Symbio Energy feedback

Reed_Richards

My Symbio bill comes by email in the form of a PDF file.  The file name starts with a 6 digit number which goes up by about 40000  each month on average.  Has anyone figured out what the significance of this number is?  

LessImpecunious

Reed_Richards said:

My Symbio bill comes by email in the form of a PDF file.  The file name starts with a 5 digit number which goes up by about 4000  each month on average.  Has anyone figured out what the significance of this number is?  

Could it be Symbio's own running invoice number? (they don't quote it on the bill, only our own invoice number - so mine is 21, having been with them for 21 months). Having said that, mine has a difference of over 9000 from last month's number, and my theory would only make sense if everyone's number increased by the same amount each month.... Looking more closely, mine is actually a six-digit number - maybe they have more than one invoicing system/sequence?

CRISPIANNE3

wwally said:

CRISPIANNE3 said:

UPDATE.

Well that didn't last long. Just received my bill and they have increased my eac by 1000 units. Also they estimated I will use 650 units for September. I checked the corresponding period for last year and only used 307 units. Also this August the estimate was 595 against an actual usage of 257 units.

You just cannot believe a word these guys say.  It is so wrong they treat their customers this way. 

Just had my September advance bill. I think for the first time they have estimated consumption in the new month to be more than double the actual in the previous month. (Which itself was completely normal) Not worth chasing as it remains a credit for October, but people need to know this is how they operate.

The strange thing is the less I use the bigger the estimate for the new month. I'm sure it has something to do with being on a very low tariff of 10.024p per kw. 

niktheguru

The strange thing is the less I use the bigger the estimate for the new month. I'm sure it has something to do with being on a very low tariff of 10.024p per kw. 

Does it really even matter? Are you still paying variable direct debit or did you change to fixed as we advised?

PennineAcute

CRISPIANNE3 said:

The strange thing is the less I use the bigger the estimate for the new month. I'm sure it has something to do with being on a very low tariff of 10.024p per kw. 

Looking at my bill today, I think I can explain that.

If you look at my estimated usage for 1.9.21 - 30.9.21, they have taken a start reading of 11112.00 (which was my read on 31.8.21).  The reading on 30.9.21 is their estimate of 11452.82.

As their estimates are always way over, as months go by, the gap between the true readings and their estimated readings will increase.  Therefore, your estimated monthly usage will increase.

DiseasedBunny

So with symbio, our bill would be approx £60a month, so would they try and charge 100+ a month or something?  Surely you end up in ridiculous amounts of credit

molerat

DiseasedBunny said:

So with symbio, our bill would be approx £60a month, so would they try and charge 100+ a month or something?  Surely you end up in ridiculous amounts of credit

No because next month they charge you £100 estimate less the excess (£100 estimate - £60 actual) £40 from last month =£60 so in theory you are only the first month's excess £40 in credit.

bsms1147

LessImpecunious said:

Reed_Richards said:

My Symbio bill comes by email in the form of a PDF file.  The file name starts with a 5 digit number which goes up by about 4000  each month on average.  Has anyone figured out what the significance of this number is?  

Could it be Symbio's own running invoice number? (they don't quote it on the bill, only our own invoice number - so mine is 21, having been with them for 21 months). Having said that, mine has a difference of over 9000 from last month's number, and my theory would only make sense if everyone's number increased by the same amount each month.... Looking more closely, mine is actually a six-digit number - maybe they have more than one invoicing system/sequence?

Mines a 6 digit number too on the pdf file name; the gaps between the last three months are ~51000, ~46000, ~40000; assuming these are just sequentially numbered invoices and each invoice maps 1:1 per customer, and assuming one bill per month, then this could represent the number of users. Perhaps even showing that the number of customers is trending downwards with time.

CRISPIANNE3

niktheguru said:

The strange thing is the less I use the bigger the estimate for the new month. I'm sure it has something to do with being on a very low tariff of 10.024p per kw. 

Does it really even matter? Are you still paying variable direct debit or did you change to fixed as we advised?

I was all set to go but the figure they quoted was just absurd. Right or wrong this is the lesser of the two evils. However that said at the moment I am no more than about £40.00 in credit at any time. 

niktheguru

CRISPIANNE3 said:

niktheguru said:

The strange thing is the less I use the bigger the estimate for the new month. I'm sure it has something to do with being on a very low tariff of 10.024p per kw. 

Does it really even matter? Are you still paying variable direct debit or did you change to fixed as we advised?

I was all set to go but the figure they quoted was just absurd. Right or wrong this is the lesser of the two evils. However that said at the moment I am no more than about £40.00 in credit at any time. 

So if you’re never in more than 40quid credit at any time and only paying just over 10p/kWh, why such outrage at their academic overestimates every month? I just don’t get it. If you went with the current rates at an alternative supplier you’d be GIVING them that money in extra charges each month!