Can someone HELP with my Utilita Energy nightmare.

dawnr71

I have tried 'three times' to switch away from Utilita since 12 April 2018. I originally switched from ScottishPower to Utilita on 27th February 2018 and quickly realized that there was in fact a 'standing charge'. The kwh has gone from 18p kWh to 19.74p kWh and in July 2018 it will go up to 29p kWh.

After 'six weeks' I decided to switch back to ScottishPower but heard nothing and put it down to 'sour grapes' for switching ,but, the same thing happened again with EDF and Bristol Energy. Frustated I decided to do 'the switch' myself and rang ScottishPower. They informed me that Utilita had changed my 'standard prepayment' meter type from 'K to 'S' and my meter time code from '835 to '836' and had given these details to the National Database.

I rang up Utilita and told them what ScottishPower had told me and could they change my meter details 'back' to what they were. Utilita lied and said that they would send me a 'confirmation email' informing me of the changed meter details. That was on the 4th May 2018 and I have had NO confirmation email. I have sent them numerous emails and have only had generic 'Dear Customer' responses.

Can I point out that 'if' I had had a smart meter already from another energy supplier' then there would have been NO REASON to change any details as they would already have been changed by the 'other' energy supplier. My meter serial number is: S12J00371.

Three weeks later and having heard absolutely nothing from the 'clowns' I decided to complain to uSwitch who 'initiated the switch' back to ScottishPower. I received an email from uSwitch telling me to ask Utilita for a 'screen shot' of the National Database update.

Utilita refused when they realized 'why' I wanted it. They knew that I wanted to PROVE that they changed the details when I tried to switch to a COMPETITIVE energy supplier. I have requested a 'deadlock letter' so I can switch away from Utilita, A.S.A.P. Switching is all that I'm going to think about from 'dawn to dusk'.

PS, I'm almost certain that Utilita 'live chat' have an email address EXCLUSIVELY for difficult customers. I was using the 'live chat' and I noticed that they have an 'agent' called THYS PAINE. They have an email address with their 'Full Name' and ending in utilita.co.uk. It looks SUSPICIOUSLY like 'THIS PAIN'.

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. You might wish to amend the title of this thread. Posting under a username on forums does not give you 100% protection from a claim against you for libel or defamation. Owners of forums can be forced to reveal your contact details.

dawnr71

Hengus wrote: »

Hi - welcome to the forum. You might wish to amend the title of this thread. Posting under a username on forums does not give you 100% protection from a claim against you for libel or defamation. Owners of forums can be forced to reveal your contact details.

"Thanks, you saved my bacon". :j

House_Martin

I think that the reason the switch is failing is because of the type of prepayment meter that Utilita installed, nothing to do with sour grapes . Utilita use the Secure Liberty smart meter. Its a typical meter that the smaller suppliers use because its cheap to buy at around £35 . Eon also use this meter. Its the worst smart meter in christendom and very user unfriendly and difficult to use.
Only suppliers who use these awful Indian made meters can use them in prepayment meter mode. There are quite a few now who use Secure meters , eg Spark , Ovo ,Utility Warehouse and probably every smaller supplier .
Scottish Power can t use the meter in prepayment mode and they would have to spend their own money installing a meter they can use in prepayment meter mode. They can use it in credit meter mode without changing the meter.
If Utilita switch the meter to credit meter mode (maybe after a credit history check ) the meter is quite OK to use as a normal dumb meter by every other supplier.
A credit meter with a one year fixed tariff will lower that horrendously expensive kwh rate , 19 p /kwh to around 12p /kwh or less with many other suppliers with lower standing charges than 30 p a day too.
why don t you approach Utilita to switch you to credit meter mode. Their one year fixed tariff will be much lower than their prepay rates.
I agree that the name Thys Payne looks like a spoof but after a quick google it it is a short form of one of the 10 disciples Matthew. .
I have` nt seen anything which could be described as libel in your post by the way.
You could go in and delete sections if you like .

