Symbio Energy feedback

Tafrock

Wow bit of an overestimation for January's usage symbio

I never use more than 300 kWh a month. Usually around 250. Yes it's the coldest months coming up but to estimate my usage at 402 kWh resulting in a bill of £56.39 is a bit shocking

Yes I know I'll get the overpayment back in variance deductions in February's bill but I'm still shocked

That's a record high for an electricity bill for me

Maybe time to look elsewhere for a company that uses my actual readings every month

jazzy

Tafrock wrote: »

Wow bit of an overestimation for January's usage symbio

I never use more than 300 kWh a month. Usually around 250. Yes it's the coldest months coming up but to estimate my usage at 402 kWh resulting in a bill of £56.39 is a bit shocking

Yes I know I'll get the overpayment back in variance deductions in February's bill but I'm still shocked

That's a record high for an electricity bill for me

Maybe time to look elsewhere for a company that uses my actual readings every month

Same here my normal monthly usage is around 300 kWh per month for the next month of January I have been charged 567 kWh. I take regular monthly readings so I know that this estimate is way over.

The Symbio billing for actual monthly usage is a terrible system and can be manipulated so that monthly payments can be excessive. I have never had so many problems with false billing compared to my previous energy companies.

It is also concerning that Symbio have now removed the previous monthly billing graphs, so it makes it difficult to check your previous usage.

Perhaps Symbio Energy are running at a loss due to their low prices and are trying to get rid of their customers on the low fixed contracts?

Tafrock

You may have a point about getting rid of customers jazzy as I can leave with no penalty whereas newer customers can't. Though symbios rates on newer fixed tariffs are still as low as mine.

I may be looking to go dual fuel anyway come April as I'm with zog for gas

My tariff expires in April and zogs rates have sky rocketed and are no longer competitive

Green.energy Look to be a likely candidate for my trade real soon

At least if I pay this excessive bill I'll get it back when I leave plus I will get 2% cashback for the final time from natwest on a larger sum then usual. It will be the final time because natwests cashback stops on Feb 2

tk47

griffb wrote: »

tk47 wrote: »

I love it too! Adds a bit of excitement waiting to see how much they are going to charge me based on their own guesses of how much I will use :cool:

My charge for the month has always been My-original-annual-estimate x days-in-month / 365

You still getting charged this way, griifb?

Tafrock

Well mine most certainly isn't for this month. Yes my electricity usage is slowly creeping up during winter but I will never use over 400 kWh in a month. I've looked back through my records. Largest usage all way back to 1st January 2018 is 290. 6. I've been charged for 402.42 kWh. Last month I was billed for 257.83 but actually used 272.2. So why is the guesstimate so damn high

tk47

griffb wrote: »

tk47 wrote: »

Anyone else lost online access to their bills?

Mine all seem to have been replaced with a pointless 'Bill Summary' with details of what you paid, when you paid, how you paid, etc, but no details of how Cost of Energy Used for Billing Period (Excluding VAT) was actually arrived at.

Glad I downloaded the proper bills when they were available.

I get just a bill summary online too. Never really looked at that section of the website before, as they have always emailed the full bill to me.

This is the link that used to exist:
https://symbiocustomersportal.co.uk/User/Bills

As opposed to just the summary which they link to now which is:
https://symbiocustomersportal.co.uk/User/BillSummary

On the old link, it still has all the bill references (including now for January 2020), but unfortunately none of the 'View' buttons work properly there. They all just give the same error message:

{"ErrorMessage":"","Success":false}

Not had any email for January 2020 bill yet

Tafrock

After much trawling I found my record previous electricity bill

Back to days of first utility.

It was for month ending january 7th 2017

Usage for Dec 7 until Jan 7 was 349 kWh

Cost £43.94

Congratulations symbio. You've beaten both records with your guestimate

Of course you are the uks lowest priced electricity provider aren't you

Swipe

Is it really that big a deal for the sake of an extra £15 if you get it all back over coming months? I'd prefer this than to lose their excellent rates by them going under.

merchcon55

As above posters have stated, my January invoice is absurd !

December invoice was estimated at 18% above original calculations they were using - which happened to be within 9KW of actual usage for December - so no complaints. We all use more electricity in winter months.

However - January estimate is 60% HIGHER than the already increased estimate for December.

So instead of 540KW estimate (usage for December) they have estimated a whopping 867KW !

I will discuss this with them on Monday - but this is smelling like a "cash grab" from a company who are lacking funds. We all know what has happened to many smaller providers in the past 18 months who showed any hint of trying to get more dosh from their customers.

I'll see what resolution I can come up with on Monday but will start to look for new supplier. A pity, they have been good for 6 months - but what is to stop them taking another 50% more on the February invoice?

I have no interest in "claiming back my refund" once I leave - and they have gone bust ! I was fortunate when One Select went bump, I owed them rather than the other way around.

Tafrock

My bill is normally In region of £30. This month's is £56. Yes I can afford the extra payment but that's not the point

Some people won't be able to. Some people's usage will be a lot higher than mine so therefore the overestimation will be a lot higher and they may not be able to afford to pay what they actually don't owe.

I provide monthly readings. I keep accurate records. I know my monthly usage. So I know I'll get it back

But not everyone does. Some people are going to get a big shock. Up until now I've been happy but I can't see why my bill has been estimated so high incorrectly

So yes it is worth kicking up a stink for