Brilliant/Northumbria energy merger?

Vendee

Brilliant Energy supply my electricity. I have been very happy with the service but today I got an email from them stating that they are forming a "partnership" with Northumbria energy and it will be Northumbria who supply my electricity. They say my new tariff will be slightly cheaper and of course I've got the option to switch away but I'm concerned that I don't know very much about Northumbria energy. Can anyone help me out there?

Thanks.

antrobus

Vendee wrote: »

Brilliant Energy supply my electricity. I have been very happy with the service but today I got an email from them stating that they are forming a "partnership" with Northumbria energy and it will be Northumbria who supply my electricity. They say my new tariff will be slightly cheaper and of course I've got the option to switch away but I'm concerned that I don't know very much about Northumbria energy. Can anyone help me out there?

Thanks.

Well, their websites look similar and both companies have an {Edited by Forum Team} as secretary.

wavelets

Vendee wrote: »

Brilliant Energy supply my electricity. I have been very happy with the service but today I got an email from them stating that they are forming a "partnership" with Northumbria energy and it will be Northumbria who supply my electricity. They say my new tariff will be slightly cheaper and of course I've got the option to switch away but I'm concerned that I don't know very much about Northumbria energy. Can anyone help me out there?

Thanks.

Looks like someone is planning to dump Brilliant Energy and start up again under a new name. :cool:

We have some gas supplied by Brilliant Energy, but doubt we will again at the end of the term (around Easter). Got a good deal at the time, but tariffs are horrendous nowadays.
Also they only give a statement every quarter, even if you provide monthly meter readings.
They also ignore customer supplied readings (they are accepted by the website, but never display) unless you contact them to ask whats happened. This happened to us for the previous quarter, and we got the submitted meter readings loaded properly. We were told we would have to ask again if we wanted future meter readings used. We didn't bother this quarter, so they aree not included - the supplier just estimated.

I can't see Brilliant Energy lasting much longer.

Nothumbria Energy (actually Euston Energy Ltd, Company Number: 09844783) I guess doesn't have any customers yet.
It's last accounts, up to 31 October 2017, were for a dormant company.
The website domain was only created in September 2018.
They don't appear to be on any comparison site yet either - so one wonders where they would have gotten any customers from (if they do have any)

Euston Energy Ltd looks like it was a ready formed energy supplier.
Lots of recent changes of company officers, and even ownership. It was previously owed by Utiliteam (GB) Limited.

Utiliteam (GB) Limited provides delivery focused consulting services to the utilities sector. The company offers program management, business analysis and integration, quality assurance, testing, and accreditation consulting services. Additionally, it provides electricity, water, and gas market entry consulting services. Utiliteam (GB) Limited was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Brixham, United Kingdom.

https://www.bloomberg.com/research//stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=435127705

It changed ownership on 01-Oct-2018. Euston Energy Ltd is 100% owned by Northumbria Energy Limited.
Northumbria Energy Limited is currently owned by 3 individuals, 2 of which are company officers.

If you don't want to move to Northumbria Energy, might be worth reminding Brilliant Energy that they cannot switch you to another licenced supplier (their partner or otherwise) without your express permission.
This is what Ofgem clearly comminicated to Ebico when they wanted to change their supply partner to RHE. Unless Ebico customers explicity requested to move to a new licenced energy supplier (RHE), they were to remain where they were.

Of course, if your supplier announces they cease to trade, then Ofgem will appoint a SoLR and you will be moved to that new supplier - but that is the only time you can be switched supplier against your express wish, as far as I know.

Vendee

Thanks Wavelets. I had done some searching on the Companies House website and found similar info although I didn't really know what to make of it.

I know that something does not smell right. Yesterday's email from Brilliant stated that I would be transferred to Northumbria's NE Smart 2.3 tariff and that it would save me money compared to my current tariff. Today I received what looked like a duplicate email from Brilliant but this one actually said the new tariff may save me money.

I contacted Brilliant's online chat line and was told "I am sorry for any confusion caused. Northumbria Energy is a brand of Euston Energy Ltd. which is a white label partner of Brilliant Energy Supply Ltd." I asked about the new tariff that would save me money. I was told to contact Northumbria. I stated that I'd emailed Northumbria but they hadn't replied. I said that the NE Smart 2.3 tariff wasn't even listed on Northumbria's website. I was told that it did exist and I should phone them to find out what it was.

The whole thing sounds incredibly dodgy to me and I will now be looking around for another supplier.

antrobus

antrobus wrote: »

Well, their websites look similar and both companies have an {Edited by Forum Team} as secretary.

Crumbs forum team! The identity of company officers is in the public domain!:)

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09263540/officers

wavelets

Vendee wrote: »

Thanks Wavelets. I had done some searching on the Companies House website and found similar info although I didn't really know what to make of it.

I know that something does not smell right. Yesterday's email from Brilliant stated that I would be transferred to Northumbria's NE Smart 2.3 tariff and that it would save me money compared to my current tariff. Today I received what looked like a duplicate email from Brilliant but this one actually said the new tariff may save me money.

I contacted Brilliant's online chat line and was told "I am sorry for any confusion caused. Northumbria Energy is a brand of Euston Energy Ltd. which is a white label partner of Brilliant Energy Supply Ltd." I asked about the new tariff that would save me money. I was told to contact Northumbria. I stated that I'd emailed Northumbria but they hadn't replied. I said that the NE Smart 2.3 tariff wasn't even listed on Northumbria's website. I was told that it did exist and I should phone them to find out what it was.

The whole thing sounds incredibly dodgy to me and I will now be looking around for another supplier.

Well now I'm confused.
Euston Energy Ltd is a white label brand of Brilliant Energy Supply Ltd?
That's not correct according to Ofgem - they each are separately licenced.

