Symbio Energy feedback

CRISPIANNE3

Swipe said:

Old you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy at least every 90 days

New you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy consumption by the last day of every month. If the customer provides a meter reading which is 10% below the expected profile or EAC, you will be requested to submit photographic evidence.

So does that mean I must submit a photo every month for the rest of summer and autumn?

I take a picture via my smart phone at each meter reading but does not make a blind bit of difference. I now just accept their absorb estimates in the hope it evens itself out the following month.  

matelodave

If you cant take a photo then what do you think they might do - send round a meter reader

Stratus

Swipe said:

Old you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy at least every 90 days

New you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy consumption by the last day of every month. If the customer provides a meter reading which is 10% below the expected profile or EAC, you will be requested to submit photographic evidence.

So does that mean I must submit a photo every month for the rest of summer and autumn?

I think you'll need to submit a photo every month now because your consumption will always be more than 10% below their 'expected profile' which appears to be EAC/12 + 30% in the summer and +60% or more in the winter.

Talldave

Swipe said:

Old you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy at least every 90 days

New you must give us an up-to-date meter reading for your energy consumption by the last day of every month. If the customer provides a meter reading which is 10% below the expected profile or EAC, you will be requested to submit photographic evidence.

So does that mean I must submit a photo every month for the rest of summer and autumn?

A picture of me smiling would be good evidence of meter readings being more than 10% below EAC.

Note their use of "or". I imagine almost every customer will fail that condition because Symbio's expected profile is always 35% - 100% over EAC.

Submitting photos won't stop the over estimates, so what's the point.

I'd love the chance to ask the author why they write this pointless crap.

If I get asked to submit photos, the meter will have a post-it attached saying "stop f***ing over-estimating".

Stratus

The email address in the complaints section links to a completely different company - customerservices@symbio.co.uk
Symbio offer "soil management solutions". Check them out https://www.symbio.co.uk/
They should be linking to @symbioenergy.co.uk

matelodave

Stratus said:

The email address in the complaints section links to a completely different company - customerservices@symbio.co.uk
Symbio offer "soil management solutions". Check them out https://www.symbio.co.uk/
They should be linking to @symbioenergy.co.uk

they obvious do want any complaints if they are directing them somewhere else

Streaky_Bacon

I expected that the board would be alight with the new "10% photo" rules.

The T&Cs seem to be attempting to impose a rule that they can reject you meter reading without a photo. I'd be interested to see how that plays out.

I must admit that I have not submitted a reading for a while now, and because of their massive overestimation, my actual reading is now less than their estimated reading in the May bill (i.e. less than they estimated my usage for May 31st), and much less than the June bill estimate for June 30th.

Their system works OK if the new customer read is less than the current estimate (i.e. June 30th) but I do wonder if they may have issues with a customer read that is less than an earlier estimate.

Does anybody have any experience of them working their variance unit magic when the actual reading is more than a month out from their silly estimates?

merchcon55

I must admit this thread is very good value - it's like the Ryanair complaints thread but for Electricity. Yes Symbio produce monthly invoices out of thin air, yes their estimates are pure fiction, yes their customer service is poor for most. As consumers you have a choice - stay with them or move to another supplier. Just like Ryanair - you want to fly cheap, you put up with all their rules and other crap OR you choose another airline.

While I am no longer with Symbio I would like to try to put some people at ease - first, get them to set your payments to FIXED DIRECT DEBIT - not variable. Keep giving them the monthly read, and keep your own spreadsheet with actual charges incurred.
The monthly bill? Use it to line the birdcage - it's meaningless.

The final bill was worked out to within 3p of my calculations - with free units remaining free (nothing huge, like 100 KW or so).

zantos

@merchcon55 How long did you have to wait for your final bill while they still had use of any overpayments you had made?

Ofgem in it's wisdom stipulates that ac ompany must refund any money owed within 10 dats of a final bill BUT doesn't say how long a customer must wait for this final bill to appear! Seems another way Symbio can hold onto money that they have no right to, delaying the issue of a final bill as long as they like.

CRISPIANNE3

merchcon55 said:

I must admit this thread is very good value - it's like the Ryanair complaints thread but for Electricity. Yes Symbio produce monthly invoices out of thin air, yes their estimates are pure fiction, yes their customer service is poor for most. As consumers you have a choice - stay with them or move to another supplier. Just like Ryanair - you want to fly cheap, you put up with all their rules and other crap OR you choose another airline.

While I am no longer with Symbio I would like to try to put some people at ease - first, get them to set your payments to FIXED DIRECT DEBIT - not variable. Keep giving them the monthly read, and keep your own spreadsheet with actual charges incurred.
The monthly bill? Use it to line the birdcage - it's meaningless.

The final bill was worked out to within 3p of my calculations - with free units remaining free (nothing huge, like 100 KW or so).

Thanks for your words of wisdom but I'm sticking to variable amounts. That way they get less confused.