dawnr71

House_Martin wrote: »

I think that the reason the switch is failing is because of the type of prepayment meter that Utilita installed, nothing to do with sour grapes . Utilita use the Secure Liberty smart meter. Its a typical meter that the smaller suppliers use because its cheap to buy at around £35 . Eon also use this meter. Its the worst smart meter in christendom and very user unfriendly and difficult to use.
Only suppliers who use these awful Indian made meters can use them in prepayment meter mode. There are quite a few now who use Secure meters , eg Spark , Ovo ,Utility Warehouse and probably every smaller supplier .
Scottish Power can t use the meter in prepayment mode and they would have to spend their own money installing a meter they can use in prepayment meter mode. They can use it in credit meter mode without changing the meter.
If Utilita switch the meter to credit meter mode (maybe after a credit history check ) the meter is quite OK to use as a normal dumb meter by every other supplier.
A credit meter with a one year fixed tariff will lower that horrendously expensive kwh rate , 19 p /kwh to around 12p /kwh or less with many other suppliers with lower standing charges than 30 p a day too.
why don t you approach Utilita to switch you to credit meter mode. Their one year fixed tariff will be much lower than their prepay rates.
I agree that the name Thys Payne looks like a spoof but after a quick google it it is a short form of one of the 10 disciples Matthew. .
I have` nt seen anything which could be described as libel in your post by the way.
You could go in and delete sections if you like .

Hello, House Martin.

I don't have a meter installed by Utilita but by ScottishPower. That's where the problem started. Utilita changed my standard prepayment meter details with their smart meter details. I rang them and emailed them asking them "why? they had changed my details when I don't have a smart meter by Utilita or any other company. I have accused them of doing it intentionally to prevent me from switching. I'm fully aware about Utilita and Boost having smart meters that NO other energy supplier can operate.

I don't believe that it could have been an accident because they knew that I don't have Utilita's smart meter and if I had had a smart meter from another energy supplier then the smart meter details would have already been changed on the National Database and Utilita wouldn't have had to change any details. It was done to prevent me from switching. Had I not have rang ScottishPower to inquire about the switch I wouldn't have been any the wiser and that's what Utilita were counting on - the customer NEVER finding out what they had done.

PS, I have received a confirmation email from EDF informing me that they have all the details that they need from me now to do a switch away from Utilita. I have informed Utilita that if they give the wrong details to EDF that I will update my post on Trustpilot. Utilita flagged my post to Trustpilot complaining that I called their agent a tw$t and revealed Utilita's blag email address. Thankfully it didn't work. My post is back up and running

Take care and a big thanks for replying to my thread. Have a good day. :beer:

Andrew&Claudia

This is disturbing me.
I'm considering a change to Utilita E7 but so far I am very unimpressed with the way their website operates as when I went through the motions for a quote and switch to their premium E7 service, (I do not want a "smart" meter as I am perfectly capable of knowing when the light is switched on!) i seem to be automatically transferred to their Smart E7 tariff which involves the compulsory fitting of a smart meter, which it would seem from this post would make life awkward for future switching. Also they are incapable of providing the unit rates on the premium E7 tariff, it's offered on their website and the illustration suggests a slight increase over the smart tariff but not enough to make me want to go smart, but when i try to dig the info out the link doesnt work. And their staff can't either! They are either incompetent or worse mendacious in my view.

Andrew

Smodlet

Hengus wrote: »

Hi - welcome to the forum. You might wish to amend the title of this thread. Posting under a username on forums does not give you 100% protection from a claim against you for libel or defamation. Owners of forums can be forced to reveal your contact details.

Especially not if you give your meter number! Still can't see what could possibly be called libellous, though. There are plenty of similar and worse posts on here about various energy companies, almost all of them justified, I'm sure.

