Ebico/Robin Hood Energy question

EachPenny

Anthorn wrote: »

Just one question in reply: Where are your facts and where is your evidence to support what you say?

Here:-

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity#Tariffs

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The OP appears happy with the information they have been helped with, the three declared Ebico customers on this thread all seem quite happy. It isn't quite clear where you want to take this..... perhaps time to give it a rest?

Anthorn

EachPenny wrote: »

Here:-

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity#Tariffs



The OP appears happy with the information they have been helped with, the three declared Ebico customers on this thread all seem quite happy. It isn't quite clear where you want to take this..... perhaps time to give it a rest?

You've gone off on a tangent with a previous rehash of your previous statement of pricing which incidentally I have not disagreed with.

However that article is misleading. It refers to the selection of tariffs based on location and useage but usage is not a factor within the same tariff. As I have already said two households in the same region on the same tariff will pay the same regardless of usage. Take a look at the following pricing leaflet which I selected at random. Where are the differing prices based on usage?
https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/pdf/tariffs/2017/Pricing_Tables_OLE_FS_January_2019_v2.pdf

In fact where usage plays a part in some tariffs with some suppliers is in the standing charge where higher usage promotes a lower standing charge or with some suppliers which have tiers where the more one uses the less it becomes. Nothwithstanding how the energy is used, i.e. Economy 7. It is this question of usage which you are confused about.

The FACTS are that RHE has a record of increasing prices and by an overwhelming whopping amount in comparison to other suppliers. Now you appear to completely disregard RHE as if Ebico is itself the supplier!

Now let's look at my reasons for disliking Ebico:

Fly on the wall:

Ebico: We are changing our main partner to RHE. They will be getting our profitable customers and you continue to pay £140 WHD to each of our less profitable customers.
SSE: No notice of that at all. As if. On yer bike
Ebico: Aarrgghh SSE has dumped our Equi customers but never fear RHE has stepped in and averted disaster.

The above is a matter of public record. It's a FACT. Ebico dumped SSE without any consultation at all and then blamed SSE for something that Ebico instigated

Consumers were happy with Ebico and SSE and it was always near the top of the rankings and it was SSE which earned Ebico its top position in customer service. Why Ebico switched its partnership to RHE without any notice whatsoever is therefore beyond my understanding.

Now let's look at Ebico's handling of its WHD customers:

Ebico: Oh sorry we're not providing WHD any more so you'll have to stay with SSE.
So much for Ebico (and RHE) paying lip service to the needs of the vulnerable energy poor while at the same time dumping them.

Again the above is a matter of public record.

So my main reason why I don't like Ebico is they are hypocritical. My other reason is that I'm not the "I'm all right jack" sort of person. I see how Ebico let down those vulnerable energy-poor people and passed the buck to SSE and blamed SSE!

My response to the above was to stay with SSE and not move to RHE. After that it was a matter of energy comparisons and moving to the best deal.

Back to the topic: Yes RHE will increase prices because they have a history of increasing prices. What remains is how much influence Ebico has over those prices. I would estimate not a lot. And Ebico, well, they've done it once so they will do it again!

EachPenny

Anthorn wrote: »

However that article is misleading. It refers to the selection of tariffs based on location and useage but usage is not a factor within the same tariff. As I have already said two households in the same region on the same tariff will pay the same regardless of usage. Take a look at the following pricing leaflet which I selected at random. Where are the differing prices based on usage?

I can only suggest you take it up with the site's owners then. But please don't be upset if they are as baffled as I am by your one-person crusade.

Anthorn wrote: »

Why Ebico switched its partnership to RHE without any notice whatsoever is therefore beyond my understanding.

Patently.

Anthorn wrote: »

My response to the above was to stay with SSE and not move to RHE.

So remind us all what happened (after SSE increased their prices for former Ebico customers)... how exactly did SSE support low usage customers on an on-going basis?

Anthorn

EachPenny wrote: »

So remind us all what happened (after SSE increased their prices for former Ebico customers)... how exactly did SSE support low usage customers on an on-going basis?

SSE did not and does not have the same tag line as both Ebico and RHE in pledging the fight against fuel poverty. Some fight eh: Dump WHD customers and give credit customers lower prices than Prepay customers. Laughable! How Ebico still have customers at all is again beyond my understanding.

EachPenny

Anthorn wrote: »

How Ebico still have customers at all is again beyond my understanding.

Again, patently.

squiggles

EachPenny wrote: »

If you are happy then that is the most important thing, regardless of what other people might say.

Just in case you didn't know, Ebico/RHE allow you to pay your quarterly bill by direct debit and still benefit from a direct debit discount. It means you only pay for your energy after you get the quarterly bill but can still save a few quid. There is plenty of time between the bill being produced and the DD being taken to check the bill and ask them to amend it if it is wrong.