The NE Smart 2.3 tariff should be on the Northumbria Energy website - it was yesterday and still is today - it's the only tariff they have on offer.
However, I did note the website was particularly flaky yesterday, with a '500 Error' page often being displayed.

Also (as I got the Brilliant Energy email today, but never got one off Northumbria Energy), isn't the tariff details given in the email today?
It is on mine, both for gas & electricity, yet we only have the gas supplied by Brilliant Energy.

Be careful. For us the cost of switching would be about 40% more! :eek:
... and its to a variable tariff, so the price could go up at any time.
My current tariff is fixed, and I expect Brilliant Energy to abide by it ... or else declare themselves to the regulator as unable to continue to supply.

But I don't think we should be having to do any of this.
The email is both misleading in terms of cost saving and threatens I will be switched if I do not object.
Well I will object ... but not to Brilliant Energy, but to the regulator.

wavelets

antrobus wrote: »

Crumbs forum team! The identity of company officers is in the public domain!:)

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09263540/officers

Q. I posted a company director's name and address but it's gone, why?

A. Forum users should not post their personal details (full names, email addresses, home addresses or telephone numbers) or anyone else's on the forum or send them via private message.

This includes personal details found on public look-up sites such as Whois.com and Companies House.

Posters should also not harvest, collect or use information about others, including e-mail addresses.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/

HTH

antrobus

wavelets wrote: »

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/

HTH

Oh dear! And there's me posting a link to CH where it's clearly visible with their address. Mind you it's only a correspondence address, so perhaps that don't matter.:)

wavelets

antrobus wrote: »

Oh dear! And there's me posting a link to CH where it's clearly visible with their address. Mind you it's only a correspondence address, so perhaps that don't matter.:)

There is no issue, as far as I can see, with you posting a link to an external site where the personal information can be found.
The issue is with posting that personal information directly on the MSE site

Vendee

wavelets wrote: »

Well now I'm confused.
Euston Energy Ltd is a white label brand of Brilliant Energy Supply Ltd?
That's not correct according to Ofgem - they each are separately licenced.

The NE Smart 2.3 tariff should be on the Northumbria Energy website - it was yesterday and still is today - it's the only tariff they have on offer.
However, I did note the website was particularly flaky yesterday, with a '500 Error' page often being displayed.

Also (as I got the Brilliant Energy email today, but never got one off Northumbria Energy), isn't the tariff details given in the email today?
It is on mine, both for gas & electricity, yet we only have the gas supplied by Brilliant Energy.

Be careful. For us the cost of switching would be about 40% more! :eek:
... and its to a variable tariff, so the price could go up at any time.
My current tariff is fixed, and I expect Brilliant Energy to abide by it ... or else declare themselves to the regulator as unable to continue to supply.

But I don't think we should be having to do any of this.
The email is both misleading in terms of cost saving and threatens I will be switched if I do not object.
Well I will object ... but not to Brilliant Energy, but to the regulator.

I can now see the NE Smart 2.3 tariff on Northumbria's website.

Just to clarify, I have not received any email from Northumbria but I have received two slightly differing emails with the same subject line from Brilliant. I've just re-read the second one which arrived today and it says:-

"Please check your current tariff - if this is cheaper, Brilliant Energy will honour any existing tariffs and switch your supply to Northumbria Energy from your tariff end date. If you wish to switch to an alternative supplier, Brilliant Energy will still honour your current tariff until you switch."

So although the Northumbria tariff is higher than my current tariff, it seems that they will switch me and maintain my current tariff. The only question is... for how long? The one thing I did like about Brilliant was being able to pay by DD quarterly in arrears. Northumbria seem to offer the same. I've had bad experiences in the past with iSupply and Iresa on monthly DD payments where they allow your credit balance to build up and are reluctant to reduce the DD or refund the credit balance.

wavelets

Vendee wrote: »

I can now see the NE Smart 2.3 tariff on Northumbria's website.

Just to clarify, I have not received any email from Northumbria but I have received two slightly differing emails with the same subject line from Brilliant. I've just re-read the second one which arrived today and it says:-

"Please check your current tariff - if this is cheaper, Brilliant Energy will honour any existing tariffs and switch your supply to Northumbria Energy from your tariff end date. If you wish to switch to an alternative supplier, Brilliant Energy will still honour your current tariff until you switch."

So although the Northumbria tariff is higher than my current tariff, it seems that they will switch me and maintain my current tariff. The only question is... for how long? The one thing I did like about Brilliant was being able to pay by DD quarterly in arrears. Northumbria seem to offer the same. I've had bad experiences in the past with iSupply and Iresa on monthly DD payments where they allow your credit balance to build up and are reluctant to reduce the DD or refund the credit balance.

I'm not sure. the email is far from clear.

The way I read it, Brilliant Energy are the ones that will honour your existing tariff, but only if you request them to. But only until the end date.
And then when your existing tariff comes to an end, they will switch you to Northumbria Energy anyway.

If you don't block the switch, you will be switched from 03-Mar, and that will be complete by 24-Mar. At that point you will be a customer of Northumbria Energy, and pay Northumbria Energy according to their own tariff.

This is because the email goes onto say, confusingly

If we don’t hear back from you in the next 2 weeks we will enable the switch to the new provider ourselves by 3rd March 2019 at the latest

However, this is what SSE wrote when Ebico tried to switch us us automatically from SSE to RHE, due to a new supply partnership agreement.

"Energy companies are not allowed to automatically transfer customers. You always have the choice of staying with your existing supplier or moving to a new one. Your energy supply should only transfer if you have expressly agreed to this. It is your choice"

There was a big hullabaloo about it at the time, and was discussed on this forum back in March-April 2017. Ebico had to conceed that SSE were correct in their interpretation of the regulations.