Symbio Energy feedback

devondiver

WhyohWhy said:

what are the downsides?

Er . . . . . How much time do you have?

If you have read this thread - then, obviously, quite a lot. If you haven't - then do. Also Trustpilot,

Proceed if you are happy to enter a world of pain from which escape may be time-consuming and costly.

Inigo_Montoya

Tallerdave said:

As long as you provide monthly readings on the last day of the month they consolidate the overpayment, credit it back and then charge the coming month's ludicrous estimate. So you never build up credit greater than a month's over estimate.

You can end up with a negative bill when they have a period of less ludicrous estimates. That used to happen in summer but this year they seem to be keeping the estimates up. Probably because they're convinced by their own BS that consumption is going up due to: cooling (yeah we all have massive air-con systems), covid/working from home (yeah, once you work from home for over a year your laptop's consumption triples), climate change (no idea), and sex toys (I made that up, but mains powered is the route to a new high).

thanks for the explaination 

Will they accept meter reads without a photo of the meter as thats another thing Ive heard mentioned ?
- I am spending most of my time away from home at the moment so would not be able to take a photo every time i.e. i would be guessing the usage as I know how many KwH are used per day when I am away which is very consistant

spot1034

WhyohWhy said:

I'm thinking of joining despite the bad reviews.  I will not be moving house which seems to be the source of a lot of complaints.  My supplier has put my up by 33%  so need to move sharpish. I'm going for the fixed direct debit rather than seasonal and I'm happy with monthly reads as I always do this anyway, what are the downsides?

I'm on the fixed direct debit, which is seasonal in the sense that they take a higher sum in winter and lower in summer. However at the moment it is based on my own estimate of annual usage. After five months I have paid them within £10 of the actual sum due, which I reckon is pretty good. I have had no trouble with them, however I am not the sort of customer who feels the need to keep contacting my energy supplier and this attitude has served me well over many years.

That said, if their proposed new billing system is implemented payments will be increased by 30% (still with a variation between summer and winter) and they are promising to pay 5% on the excess balance not needed to settle bills. I am OK with this, but many would not be. It does have the hallmarks of a ponzi scheme but without the risk to customers as credit balances are protected should the company go bust. I suspect this last point is why they are having to justify their proposed new system to the regulator as there will be a worry about the rest of the industry having to foot the bill in such circumstances. So it might not go ahead, but be aware that it might.

spot1034

Inigo_Montoya said:

Tallerdave said:

As long as you provide monthly readings on the last day of the month they consolidate the overpayment, credit it back and then charge the coming month's ludicrous estimate. So you never build up credit greater than a month's over estimate.

You can end up with a negative bill when they have a period of less ludicrous estimates. That used to happen in summer but this year they seem to be keeping the estimates up. Probably because they're convinced by their own BS that consumption is going up due to: cooling (yeah we all have massive air-con systems), covid/working from home (yeah, once you work from home for over a year your laptop's consumption triples), climate change (no idea), and sex toys (I made that up, but mains powered is the route to a new high).

thanks for the explaination 

Will they accept meter reads without a photo of the meter as thats another thing Ive heard mentioned ?
- I am spending most of my time away from home at the moment so would not be able to take a photo every time i.e. i would be guessing the usage as I know how many KwH are used per day when I am away which is very consistant

I have an E7 meter so submit two photos but I suspect that when I go to upload the second one, it cancels the first one. Their email acknowledgement always has an attachment with a copy of the second photo and only that one. I suspect they aren't normally even looked at as the billing system is automated. There are some people here who don't submit photos and it seems they do not have a problem. 

CRISPIANNE3

Inigo_Montoya said:

Tallerdave said:

As long as you provide monthly readings on the last day of the month they consolidate the overpayment, credit it back and then charge the coming month's ludicrous estimate. So you never build up credit greater than a month's over estimate.

You can end up with a negative bill when they have a period of less ludicrous estimates. That used to happen in summer but this year they seem to be keeping the estimates up. Probably because they're convinced by their own BS that consumption is going up due to: cooling (yeah we all have massive air-con systems), covid/working from home (yeah, once you work from home for over a year your laptop's consumption triples), climate change (no idea), and sex toys (I made that up, but mains powered is the route to a new high).

thanks for the explaination 

Will they accept meter reads without a photo of the meter as thats another thing Ive heard mentioned ?
- I am spending most of my time away from home at the moment so would not be able to take a photo every time i.e. i would be guessing the usage as I know how many KwH are used per day when I am away which is very consistant

I have given them a reading for months with a picture of the meter read but does not make any difference. Also when I tried this time their app just kept logging me out. They over estimate my usage between 80 to 100 percent each month. 

molerat

They are quite happy with non photo reads.  I have only ever given them one which was the opening read for this contract.

July estimate available now and is at +20% meaning at the end of July I should be about £11 in credit so not too bad.

WhyohWhy

do you have to send a photo of your readling or will they just accept the figures?

Mister_G

I've been with them 18 months now and never submitted a photo, just the end of month meter read.

Although their billing is a bit convoluted (an understatement!), over the period of a year I've actually ended up only paying for electricity used.

irs101

When I was having my own EAC ding dong with them, one of the reasons they gave for their excessive workload which explained why they had taken eight weeks to address my complaint was because "people keep sending us photos of their meters, which we then have to check"  

m0bov

They seem to change the meter readings I submit.