Scared to move to smaller company!

johnbhoy10

cherry76 wrote: »

I switched to Octopus on Monday having been with EDF for 7 yrs. No problems with EDF but their tariffs are no longer competitive. I was scared as well to switch but have done some research and read good feedbacks on the company. It seems to be going ok but will not know for sure. I also got a sorry you are leaving from EDF and told me what to expect as the switch is progressing. I will be saving £100 with Octopus and I will also get £50 cash back. There is no exit fees so will switch again if not happy. I think once I have done I will be more confident next time. Octopus is not the cheapest on comparison website but I will not go with a company without reading their feedbacks.

It's the first time ever, bar a cople of months with the Co-op which didn't go well, that i'm going to veer away from the big 6......they just don't have anything close.

ValiantSon

AJS321 wrote: »

They also tend to have very little start up capital and no big parent companies to bail them out if things go wrong. This and the tight profit margins they operate to means that they!!!8217;re unable to bulk buy energy in the wholesale markets in the same way larger suppliers can and with every increasing wholesale princes and now the price cap coming in, many of them are struggling to survive.

OFGEM are currently carrying out an investigation into the financial health of these companies and whether some of them should ever have been given supply licenses in the first place, but that!!!8217;s a different issue.

Not surprisingly, two of these companies have already gone bust in the last two years and most people in the industry believe more will follow. If this does happen to your supplier, the Continuity of Supply Regulations come into force to make sure you don!!!8217;t get cut off. What happens is that OFGEM invites other suppliers to enter into a bidding process for the company and you automatically get switched to the successful bidder. This process takes about 7 days from start to finish.

However, the new supplier will almost certainly put you on their most expensive tariff and will NOT refund any credit balance you had with your old supplier.

When GB Energy went bust in 2016 and Co-op Energy won the bidding process to take them over they put all their new customers onto a fixed tariff and did honour credit balances. But this took the industry by surprise because it was something Co-op did of their own choosing and were under no legal or regulatory requirement to do so.

So in one paragraph you warn - definitively - that the new supplier won't honour the creit balance, and then in the next pragraph you give a clear example of where they did honour credit balances! Classic!

You are also wrong. Ofgem have stated that credit balances will be protected. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/extra-help-energy-services/ofgem-safety-net-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-out-business

AllieKat

It depends on the smaller company. I'm with Bristol Energy and they're fantastic. British Gas literally gave me nightmares they were so bad.

System

ValiantSon wrote: »

So in one paragraph you warn - definitively - that the new supplier won't honour the creit balance, and then in the next pragraph you give a clear example of where they did honour credit balances! Classic!

You are also wrong. Ofgem have stated that credit balances will be protected. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/extra-help-energy-services/ofgem-safety-net-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-out-business

Energy consumers now have better credit protection (which sadly ALL energy consumers pay for) than for broadband. If an ISP goes bust, we are on our own.

There is still one grey area and that it is the repayment of credit balances owed by a failed supplier when a consumer has already switched away. This is the subject of an ongoing Ofgem consultation.

bri160356

cherry76 wrote: »

I switched to Octopus on Monday having been with EDF for 7 yrs. No problems with EDF but their tariffs are no longer competitive. I was scared as well to switch but have done some research and read good feedbacks on the company. It seems to be going ok but will not know for sure. I also got a sorry you are leaving from EDF and told me what to expect as the switch is progressing. I will be saving £100 with Octopus and I will also get £50 cash back. There is no exit fees so will switch again if not happy. I think once I have done I will be more confident next time. Octopus is not the cheapest on comparison website but I will not go with a company without reading their feedbacks.

My daughter has been with EDF for several years but due to a lack of diligence she let her previous tariff lapse and was flipped onto their ‘standard’ tariff a couple of months ago,…OUCH! :eek:

My son is also with EDF (Online Saver Aug18 tariff);…however, they’ve both switched to Avro Energy’s Simple & Glory tariff in recent days;…it’s a dual fuel 12-month fixed tariff with no exit fees but Avro do take the first months D/D just prior to the actual supply start date.

Both son and daughter have had no issues with EDF to be fair, but the imminent new tariffs that EDF were tempting them with just aren’t competitive;…the switch to one of the ‘minnows’ was a financial no-brainer.

I switched from Br.Gas to Avro Energy’s Simple & Supreme tariff last October. It was the first time I’ve swum with one of the minnows;… however, it was a seamless switchover process and thus far (fingers crossed!) it’s all been a positive experience. :j

AJS321

ValiantSon wrote: »

So in one paragraph you warn - definitively - that the new supplier won't honour the creit balance, and then in the next pragraph you give a clear example of where they did honour credit balances! Classic!

You are also wrong. Ofgem have stated that credit balances will be protected. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consumers/household-gas-and-electricity-guide/extra-help-energy-services/ofgem-safety-net-if-your-energy-supplier-goes-out-business

Like I said, it was something Co-op Energy did of their own accord. There’s no guarantee that if another supplier goes under credit balances will be protected. Unless of course the law has changed since the GB Energy fiasco.

System

AJS321 wrote: »

Like I said, it was something Co-op Energy did of their own accord. There!!!8217;s no guarantee that if another supplier goes under credit balances will be protected. Unless of course the law has changed since the GB Energy fiasco.

The Coop didn!!!8217;t stand by GBEnergy!!!8217;s customer credits. Credit protection is now fully covered under Ofgem Regulations and has been for nearly two years under what is known as the Consumer Levy. All energy consumers now pay for the costs associated with a supplier failure.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/105387

Read the section on All credit balances are taken into account

https://www.ukpower.co.uk/gas_electricity_news/gb-energy-collapse-what-you-need-to-know

AJS321

Hengus wrote: »

The Coop didn!!!8217;t stand by GBEnergy!!!8217;s customer credits. Credit protection is now fully covered under Ofgem Regulations and has been for nearly two years under what is known as the Consumer Levy. All energy consumers now pay for the costs associated with a supplier failure.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/105387

Read the section on All credit balances are taken into account

https://www.ukpower.co.uk/gas_electricity_news/gb-energy-collapse-what-you-need-to-know

So it looks like there are now rules in place to protect credit balances. But this wasn’t the case when GB Energy went bust and that’s why Co-ops decision to do the right thing took the industry by surprise.

System

AJS321 wrote: »

So it looks like there are now rules in place to protect credit balances. But this wasn’t the case when GB Energy went bust and that’s why Co-ops decision to do the right thing took the industry by surprise.

Believe what you choose to believe. I had just left GBEnergy when it failed. Ofgem issued its Final Decision on consumer credit protection a month earlier. Earlier this year, the Coop was paid over £10M by Ofgem to cover the cost of taking on 160,000 ex GBEnergy customers. To get this topic back on track, switchers need not worry about their credit balances in the event of a supplier failure. As I said earlier, Ofgem is coming up with revised regulations to cover consumers who have already left the failed supplier.

flashg67

I changed to So energy 18 months ago - went really smoothly and their website is so straightforward & easy to use,