Symbio Energy feedback

carpy

Talldave said:

The free units come from a flaw in Symbio's billing system where if you give your meter reading a day after the previous bill's estimating period, they give you a day's free electricity (fortunately using their ludicrous over estimating approach, so it's a nice high figure!)

you actually end up with a 'free' day or is that just tongue in cheek?

Talldave

carpy said:

you actually end up with a 'free' day or is that just tongue in cheek?

You end up with free units because when you submit your meter reading a "day late", they go back to the previous month's estimate and add what they consider to be a day's worth of units to their estimate - however, they never charge you for those units, so they are free.  I've had 154kWh free over 7 months, which is about 5.1% of our consumption.  Every little helps!!

carpy

damn.....i don't normally miss a trick!!
will try that at the end of this month...will give the reading on 1st June rather than 31st May!
thanks for the 'heads up'!

griffb

I managed (inadvertently I hasten to add) to take the “free units” flaw to new heights. In January I put in a mid month reading ( to show Symbio that my usage was nowhere near their estimates). Symbio’s system then calculated a variance for the first half of January based on their estimate, and credited me with the (fairly large) difference, but never actually charged me for the estimate! Given that the matter has been discussed regularly in this forum, which Symbio were known to follow, and that I emailed them querying the bill giving full details, it is surprising they haven’t made any effort to close the loophole. On the other hand maybe it isn’t so surprising.
I left Symbio in March, but I still follow this thread for the entertainment value.

carpy

so when would be the absolute sweet spot be to maximize this flaw?

molerat

This month's bill still overestimating by 30%.  Plus I wondered why my spreadsheet couldn't reconcile the cost - they have increased my unit price from 12.780 to 12.814. Not going to bother trying to sort it as I am in debit and it will all come out in my complaint when I leave them !  This month's bill is for £58.63 including bringing forward an unpaid £20.99 from the re-billing foul up some time ago - I make the due amount £61.39 based on their total units to end of May less total amount paid to April DD.  Maths is most certainly not their strong point !

My daughter's unit price has also increased from 12.690 to 12.722.

Check your bills folks !

rags58

The "problem" I have with Symbio is their "shady practices" and their constant excuses for justifying excessive estimates. 

Most people normally sign up to a supplier on a fixed contract with an understanding that the payments will be equally divided by 12. Simple to understand and makes budgeting easier. That was the contract that I had with them when I joined last summer and I was happy with them until the Dec 19 e-mail and their higher winter consumption request and a change to their t&c. 

Since then the estimates that they calculate for the forthcoming month have exceeded my Eac/12 payments substantially and bear no relation to my actual consumption. I now have no idea how much I will be billed as each month the bill varies. It is now obvious since April, the start of "summer season"  that any contract you have is meaningless as they fail to abide by their own t&cs by not reducing estimates in line with their own projected forecasts and passing those reductions onto customers. They ignore Eac/12  or increase it by 50-60% and fail to comply with the law and their license agreement to treat customers fairly. It has now reached the ridiculous stage where they estimate I will use more electricity in summer than I do in the depths of a cold dark winter. 

If people wish to sign up to this uncertainty then Symbio should clearly state that in their contract so people can make an informed choice. I didn't get that choice! 

What is worrying is that anyone who has recently "signed" a contract with Symbio and assumes fixed or seasonal payments may discover that  those fixed payments will disappear faster than a british summer and they will be "hit" with huge bills that make budgeting difficult. The fact that they are still using winter estimates in summer should be a red flag in what to expect when winter truly arrives and they decide to bump up their estimates by 70-80%.Thankfully my contract ends soon and my Symbio nightmare will soon be over.

My only advice to anyone who wishes to join Symbio is to halve your estimated annual consumption at the joining stage. That way you will probably get a true reflection of your actual consumption when Symbio bill you. 

CRISPIANNE3

Just received notification they are taking £43.00 from my bank account. However again no bill received only able to view online summary. 

rags58

.molerat said:

 - they have increased my unit price from 12.780 to 12.814. Not going to bother trying to sort it as I am in debit and it will all come out in my complaint when I leave them/ My daughter's unit price has also increased from 12.690 to 12.722. Check your bills folks !

Both my unit rate and my standing charge have also increased, admittedly by pennies 6-7p but that's a lot of pennies if they have increased those charges for all their customers......no notification. So much for a fixed contract  with no  increases during the term...sneaky!

Stratus

My June estimate is EAC/12 (adjusted) +42%
The new unit price and standing charge now tally with the original tariff quote. Previously my bills were showing rates slightly less than the original proposed rates.