Really! Well that is good news. I did think you had to pay monthly to benefit from a direct debit discount.

As I'm half way through a quarterly billing period at present I will leave things as they are but will look into it for my next bill. By then the price increase, if any, will have been decided, I like to keep things simple.

I was half expecting to have the clart on of switching in December when I moved to Ebico zero because I thought the new Robin Hood supplier would have been on a recruitment drive to get new customers. Then whack up the tarrif price after the honey moon period.

But the zero standing charge and simple billing system is what attracts me to Ebico. I've been an Ebico customer for 9 or 10 years now, could be more and I've never had an issue or ever had to ring customer services with a problem.

squiggles

Anthorn wrote: »

SSE did not and does not have the same tag line as both Ebico and RHE in pledging the fight against fuel poverty. Some fight eh: Dump WHD customers and give credit customers lower prices than Prepay customers. Laughable! How Ebico still have customers at all is again beyond my understanding.

I don't know anything about the WHD or who gets it but isn't the reason Ebico had to change supplier because it was a government policy to set a restriction on tariff charges. Therefore it wasn't Ebico who done away with it's own poverty ethics.

SSE banged up it's prices immediately while it's old Ebico/SSE customers were still deciding whether to stay or switch.

At least Ebico done some negotiations to get it's customers a zero standing charge tariff. A major reason people chose Ebico in the first place.

As I say, I don't know anything about the WHD or why you had to switch suppliers to keep this discount.

EachPenny

squiggles wrote: »

As I'm half way through a quarterly billing period at present I will leave things as they are but will look into it for my next bill. By then the price increase, if any, will have been decided, I like to keep things simple.

Just make sure you contact them in good time to get the direct debit set up for the next bill. Make it clear that you want quarterly DD on receipt of bill rather than monthly.

Anthorn

squiggles wrote: »

I don't know anything about the WHD or who gets it but isn't the reason Ebico had to change supplier because it was a government policy to set a restriction on tariff charges. Therefore it wasn't Ebico who done away with it's own poverty ethics.

SSE banged up it's prices immediately while it's old Ebico/SSE customers were still deciding whether to stay or switch.

At least Ebico done some negotiations to get it's customers a zero standing charge tariff. A major reason people chose Ebico in the first place.

As I say, I don't know anything about the WHD or why you had to switch suppliers to keep this discount.

Ebico did not have to change supplier. Neither did SSE immediately hike its prices. SSE continued to serve those customers who decided to stay with them with their equivalent of Equi tariffs who were primarily WHD customers who had been abandoned by Ebico and RHE.

If we agree with Ebico that their reason for the change of partner was the cap then we must also agree that SSE was unable to do what RHE could do. Far fetched I'd say.

What Ebico (and RHE) did was to replace Ebico's single tariff for all regardless of the method of payment with differential tariffs based on the method of payment which gave a cheaper tariff to customers who paid by direct debit.

Really we have to get this right. I knew exactly what Ebico was doing because I was an Ebico customer at that time.

On to the present and I predicted price increase in several threads. I love it when I'm proved right. The light at the end of the tunnel is that RHE is true to form so we can reasonably predict the future which is yet more price increases. To reasonably support that we need only look at RHE's price increase with their own customers.

Months ago Ebico ceased to appear at the top of comparison site tables for my region (Eastern) which they previously occupied. The reason for that is that other suppliers lowered the prices of their tariffs but Ebico's prices remained static. Basically, Ebico was priced outofthe market.

I wonder if Ebico is now seeing the error of their ways in switching their partner to RHE without notice to anyone not even SSE ?

Xbigman

I beg to differ. My records show that from late 2013 to early 2017 whilst every other supplier was cutting their prices Ebico's prices were virtually static. During that period they were tied to SSE not RHE. It was SSE who insisted on Ebico linking its prices to SSE's and then SSE who cut lots of tarif's whilst leaving Ebico tied to its expensive SVR for 4 years. Only when Ebico switched to RHE did prices drop.

As for your prediction of a price rise. Ebico stated no price rises until Dec 17. They eventually put prices up by a modest amount in Feb 18. This not only meets but exceeds their price promise. What is there to moan about unless you just want a moan.

The 1% DD discount is offered by RHE billing as an incentive to pay by DD. For low users who are typical Ebico customers like myself it is worth less than 10p a week. This is a complete non issue.

The warm home discount is a fair point to raise and Ebico haven't really said much about this so its hard to comment.
What I can say is that the WHD changes the dynamic of every tarif it gets applied to and if a low user with low bills can get a fixed sum discount, any significant number of customers claiming it can kill a small company like Ebico. Having principles that kill your company is not a long term strategy for business survival. This change was unfortunate for those effected but that is the way it is.


Darren