Symbio Energy feedback

devondiver

niktheguru said:

devondiver said:

On the contrary old bean. If you ferret through all my back posts, as you do, I'm sure you'll find I mention my suspicions on at least one occasion.

As you’ve experienced a lot of these smaller suppliers have dubious practices, it’s just not one or two. Well, at least it’l give you an opportunity to keep an eye on and warn people away from another suppliers forum page going forward!

Oh come on. You have to admit that, by all accounts, Symbio are in a class of their own. PFP are comparative beginners in the dirty tricks department, and at the moment I'm just having a little fun with them. But, given time, who knows?

niktheguru

devondiver said:

Oh come on. You have to admit that, by all accounts, Symbio are in a class of their own. PFP are comparative beginners in the dirty tricks department, and at the moment I'm just having a little fun with them. But, given time, who knows?

Id say nabuh and neo energy come first in terms of the dodginess category, followed by symbio, and after that pfp!

bristolleedsfan

devondiver said:

slimbuck said:

devondiver said:

Reed_Richards said:

On my August bill Symbio calculated that I had a credit balance of over £100.  I decided to ask for this money to be refunded (given that this was calculated on the basis of a large over-estimate of how much electricity I would use in August).  I tried calling their Customer Services on 3rd August but did not get through after 15 minutes on hold, so I was then offered the option of leaving a message, which I did.  I backed this up with an email to the same effect, asking for a refund.  The following day I got a call back from Symbio but it transpired that my request had already been processed.  On 12th August I got an email confirming a refund had been made and the money arrived on my bank account on 13th August.  So in this instance I got perfectly respectable customer service.  

 Wow! Well done you. As a matter of interest I have just tried the same with my 'new' supplier (PFP - but not relevant to my question) and was met with -

"As per OFGEM regulation we have to keep at least 2 month worth of credit on your account and this is a further reason why we cant refund you"!

Can this possibly be true?

I'm not sure there is any Ofgem regulation as such, but it is a term you expressly agreed to when you left Symbio and chose PFP to become your supplier.

11.4 If you are a current customer paying by Direct Debit and request a refund of a credit balance on your account, we will refund the balance less 2 month’s Direct Debit to  ensure  winter  usage  is covered.

https://pfpenergy.co.uk/app/uploads/2019/03/Domestic-Terms-and-Conditions-v7.0-1.pdf

Thanks for this. I'm afraid I don't normally bother with T &Cs, safe (really??) in the knowledge that we are protected by the old Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 now replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Stupid, I know but there you go.

So Energy ( and maybe others whether written or unwritten) have similar credit refund policy relating to "winter"  https://www.so.energy/refund-policy/  "if you pay equal Direct Debit payments each month, the amount left in the So Energy account after the refund is at least one month’s payment amount in the late spring/early summer months (March-August), and two months at other times of the year (September-February).

We have a £30 minimum refund threshold

SPOWER

[Deleted User] said:

SPOWER said:

If you want warm home, look elsewhere.  You will go grey within weeks.  

So Octopus are rubbish as well (better cross them off my list as well).  Are there any suppliers out there that you can recommend and why?  Or are they all rubbish these days?

Many thanks for your thoughts and advice.

Hi.  I would say personally Logicor seem fine.  I am getting 15p a unit and 15p per day standing charge.  I can't seem to find anything cheaper to be honest.  It all boils down to money and that's it.  

slimbuck

niktheguru said:

matelodave said:

They  are in bother again - https://email.ofgem.gov.uk/1QCB-7I2PH-FS2G9O-4JCHAN-1/c.aspx?_externalContentRedirect=https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/symbio-energy-final-order?utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotMailer&utm_campaign=Daily-Alert_18-08-2021&utm_content=Symbio+Energy%3a+Final+Order

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out. Surely with the influx of customers in recent months and their generous overestimation they should have enough cash flow.

if only they stopped being so lax when people left and avoided compensation payments perhaps they’d have more.

Did you read the link provided by matelodave that you quoted?

The final order is not about Symbio having enough cash flow per se, but rather that Symbio refuse to provide Ofgem with their cashflow forecast information.

