as I know Ofgem would sort it out and Co-op Energy came to the rescue honouring my fixed deal with GB. That is now coming to an end so I have just switched to Tonik Energy. Why? A cheaper tariff plus they offer 3% on credit balances- better than most savings accounts! There are also no exit fees so if I am not happy I can leave without a penalty. Don't be put off by the lesser known companies- the big 6 rely on complacency. Do a comparison through MSE (it takes just a few minutes) and you will me amazed at the savings. :T:T:T:T