Symbio Energy feedback

Hasbeen

MrChips said:

Can anyone help me understand what's going on?
I signed up with Symbio in late December 2020 for electricity only.  I'm on the "Low Fair and Green Variable SE01 v11" tariff which is the cheapest available on the market for me.  On Friday I got an email asking me to "renew my subscription" and to "select a new preference plan".
I've only been with them a month - why would I want/need to renew or choose a new plan?  I'm happy with my existing one...

It is a variable tariff which they have pulled/stopped/finished/end of life.   They are asking you to choose another.

If you do not they will pick one for you. Not advisable. So back to comparing?

MrChips

Thanks - that's not at all clear from their email!  I would have thought if the tariff was variable, they would just change the price.  They are behaving like the tariff is fixed, but with an end date.

Hasbeen

MrChips said:

Thanks - that's not at all clear from their email!  I would have thought if the tariff was variable, they would just change the price.  They are behaving like the tariff is fixed, but with an end date.

Same thing happened to me. They appear not to change prices? But just end them. I compared and cheapest for me was NEO but very difficult to actually get a quote. Next was Symbio 

Tallerdave

MrChips said:

Thanks - that's not at all clear from their email!  I would have thought if the tariff was variable, they would just change the price.  They are behaving like the tariff is fixed, but with an end date.

I agree. "Variable" would appear to be totally the wrong description.   But that's Symbio for you,  useless at everything!  I think "Temporary" would be more accurate.

Chef1980uk

stonework said:

Chef1980uk said:

Same here. I got the estimate which saw them take 3x the normal amount out even though you could clearly see I was never going to use that much. As such I switched end of November and have been with my new supplier for 5 weeks and 4 days. Not had a final bill and I know the credit will be more than £100 in the account but there's literally no way of seeing the amount or how to get it back.

Did you keep a record of the final read? You can manually calculate it. Pretty easy to do with electricity (gas is not so easy as you need to convert to KwH first).

One thing to be mindful of with everyone staying home is that home energy use will increase.

Yea, I take a photo at every meter read so its date/time stamped.

Boohoo

Has any Symbio customers get the monthly reminder to submit a meter readings or else we will charge what we want if you do not submit one ?

I have sent my reading today but checking my emails i never received one from them.

I always set a reminder to do gas and electric readings at the end of the month but maybe Symbio are hoping a few customers forget and then they can hike their bills up to get some money into Symbio bank account to boost the cash flow.

Hasbeen

Because of the problems Symbio have had in paying their "fines" lately. I did not expect an email reminder, as they do indeed estimate very highly when they need cash.

So yes no reminder but have put my usage in. But expect in true Symbio way, to still get estimate?

Mister_G

Yes, no reminder for me either, but I have submitted my reading.

We shall see!

CRISPIANNE3

Submitted my readings today and like some other contributors here no reminder. However they forecast 550 kw for January but the actual was 348.  Interesting to see what the forecast figure will be for Feb. 

matelodave

I don't need a reminder - I just do it a day before the billing date. It's worked with most suppliers who then issue a bill a few days later (SSE only issued billing updates every quarter) but I still sent in a monthly meter read

However, even when you do send in a reading to Symbio they issue a bill and take a direct debit based on some fictitious amount they think you'll use in the next month. It does usually take into account your actual readings from last month so it's possible to end up with a negative bill although it doesn't happen very often. I found that Symbio usually sent an e-mail telling me when the bill was issued (although I used to check my on-line account myself, just in case they didn't).  I always downloaded and saved it immediately because it doesn't seem to stay available for long.  All you can then access is a summary of their previous billing, which as they were based on their guesses isn't very helpful if you have a problem in the future.