Andrew&Claudia

I eventually tried Utilitas telesales team to transfer onto their premium E7 tariff which by the way, once I dug out the pricing ids more or less identical to smart E7

Despite my first request at the start of the conversation, the sales agent kept on trying to get me to sign up for a smart meter. I repeatedly but poilitely told him i did not want one, especially as we know from near neighbours issues that smart metering is unreliable in our village and as they offered quite clearly on their website a non smart meter tariff thats what I wanted and i didnt mind paying an extra £2 a year for it.

The poor unfortunate soul kept referring to his supervisor and it was plain to me thay had absolutely NO intention of providing the tariff i wanted and someone esle was obviously pulling his strings.
it got to the point where he advised me that he couldnt put me on that tariff but if I signed up to Smart E7 and then cancelled or refused a smart meter installation then i would automatically go on the premium E7 tariff. I then informed the sales agent that in my opinion they were acting unethically if not dishonestly and that i was not going to progress the switch no matter how much cheaper it was.
My feelings are if a new customer is treated with such blatant contempt then if any issues occur down the line i would not feel confident of fair treatment by this company and certainly the idea of their smart meter being fitted which might be "fiddled" so that it was useless to another supplier left me feeling rather cold.

I am not sure what i shall do next, i have found another deal that is better than anything EDF can offer (not difficult as EDF only have 2 E7 tariffs for single fuel consumers and neither of them competitive) so for now i am reasonably happy.
But i am considering whether i should write to my MP and/or the energy watchdog about this. The issue being that there is no written record of the conversations i have had and the only other evidence is that their website automatically switches you to the smart E7 tariff when you click on their advertised premium E7 tariff, again i think that is unethical.

I have just checked their website and it is still the same, wont give you tariff details of an advertised product, namely Premium E7 and I bet if I tried to switch to premium E7 it would put me on the Smart E7 tariff just like before.


The old adage "if it seems too good to be true, then it is" springs to mind here.


Andrew

dawnr71

Andrew&Claudia wrote: »

I eventually tried Utilitas telesales team to transfer onto their premium E7 tariff which by the way, once I dug out the pricing ids more or less identical to smart E7

Despite my first request at the start of the conversation, the sales agent kept on trying to get me to sign up for a smart meter. I repeatedly but poilitely told him i did not want one, especially as we know from near neighbours issues that smart metering is unreliable in our village and as they offered quite clearly on their website a non smart meter tariff thats what I wanted and i didnt mind paying an extra £2 a year for it.

The poor unfortunate soul kept referring to his supervisor and it was plain to me thay had absolutely NO intention of providing the tariff i wanted and someone esle was obviously pulling his strings.
it got to the point where he advised me that he couldnt put me on that tariff but if I signed up to Smart E7 and then cancelled or refused a smart meter installation then i would automatically go on the premium E7 tariff. I then informed the sales agent that in my opinion they were acting unethically if not dishonestly and that i was not going to progress the switch no matter how much cheaper it was.
My feelings are if a new customer is treated with such blatant contempt then if any issues occur down the line i would not feel confident of fair treatment by this company and certainly the idea of their smart meter being fitted which might be "fiddled" so that it was useless to another supplier left me feeling rather cold.

I am not sure what i shall do next, i have found another deal that is better than anything EDF can offer (not difficult as EDF only have 2 E7 tariffs for single fuel consumers and neither of them competitive) so for now i am reasonably happy.
But i am considering whether i should write to my MP and/or the energy watchdog about this. The issue being that there is no written record of the conversations i have had and the only other evidence is that their website automatically switches you to the smart E7 tariff when you click on their advertised premium E7 tariff, again i think that is unethical.

I have just checked their website and it is still the same, wont give you tariff details of an advertised product, namely Premium E7 and I bet if I tried to switch to premium E7 it would put me on the Smart E7 tariff just like before.


The old adage "if it seems too good to be true, then it is" springs to mind here.


Andrew

Hi Andrew.

If you are still interested in EDF. They have Blue+Fixed Prepay till March 2019. The charges are as follows; 13.36p kwh and 1.92p standing charge per week. I switched to them through Compare the Market. If you need anymore details let me know and I will try to help.

Dawn.