Symbio Energy feedback

merchcon55

Let the fun and games begin - tomorrow is my leaving day from Symbio. Not received an April invoice yet - nor did they take a March payment from me. So at the moment, I owe them. After the gross over estimations we all received in January, I had them change my payment to EAC/12. That was fine, but the invoices since then have been totally screwed up and give the impression I owe them much more. 

The mess that is a Symbio bill - there is only one part of it that really matters - The number of KW shown under Your Bill - Prior Period Meter Read Adjustments. If I add all those figures up for my first 8 invoices, I get the exact amount of KW I have consumed. So we shall see what fictionalised final bill they come up with - I may put in a formal complaint the day after I leave to start the 8 week clock ticking.

carpy

i just requested to change from the X10 variable tariff to the Low Fair and Green 2020 Variable as it works out slightly cheaper. 
they've done this much quicker than expected to be fair but the email says - Please be informed that your contract with Symbio energy has now been extended with another 12 months.
which i don't get as it's a variable product with no early exit fee so i can leave at any time??

Tafrock

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/customers-entitled-automatic-compensation-switching-problems-1-may
10 days to refund your credit or they owe you 30 pounds. I'm still awaiting mine and will be pursuing it further. Guru begged me to withdraw the claim which he admitted was correct. We settled on a lesser payment. I haven't received it yet. Therefore they broke the terms of our verbal agreement. Full payment and nothing else now. Don't let them get away with it jazzy 

rags58

Just received my first "virus" excuse
We understand that the estimated energy consumption for the month of April 2020 is a bit high, this is because the estimates taken into account, are considering the nationwide lock-down, wherein consumers will be forced to be at home or work from home, this would substantially mean that they would consume more energy than otherwise. Please be assured that once we receive the meter reading at the end of this month the next bills will be reconciled with the over collection will be adjusted accordingly.
I'm a pensioner, I am home most days, lockdown has no relevance to my circumstances. Symbio will exploit any situation if it gives them an advantage to continually overcharge.

Talldave

Whilst I fully agree that it's another dose of badly written Symbio meaningless waffle, they aren't "overcharging" you.  They are simply using stupid over-estimates to avoid re-crediting you the full amount they've harvested into their bank account. But unless they keep increasing the over-estimation amount, the monthly payment will remain about he same - until such time as they go back to EAC/12, at which point you'll have a really cheap month.  My last three monthly payments have all been less than they would have been for a straight EAC/12 month.

rags58

Yep and that's the crux of the matter. They do not want to go back to EAC/12 as that will, as you say generate a really cheap month payment for me. I have already pointed that out to them. They basically want to hold on to the money they have accrued with their over estimates and don't want to take the "hit" so continue to over estimate regardless of the season.

griffb

My March bill has disappeared from the Customer Portal. I'm hoping this is somehow in preparation for my final bill up to 25th March

Talldave

rags58 said:

Yep and that's the crux of the matter. They do not want to go back to EAC/12 as that will, as you say generate a really cheap month payment for me. I have already pointed that out to them. They basically want to hold on to the money they have accrued with their over estimates and don't want to take the "hit" so continue to over estimate regardless of the season.

Sadly, CV-19 has played into their hands and given them an excuse to continue the over-estimating.  But bearing in mind that we signed up with ANNUAL consumption figures, any over-estimating during winter HAS to be balanced with under-estimating during summer.  Unless they start some serious under-estimating soon, I don't see how they could ever hope to achieve matching EACs.

Next month will be my 9th bill with them and if they continue with the CV-19 excuse for over-estimating, their total of estimates over those 9 months will exceed my estimated annual consumption (which I now realise was probably a 4-5% over-estimate on my part anyway).  It's utterly ludicrous. But then that sums Symbio up really.  If they're having trouble balancing their books, they should check how many customers they're giving free units away to. I'm on 154kWh so far.

Swipe

They are having a laugh using Covid-19 as an excuse! I've just taken my weekly meter reading and, with the weather being so nice and no heating or dehumidifier on, I've used just 30 units this week whereas on an average year I'd used approx 47-50 units for this weekly period in April.

CRISPIANNE3

After a break of two months I have now eventually received my latest bill. According to their estimate up until 30 April I will be using double the amount of electricity than in the winter months. Other than that I think the bill is in order. I am not even going to ring them or email them regarding the over estimation because it just causes utter confusion for all concerned.  Hopefully will be adjusted in next months bill.  Also because of the lockdown it does not make any difference to me because I am at home most of the time.  Also from the 1 April until now I have only used 100 units. They estimate I will use 19 units a day.