Eversmart saying my deal isn't fixed.

Graciefields

Can;t see where I should post this but Eversmart who have been charging me £61 per month for dual fuel have just put my monthly payments up to £105 thats an increase of over £40.. I can't seem to get through to them on the phone. I've got a smart metre. How the hell can this happen??

System

Graciefields wrote: »

Can;t see where I should post this but Eversmart who have been charging me £61 per month for dual fuel have just put my monthly payments up to £105 thats an increase of over £40.. I can't seem to get through to them on the phone. I've got a smart metre. How the hell can this happen??

Your monthly DD payment may have increased but that doesn't necessarily mean that your tariff has changed. Have you looked at your bills recently to check that the supplier has been using actual meter readings? Is your account showing a credit or debit balance - remembering, of course, that a debit/credit balance is only valid on the billing date and only then if based on an actual meter reading?

Graciefields

Hengus, thanks for your reply. I have just managed to get through to Eversmart and they told me my Tarrif has just changed from Northern Glory to Simply Smart. Martins energy club didn't alert me it still says I'm on the best tarrif. Eversmart say they have no other deals. OMG what a mess I've gotten myself into. What can I do?

matelodave

Graciefields wrote: »

Can;t see where I should post this but Eversmart who have been charging me £61 per month for dual fuel have just put my monthly payments up to £105 thats an increase of over £40.. I can't seem to get through to them on the phone. I've got a smart metre. How the hell can this happen??

Have you actually checked the tariff on your bill (the cost per kwh and daily standing charge) to see if they have changed - if they havent then you are probably using more energy than you estimated.

Do as Hengus suggests and check that your bills are based on actual, not estimated meter readings and that they are up to date. Did your £61 a month actually pay for your consumption or have you got a debit on your bill.

£61 a month is quite low, not impossible but probably wont cover your consumption during the winter months so you need to make sure that it balances out between the summer and winter months.

It's not ever so hard to do your own sums to check your bills yourself to ensure that they are correct and that your DD is covering your consumption.

Lastly - make sure you download and save your bills every month dont rely on the Eversmart website. It's not the most robust and you'll lose your data if it all goes wrong.

System

Graciefields wrote: »

Hengus, thanks for your reply. I have just managed to get through to Eversmart and they told me my Tarrif has just changed from Northern Glory to Simply Smart. Martins energy club didn't alert me it still says I'm on the best tarrif. Eversmart say they have no other deals. OMG what a mess I've gotten myself into. What can I do?

No problem. Have a look at the terms and conditions that you signed up when you switched to Eversmart. These have recently been updated:

Quote: 8.3 Paying by Direct Debit means:

(a) you must keep your account in credit by paying for the supply in advance, in some cases we may ask you to pay 2 months upfront;

(b) you agree to contact us before the Direct Debit is taken from your bank account if you believe your bill is incorrect;

(c) we will carry any debit or credit balance forward to the next month’s bill;

(d) you must give us an up-to-date meter reading at least every 30 days (unless you have a smart meter and we receive readings automatically);

(e) If you’re on a fixed monthly direct debit , the amount charged will be based on the amount of energy we think you’ll use during each year of your contract divided by 12 if it’s your first year with us, we can increase the Direct Debit amount by up to 25% to cover additional energy use in the winter months (December through to March);

(f) If you’re on a variable monthly direct debit, the amount charged will be based on the amount of energy you use each month. This may be called ‘pay for what you use.’ You'll normally pay less in summer than you do in winter.

(g) we aim to review your direct debit at least twice a year, to make sure you are paying enough to cover the energy you use, or offer to reduce your Direct Debit if we think you are
paying too much; and

(h) we may decide not to reduce your Direct Debit payments unless we have up-to-date meter readings for your account. Unquote

Energy suppliers are struggling at the moment, and many of the smaller suppliers are trying to manage away, through DD increases, all consumer debit balances. This doesn't mean that you will end up paying more than you should for the energy that you have consumed: it just means that DD payments may not be as even as they have been in the past. Sadly, a Perfect Storm of an energy cap and increasing wholesale prices has come at the start of Winter and Christmas.

Graciefields

Thank you so much. I have also just done a comparison quote and the cheapest now is £35 more expensive than my last Tariff. Will really have to look at cutting back on usage.

matelodave

It might be worth checking which T&C's were in force when the original tariff was taken out - see post 217 which is a lot different from the one that Hengus has just quoted - they changed them on 25th October this year.

One would have hoped that a bill, invoice or statement should give notice of a change of T&C's so that you've got the opportunity to accept them by staying or rejecting them by leaving.

Likewise, unless the term of a fixed or guaranteed tariff had expired then they should also inform you of a tariff change on your bill even though they can roll you over onto their SVT

If you are still within the fix or guranteed period then you have every right to challenge an arbitrary change of tariff - you need to check your welcome pack and the T&C's that were in force at the time to clarify your status.

I haven't had any notification of a change in T&C's nor any tariff changes and I check my monthly invoice's very carefully.

I've just checked their on-line tariff list and my tariff cost is still the same as when I signed up in August 2018 although the Welcome Home tariff is shown as a variable tariff.

My welcome pack (carefully saved on my back-up drive) states that my tariff price is guaranteed until 20th August 2019 so I dont expect it to change until 21st August next year. I shall challenge it if it does.

see here to check yours https://www.eversmartenergy.co.uk/assets/pdf/eversmart_tariffs.pdf

System

matelodave wrote: »

It might be worth checking which T&C's were in force when the original tariff was taken out - see post 217 which is a lot different from the one that Hengus has just quoted - they changed them on 25th October this year.

And again on the 12th December.

matelodave

Hengus wrote: »

And again on the 12th December.

not seen that one yet so I'll ignore it until I get my 30 days notice.

I've taken a copy though to keep with my others.

The original one which was only 3 pages, the October one which increased to 21 pages and now the 33 page December epic.

JohnB47

Graciefields wrote: »

Can;t see where I should post this but Eversmart who have been charging me £61 per month for dual fuel have just put my monthly payments up to £105 thats an increase of over £40.. I can't seem to get through to them on the phone. I've got a smart metre. How the hell can this happen??

Can I just clarify. You say you were on a Northern Glory tariff and they have moved you to a Simply Smart. Can you tell us:

Do you have your Welcome Pack for the Northern Glory tariff?

Was it a 'guaranteed price' tariff? (the Welcome Pack will have 'Price Guaranteed until' and 'Tariff Ends on' dates).

When was it due to finish (i.e. have Eversmart moved you prematurely)?