Feedback on Utility Point

bxboards

Stompa wrote: »

I'm not so sure about that.

Ditto - point 9 of the terms and conditions on the introductory 'Time For A Proper Introduction' sign up mails says that to get the £15 discount you need to be regularly using the online portal and submitting readings.

I can't see any evidence the discount is already factored into the standing charge or unit prices, although its not quite clear how or when the £15 discount is applied.

PennineAcute

Stompa wrote: »

I'm not so sure about that. I seem to recall that, on their monthly email asking for a meter reading, they state that you may lose the online account management discount if you don't give them the reading. Does that mean your SC and/or unit price would then increase?

I have no idea. If I am receiving this discount, then I would have to assume it is somehow factored into unit price and standing charge. However, as each person uses different amounts of energy, I would find this difficult to believe.

As I moved electricity over in January, and my gas in April, I have two accounts with them. Neither my gas or electricity bills have had a £1.25 monthly credit.

poppellerant

Has anybody received an email notifying of a potential increase in direct debit, due to this winter?

Hello,

Thank you for being a Utility Point Member over the past few months. I hope that you found the switching process smooth and the Online Utility Hub useful and easy to use. If you have logged in recently you may have seen Utility Point rewards. A number of our members are already enjoying the various benefits that these can provide.

The energy industry is notoriously bad at allowing customers to build up debt on their accounts, which can come as a surprise at the end of a contract or as customers go through the winter months. At Utility Point we believe in communicating with our members and ensure we help our members look after their accounts, so any potential debt does not build up.

We realise that this year has seen some extreme weather with some areas experiencing cold and wet weather (sometimes snow) when we would usually be expecting to see leaves on the trees and the sounds of spring. Transversely we have seen the hottest summer since 1976 which for some has meant that planning our weekends has been less of a fingers crossed situation in the hope it doesn’t rain. For many of us, including myself, this has also meant having the heating on for longer than usual during spring and having a fan on most of the day during the summer months! This unusual weather has meant that some of us have used more energy than we usually would have in a typical year at this moment in time, and as we head towards the winter months, consumption starts to increase even further. For us at Utility Point, it is important to we monitor your Direct Debits to ensure you are on track to cover your usage for the first year of being with us.

We believe in being honest and transparent with all of our customers and as such have illustrated a generic example, please see below, of how your Direct Debit is calculated. We understand that your contract may be longer than 12 months but it is important that if your Direct Debit does require recalculating we resolve this sooner rather than later to ensure it doesn’t become unmanageable.

TABLES OF CALCULATIONS REMOVED BY ME (POPPELLERANT) AS THEY DID NOT RETAIN THEIR FORMATTING WHEN COPYING FROM THE EMAIL

With the above calculation in mind we may email you shortly, should a change to your Direct Debit be required.

In order to ensure we can provide you with the best possible service, which includes accurate billing, it is so important that meter readings are provided to ensure that we can paint an accurate picture of your annual consumption. As discussed previously, industry data and estimates cannot always be accurate and can cause anomalies and we ask you to be mindful of this if you are relying on estimates and do not provide monthly readings.

Please remember that as summer draws to a close we would expect you to be holding a sufficient credit balance in your account to offset against your anticipated increased winter consumption. Due to this year’s extreme weather conditions, as mentioned above, your credit balance may not be adequate and hence the requirement to review your account.

We will never intentionally increase a Direct Debit beyond the amount that is reasonable for your personal annual consumption and would always encourage you to provide an updated reading each month. If you receive any further communication around a change in your collection value please do not cancel your Direct Debit as this will incur a £15 charge. We feel we are a rather reasonable bunch and would prefer to have a discussion about things and solve any issues.

We will of course give you advance notice of any change, in line with your Direct Debit guarantee to provide you with enough time to contact us if you feel that the industry data has caused us to calculate an unreasonable increase.

Please remember that you will only ever pay for the energy you use.

Thank you again for joining Utility Point and I hope that you continue to enjoy the benefits of being one of our members.

The calculations show a direct debit increase of 11% for gas might be being proposed. It seems this will depend on the outcome of their calculations of my gas usage and current balance.

wavelets

poppellerant wrote: »

Has anybody received an email notifying of a potential increase in direct debit, due to this winter?The calculations show a direct debit increase of 11% for gas might be being proposed. It seems this will depend on the outcome of their calculations of my gas usage and current balance.

All energy supplieres are expected by Ofgem to regularly review customers monthly direct debit payments to ensure the customer does not accrue large debits or credits.

As the supplier has informed you

Please remember that you will only ever pay for the energy you use.

If you do receive a request for a revised monthly payment, then this MSE article may assist you further.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

As the supplier has informed you, they are willing to discuss any issues you may have over a revised monthly payment proposed by them

We feel we are a rather reasonable bunch and would prefer to have a discussion about things and solve any issues.

PennineAcute

Point 5.15 from their T&Cs.


"We aim to review the amount, date and frequency of your automatic payments at least twice a year, for example to make sure you are covering the cost of the energy you use, or reduce the amount if you are paying too much. To make sure together we are balancing your costs with your payments, you must provide meter reads at least once a month to make sure your payments can be reduced if you are paying for more than you need. However, where we intend to make any changes to your automatic payment, we will notify you by email (normally 10 working days) in advance of the payment being taken, or such other period as we may agree."

poppellerant

I wasn't questioning whether they could review and even raise my direct debit. I simply wanted to know if anybody else had received the same email.

PennineAcute

No I have not.

Quentin

poppellerant wrote: »

I wasn't questioning whether they could review and even raise my direct debit. I simply wanted to know if anybody else had received the same email.

Maybe start a different thread - this feedback thread is more likely to be read by people considering moving to the company.


If you really want to know if anyone from MSE has received a same email as you then you will get more response with a more relevant thread title


(What will you do if someone else has??)

poppellerant

Quentin wrote: »

Maybe start a different thread - this feedback thread is more likely to be read by people considering moving to the company.


If you really want to know if anyone from MSE has received a same email as you then you will get more response with a more relevant thread title


(What will you do if someone else has??)

I understand. But if I were a new customer, I'd perhaps consider how often a supplier reviews direct debits during my search.

My original query was to find out if perhaps a number of customers had received the email at the same time, as the mention of the early winter of this year implied to me that perhaps this wasn't a from a template as you might expect from routine emails. But from the replies, perhaps this was just a routine email.

If somebody had received the same email as me, I had no plans to do anything.

gt94sss2

We received a very similar email from UP but without the following text included:

We believe in being honest and transparent with all of our customers and as such have illustrated a generic example, please see below, of how your Direct Debit is calculated. We understand that your contract may be longer than 12 months but it is important that if your Direct Debit does require recalculating we resolve this sooner rather than later to ensure it doesn’t become unmanageable.

TABLES OF CALCULATIONS REMOVED

With the above calculation in mind we may email you shortly, should a change to your Direct Debit be required.

As has been said, all providers have to regularly review direct debit levels - this seems to be their way of saying such a review is underway.. instead of just informing everyone of changed payment levels (perhaps they hope it will reduce telephone queries) - and perhaps they removed the table as it was causing confusion (with some not realizing that was a generic example)

poppellerant wrote: »

I understand. But if I were a new customer, I'd perhaps consider how often a supplier reviews direct debits during my search.

I am pretty sure the period that providers can have between direct debit reviews has been set by OFCOM