In particular:
"The latest cashflow forecasts, with the applicable date, for the next 12 months, with the first six months shown daily, and monthly thereafter for the remainder of the 12 month period"

Presumably that would have to include details of compensation payments you refer to, otherwise even if Symbio were to provide the information to Ofgem, Ofgem would probably say it was unreliable.

Ofgem requested the information pursuent to SLC 5, they need this information to assess Symbio’s compliance with SLC 4B – the “Financial Responsibility Principle”.

"Where a licensee fails to comply with the FO by providing the requested information the Authority may initiate the process of revocation of the licence or take other action to enforce compliance."

niktheguru

slimbuck said:

niktheguru said:

matelodave said:

They  are in bother again - https://email.ofgem.gov.uk/1QCB-7I2PH-FS2G9O-4JCHAN-1/c.aspx?_externalContentRedirect=https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/symbio-energy-final-order?utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotMailer&utm_campaign=Daily-Alert_18-08-2021&utm_content=Symbio+Energy%3a+Final+Order

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out. Surely with the influx of customers in recent months and their generous overestimation they should have enough cash flow.

if only they stopped being so lax when people left and avoided compensation payments perhaps they’d have more.

Did you read the link provided by matelodave that you quoted?

The final order is not about Symbio having enough cash flow per se, but rather that Symbio refuse to provide Ofgem with their cashflow forecast information.

In particular:
"The latest cashflow forecasts, with the applicable date, for the next 12 months, with the first six months shown daily, and monthly thereafter for the remainder of the 12 month period"

Presumably that would have to include details of compensation payments you refer to, otherwise even if Symbio were to provide the information to Ofgem, Ofgem would probably say it was unreliable.

Ofgem requested the information pursuent to SLC 5, they need this information to assess Symbio’s compliance with SLC 4B – the “Financial Responsibility Principle”.

"Where a licensee fails to comply with the FO by providing the requested information the Authority may initiate the process of revocation of the licence or take other action to enforce compliance."

Indeed, as with everything it appears symbio are trying their best not to show their cards. (whether thats on purpose or through incompetence is anyones guess.) But they're just delaying the inevitable. No doubt they will come out with excuses such as prejudice and double standards before finally giving ofgem what they want eventually +/- a fine.

niktheguru

SPOWER said:

Hi.  I would say personally Logicor seem fine.  I am getting 15p a unit and 15p per day standing charge.  I can't seem to find anything cheaper to be honest.  It all boils down to money and that's it.  

On the face of it logicor seems a decent choice at the moment and worth a punt. But there is little to no feedback on how they run and how efficient they are, so who is to know if they'll be another symbio! Cant really complain at 15p/kwh though which is an excellent rate in these times, 15p standing charge and no exit fee with 12 month fix.

In my area the unit rate is 16.9p/kwh.....so octopus go faster is still much cheaper for my usage. (same peak unit rate (for new customers, i'm currently on 14.9), 5p off peak rate in the evening after 8.30pm, slightly higher standing charge at 25p a day, but this equates to £36 more a year, which is completely offset by a £50 referral bonus. My average cost at the moment averages out at between 8-10p/kwh every month, better than when i was with symbio!

SPOWER

Hi.  Yes I agree, I don't have White Meter like yourself so try and get the cheapest deal.  I am SSEB/ScottishPower region so prices differ here to yourself.  I've had £17 written off with Symbio and £110 "compensation" on 2 accounts previously.  These were my mum and dads accounts, with mine, within a week of installing smart meter they put my prices up, near double.  Honestly, good riddance.

PennineAcute

Regarding my previous post about Symbio wanting to replace my SMETS1 meter with a SMETS2.  Both gas and electricity meters (SMETS1) were installed in 2017 by SP.  Zog, my current gas supplier, can auto read my gas meter, so they have to have been upgraded.

After noticing on here people mentioning the Bright app, I have downloaded and installed this.  It gives my readings for both gas and electricity.

Now, if I hypothetically allow Symbio to install a SMETS2 meter, then it will transmit the data in the same way that my current meters are transmitting.  So there is no excuse (except financial - which they seemed to imply) for them wanting to mess everything up and install a new meter.

CRISPIANNE3

I hate admit it but I am now very impressed with Symbio. I sent them an email yesterday regarding their estimates and asked them to review them. To my amazement they reviewed my account and have reduced by 900KW per annum.  Still higher than my usage but a lot closer. Well done!