SSE Sneaky?

altocumulus

Hi all,

Just renewed by fixed rate tariff with SSE, moving from v9 to v14. Interestingly v14 (as described by the advisor) is only available to those who express an interest in a Smart Meter - sneaky or what?!

Just before I said I didn't want one, I was informed that, as I have an economy 7 meter, I wasn't eligible for one, as they are incompatible.

But is this an underhand way for SSE to 'force' the Smart Meter onto those who don't want it - though I guess even if an interest is expressed, it doesn't mean acceptance....

++++

Staying with SSE as I couldn't 'find' an alternative. One comparison site took my current tariff and usage, to say the annual charge was £400 lower than reality - so the suspect savings were even more suspect!

Maybe next year.

AndyPK

I must say SSE are very keen for people to have smart meters!


British Gas do a tariff where by you MUST have a smart meter.


Clearly they need to give us incentives to have them!

matelodave

It wont be all that long before you'll have to pay more for not having a smart meter.

I can see them imposing an extra charge for non-smart meter accounts to pay the additional cost ofprocessing meter readings outside of the smart meter regime.

The legislation allows you to refuse a smart meter butAFAIK does not compel the energy companies to maintain the old meters or even to allow the same discounts if you refuse to have one so you can expect some incentive to have one or a disincentive to refuse one.

The obvious ones being to limit certain tariffs only to smart meter accounts and for conventional meters to be unavailable. As the meter doesn't actually belong to you, then effectively it's up to the supplier to decide what he fits.

You do of course have the option to refuse one and not have an electricty supply if that's how the supplier wants to play it in the future

mbmonty

I would report that to the regulator, they are not allowed to compel people to use a smart meter

The more people that report these shoddy practices the better

SSE are not a favourite of mine, not the absolute worst but bad enought

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

System

mbmonty wrote: »

I would report that to the regulator, they are not allowed to compel people to use a smart meter

The more people that report these shoddy practices the better

SSE are not a favourite of mine, not the absolute worst but bad enought

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Sorry but you have not understood. Suppliers various are now offering tariffs to customers with a contract condition that requires the consumer to agree to a smart meter. There is no coercion; no shoddy practices etc. The consumer is under no pressure to sign up to these tariffs.

What is being offered here is no different to this tariff for electric vehicle owners:

https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/electric-vehicle-tariff/

The supplier asks for a vehicle registration number during the sign up process. The supplier isn!!!8217;t saying that you have to go out and buy an electric vehicle. It is what Ofgem calls !!!8216;tariff innovation!!!8217; which it believes is an important part of market competition.

prost

Altocumulus, you could consider swapping to M&S Energy https://www.mandsenergy.com/default/ who use SSE. I read a positive review of M&S Energy at https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/energy-companies/article/other-energy-companies-reviews/mands-energy

Ex-SSE customers moved to them to enjoy M&S's stream of free vouchers.

It sounds like they have good customer service which is odd that they chose SSE and not someone else.

I oppose SMART METERS and wrote about them in another post
( https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5387741 ).

System

prost wrote: »

Altocumulus, you could consider swapping to M&S Energy https://www.mandsenergy.com/default/ who use SSE. I read a positive review of M&S Energy at https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/energy-companies/article/other-energy-companies-reviews/mands-energy

M and S may sell excellent food but there is absolutely no way that their high energy prices are offset by a few vouchers. A quick comparison shows that M and S would charge me £891.35 per year. My separate suppliers for gas and electricity charge me £700 per year. Octopus also gave me £50 for switching my electricity to them. Both Octopus and Zog (my gas supplier) also offer first-rate customer service.

altocumulus

Hengus wrote: »

M and S may sell excellent food but there is absolutely no way that their high energy prices are offset by a few vouchers. A quick comparison shows that M and S would charge me £891.35 per year. My separate suppliers for gas and electricity charge me £700 per year. Octopus also gave me £50 for switching my electricity to them. Both Octopus and Zog (my gas supplier) also offer first-rate customer service.

Aye, I'm always rather wary of vouchers when offered alongside other items/services, reminds of the pens one used to be offered to take out Life Insurance in the older days

Sheesh, I envy your 700 for dual fuel! We're probably not far off 4 times that amount.

AndyPK

M&S expensive for high users.

Low uses will just about break even, the standing charge is £54/year
but with expensive unit rate

but you aren't gaining anything unless you want to pay for a £50 voucher in advance

mbmonty

Hengus wrote: »

Sorry but you have not understood. Suppliers various are now offering tariffs to customers with a contract condition that requires the consumer to agree to a smart meter. There is no coercion; no shoddy practices etc. The consumer is under no pressure to sign up to these tariffs.

What is being offered here is no different to this tariff for electric vehicle owners:

https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/electric-vehicle-tariff/

The supplier asks for a vehicle registration number during the sign up process. The supplier isn!!!8217;t saying that you have to go out and buy an electric vehicle. It is what Ofgem calls !!!8216;tariff innovation!!!8217; which it believes is an important part of market competition.

That seems grossly unfair and a barrier to fair competition.

You have one set of consumers promised that they do not have to have these crappy dumb meters while another cannot access competitive market pricing if not having a meter is important to them.

There must have been a reason to offer consumers the right to not have meters so that should be the same for all consumers.

Otherwise all the energy companies have to do is end or rename their tariff plans to V1.123456 or whatever.

I would still complain to the regulator, how else will they become aware of these shoddy practices (my opinion).

altocumulus

In a way, I agree - The advisor seemed to suggest that they would kindly allow me to have the new tariff, in spite of the requirement, purely because I have an economy 7 meter which is incompatible with Smart Meters.
If that is so, then there must be many more in the same 'boat'?