What a con !

daz9643

2nd time now this has happened.
Did a comparison back in May, gave my previous years energy usage, top supplier was Tonik, switched to them, they set the direct debit amount at £68 (I have solar panels) which I thought was too cheap. It’s now November, I’ve never been asked for a meter reading yet they have now calculated that based on my usage my direct debit needs to go up to £110 a month so their isn’t a shortfall !
In addition to this my electric meter hasn’t been working for about 4 months so theirs no way they could have read it even if they wanted to.
My last supplier, Flow energy I entered meter reading every month as I was asked (it helps them make sure I’m paying the right amount), after the year ended I switched yet I owed £225. When I phoned to complain I was told they only review the account at the end of the 12 months so I said what’s the point in me sending you readings every month then !!! And to make matters worse because I was switching I had to pay the full £225 in one hit.

matelodave

It's been said a million times on this forum - read your meters yourself once a month and send the readings into the supplier.

Check the bills and statements every month to ensure that the readings are being used and get them corrected if they aren't and finally, check that your direct debit is actually paying your bills down so that you acheive a zero balance at the end of your contract.

Be pro-active, you shouldn't need to have a request to send in a meter reading, do it yourself. You don't need to be asked to check your bills - do it yourself.

Do your own sums and you wont get into arrears - it's not difficult it's just common sense.

System

daz9643 wrote: »

2nd time now this has happened.
Did a comparison back in May, gave my previous years energy usage, top supplier was Tonik, switched to them, they set the direct debit amount at £68 (I have solar panels) which I thought was too cheap. It’s now November, I’ve never been asked for a meter reading yet they have now calculated that based on my usage my direct debit needs to go up to £110 a month so their isn’t a shortfall !
In addition to this my electric meter hasn’t been working for about 4 months so theirs no way they could have read it even if they wanted to.
My last supplier, Flow energy I entered meter reading every month as I was asked (it helps them make sure I’m paying the right amount), after the year ended I switched yet I owed £225. When I phoned to complain I was told they only review the account at the end of the 12 months so I said what’s the point in me sending you readings every month then !!! And to make matters worse because I was switching I had to pay the full £225 in one hit.

You have to take some responsibility for the mess that you now find yourself in. DD payments are not charges, and credit/debit balances are only valid if you provide actual meter readings. If your meter hasn't been working for 4 months, then why haven't you made a big fuss about it?

daz9643

The point I'm making here is that comparison sites should be able to give an accurate estimate of how much my energy is going to cost me the following year assuming my usage stays roughly the same. We have shockingly bad customer service in the uk and most of the time we just accept it and as you guys are doing, blame yourselves for not being proactive, you shouldn't have to.

welshmoneylover

daz9643 wrote: »

The point I'm making here is that comparison sites should be able to give an accurate estimate of how much my energy is going to cost me the following year assuming my usage stays roughly the same. We have shockingly bad customer service in the uk and most of the time we just accept it and as you guys are doing, blame yourselves for not being proactive, you shouldn't have to.

Your lifestyle rarely stays the same ,that’s why the figures are an indication of possible future usage.

Like others have echoed, its customer responsibility to keep an eye on their own accounts and keep checking payments, usage and balances.

There is no con.

jcontest

daz9643 wrote: »

The point I'm making here is that comparison sites should be able to give an accurate estimate of how much my energy is going to cost me the following year assuming my usage stays roughly the same. We have shockingly bad customer service in the uk and most of the time we just accept it and as you guys are doing, blame yourselves for not being proactive, you shouldn't have to.

The point others are making is that your energy usage has not stayed the same. Hence the need for a price change.


I agree that it does seem bad that flow adjust their DD only once a year, part of that could be down to the fact that energy usage is not linear, so they may be willing to sit at a loss for 2-3 months if they think months 4-6 will see you using less. My current supplier (Breeze) has not adjusted my DD either, BUT their website was clearly showing my account balance and the shortfall. It sounds to me like your not estimating your yearly usage correctly when getting quotes.



If your meter is broken then your supposed to report this. Depending on the type of billing error, you can be back-billed for the past year, but if they feel you were hiding the fact that the meter was broken (you seem to have known this by your statement!) then it could go back as much as 6 years (but not likely).

daz9643

None of you are getting the point, my new supplier has not requested any meter readings, I haven't given them any, therefore they should assume my energy usage is the same as last year, if anything my usage should be lower as its been so mild. All my statements give estimated readings, if I've told them how much energy I used last year they should assume I'm going to use roughly the same this year allowing for price rises and weather. I have solar panels so I'm pretty certain that has not been factored in to their assumptions, but again as I said, it comes down to poor customer service. Yes I could do their job for them but why should I have to ? My water company seem to manage perfectly well, that bill changes once a year by maybe £2 max yet gas and electric can quite happily double mid term, it's a joke.

Robin9

After Council Tax my utilities are my main costs in running my house and I take an active part in controlling them. I do not want unexpected bills

For the sake of 5 minutes a month I give my supplier readings - even if the supplier hasn't requested them. I don't get any estimated bills. I read my bills to see if my payments are meeting the costs.

System

daz9643 wrote: »

None of you are getting the point, my new supplier has not requested any meter readings, I haven't given them any, therefore they should assume my energy usage is the same as last year, if anything my usage should be lower as its been so mild. All my statements give estimated readings, if I've told them how much energy I used last year they should assume I'm going to use roughly the same this year allowing for price rises and weather. I have solar panels so I'm pretty certain that has not been factored in to their assumptions, but again as I said, it comes down to poor customer service. Yes I could do their job for them but why should I have to ? My water company seem to manage perfectly well, that bill changes once a year by maybe £2 max yet gas and electric can quite happily double mid term, it's a joke.

In the event that your supplier hasn’t asked for opening readings, they will be estimated by the supplier’s Data Collectors. The verified readings will be used to open and close your new and old energy accounts.

Out of interest, how do expect an energy supplier to factor in your solar panels when domestic usage of the generated electricity can vary between 25 and 100% usage depending on the home configuration?

Suppliers update the EAC (electricity) and AQ (Gas) each time you provide actual meter readings or when a meter reading is taken. These figures are adjusted for seasonal weather variations and the last two years of consumption are passed to your new supplier on transfer. That said, these readings are only accurate if people can be bothered to read their meters.

welshmoneylover

My supplier never ask for monthly readings but I do send them in.

takman

daz9643 wrote: »

My last supplier, Flow energy I entered meter reading every month as I was asked (it helps them make sure I’m paying the right amount), after the year ended I switched yet I owed £225. When I phoned to complain I was told they only review the account at the end of the 12 months so I said what’s the point in me sending you readings every month then !!! And to make matters worse because I was switching I had to pay the full £225 in one hit.

Well no matter what happened you would have had to pay that £225 as you had used that energy. Even if you had paid an extra £18.75 a month on your direct debit over a year it will still total the same amount so you haven't lost anything. In fact you have gained by having that money sitting in your accounts which could have been earning interest instead of sitting in their accounts.

As long as you end up only paying what you owe i can't see how it is much of a problem.
If you were really concerned about how much your using and if your account is up to date you could easily take monthly meter readings and work out how much you have used each month yourself, it would take less than 5 minutes each time.