Do not switch to energy suppliers without verifying emergency repairs policy

Terry98

antrobus wrote: »

Small energy suppliers have beaten the so-called Big Six in a customer satisfaction survey by Which?....The top five were small suppliers: Octopus Energy, Robin Hood Energy, So Energy, Ebico and Tonik Energy.

Small firms top Which? annual energy survey
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46937497

The full list of best and worst here https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/energy-companies/article/best-and-worst-energy-companies/which-energy-survey-results

eagleeye

Hello everyone
Apologies for late reply.


I switch every year and never had any issues before.I should have labelled it as do not switch to new suppliers without verifying the detailed terms and conditions.



I have looked into various website of gas suppliers and some of them clearly mention that national grid will repair the meter in case of a gas leak, meter fault.For example bulb energy website is clear on full authorization given to national grid for emergency meter repair which is really good.

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/115001228911-What-should-I-do-in-case-of-emergency-



This is not the case with all suppliers .In the absence of grid contract, the Grid can only disconnect the supply .



If this happens out of hours and grid hasn't have the automatic consent then your are stuck without supply until next working day unless your gas supplier has details listed on there website.



The grid was really helpful and even instructed the energy supplier call centre staff to fill the relevant forms in order to get this issue sorted. This energy company was not even sure about the process .


Now next battle starts with the readings.I hope they understand that new meter has been fitted in and bill has to be sorted accordingly.

antrobus

Interesting. Title on thread has been changed. Possibly some of the text of the OP. Google cache says;


Do not switch to small energy suppliers
19th Jan 19 at 9:50 PM
#1
I request everyone to think twice before joining any new gas supplier.The billing issues are nothing in comparison to facing emergency situation due to gas leak.

I am sharing my experience as a customer with one of the small energy supplier.

I had a gas leak in the meter and national grid was informed to look into this.The national grid contractor was on site with in 25 minutes of call.The gas leak was verified in the ground meter and they had the replacement meter in there van.They generally install 90-95% of meters in emergency circumstances as they have the supplier pre-authorisation .The remaining 3 % are installed after obtaining authorisation by telephoning the supplier and other cases are dealt directly by the supplier .If supplier call centre is closed then you are stuck.

In my case,telephone request from national grid for emergency work was rejected and supplier call centre informed me that another contractor will arrive on site in next 3 hours . They also informed me that I have to arrange & pay for the connection fees .I disputed the connection fees but supplier was still adamant.

A quick google search revealed the ofgem rules related to gas meters and it was clear that it is the supplier responsibility. If problem is in the home gas appliance then consumer is expected to arrange and pay for uncapping but if meter is leaking then supplier is responsible for the same.

They agreed to this in the end but they had no way to arrange an engineer to connect the gas.I was prepared to call my home emergency insurance to arrange someone to uncap the supply.

Anyway , the meter installer arrived after 3 hours and he immediately informed his office of the ground situation.He was not even meant to install as job was not coded properly.The installation company head office authorised the installation and connection otherwise i would have ended up without gas.

The ofgem need to review the whole system when these companies can't even deal with these situations or not sure how to go ahead with the emergency work. . This is important as vulnerable people can die from cold if supply is interrupted during outside work hours of call centre.The only thing grid can do is cut off the supply or make it safe until the supplier arranges the emergency repairs/replacement.

antrobus

Question; is OP now admitting that they were wrong to say 'Do not switch to small energy suppliers' ?

molerat

And OP's current supplier is ................................ ?