Scare tactics email from Yorkshire Energy - differs from the MSE Cheap Energy Club suggestions

rp1974

Perhaps I'm just not getting this,core issue appears that a variable tariff has been varied?.The variation can either be accepted or rejected.
This might help:https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public-rsrc.energylinx.co.uk/domestic-tariff-PDFs/20180517_Yorkshire_Energy_Terms__Conditions_V1_version_007.pdf
Standard energy supplier conduct and Ofgems so called regulation really,unsure how much forward notice is given of price changes to third parties,customer would be informed first.

brewerdave

smipx013 said:

Agreed - This is why I have not made any formal complaint.  I have not been financially disadvantaged.  What I do suspect though is that YE may have been on an unfair customer fishing expedition by using shady tactics.  I'm not going to make a complaint as it would not lead to any material difference for me and would be a ton of work.  All I wanted to do was hilight to ofgem and to MSE energy club that something may be going on here that is sailing very close to the wind legally / morally. 

I think you are giving them too much credit. With Covid and the subsequent staff shortages, I suspect that they just "forgot" to update the existing customers' variable tariffs when a price rise was introduced for new customers, and now they ARE catching up!
A similar example; I cancelled my BT Sport access via my internet service provider in March .They stopped charging but it took til last weekend to actually close down my service, so over 7 months "free" !!

Gerry1

The usual complaint is that insurance companies etc treat new customers more favourably than loyal customers, e.g. by quoting sky high renewal prices to little old ladies who have been with them for 40 years but offering eye catching introductory discounts to newcomers.

However, YE looked after their existing customers by offering them a six months' period of grace before the new prices were applied. If they had just signed up they would have been annoyed at an immediate price rise, especially if they were now paying more than if they had continued on their fixed price deal with their old supplier.  This consideration seems worthy of praise rather than blame?

Neon Reef have now raised prices significantly, having introduced exit fees and a fixed tariff.  But I'm still on their mega-cheap variable tariff which is no longer available to new customers.  Should I complain that I should now be paying a lot more? 

smipx013

The only beef I really have is the way they have done it.  I am more than happy I was on a lower cost tariff.  What I find surprising is that they effectively changed my tariff without informing me as a customer in any way at all.  The tariff I was on lives on and I was moved onto a new tariff (at the lower rates) without being informed.  That is my only gripe - it is causing confusion for no reason and I was questioning whther they can legally do that without informing me - even if - in this specific instance - it was very much to my benefit (which i am very pleased about).   

Who is to say that they won't do the same or similar thing in the future (or give other firms the idea that they are allowed to do this) and put someone, without their knowlege or permission, onto a significantly worse tariff???
Even the customer services person I talked to said that all of the customer services team were totally confused about the situation and that it is a situation they had not been briefed on or know about. The tariff suggested as an alterntive does not even exist (yet). She also said thaty have many calls about the very subject so its npt just me that was confused and had to sepnd an inordinate amount of time unpicking what the hell has actually happened.   It's not always about the money.

I am quite prepared to admit that I don't know the finer details of the rules and law and I just wanted someone with a more experienced eye to take a gander.

Hope that is now clear.
Paul

Stonesmike

smipx013 said:

The only beef I really have is the way they have done it.  I am more than happy I was on a lower cost tariff.  What I find surprising is that they effectively changed my tariff without informing me as a customer in any way at all.  The tariff I was on lives on and I was moved onto a new tariff (at the lower rates) without being informed.  That is my only gripe - it is causing confusion for no reason and I was questioning whther they can legally do that without informing me - even if - in this specific instance - it was very much to my benefit (which i am very pleased about).   

Who is to say that they won't do the same or similar thing in the future (or give other firms the idea that they are allowed to do this) and put someone, without their knowlege or permission, onto a significantly worse tariff???
Even the customer services person I talked to said that all of the customer services team were totally confused about the situation and that it is a situation they had not been briefed on or know about. The tariff suggested as an alterntive does not even exist (yet). She also said thaty have many calls about the very subject so its npt just me that was confused and had to sepnd an inordinate amount of time unpicking what the hell has actually happened.   It's not always about the money.

I am quite prepared to admit that I don't know the finer details of the rules and law and I just wanted someone with a more experienced eye to take a gander.

Hope that is now clear.
Paul

Hi Paul,
I would like to thank you for gaining the information you have supplied. I feel like you in that it would be nice to be informed of any changes either way and I was also unaware that my tariff had been changed.
I will wait for tomorrow and see what the implications are.
Thanks.
Mike

smipx013

Green Brimham tariff is now on their website (but not on comparison sites just yet).  Its not great news (for YE) as its not a  competitive tariff at all.  Its worse than the one it just replaced and will be about #30 on the list of fixed tariff's and a good £170 pa more than PFP energy's Fixed - November 2021 v1 Paperless Billing tariff.   I know PFP are a bit rubbish for customer services (but so are most at the cheaper end of the market). I was with them a couple of years ago and they seemed okay then but slow to answer queries.

The YE offering is even more expensive than British Gas for goodness sakes! In fact it's more than all of the big 6 and most of the rest of the market.  They must be not be wanting any new customers or exising customers to stay :-)   I'm going to wait until tomorrow (until it appears on the comparison sites - just to make sure its correct) but then its Au revoir to YE 

.   

macman

YE may, like many other small energy providers, be struggling with cashflow at present. Going by their website, it's a company of about 15 people, so they are not necessarily going to have the resources to grow their customer base anytime soon, nor will they have the cash reserves to buy forward in any volume.
Almost all of the many smaller providers that we have seem go to the wall in the last 2 years have failed because they tried to compete solely on price, offered unrealistically low margin fixed tariffs and then failed hopelessly to provide the CS to cope with the inevitable surge in numbers. 
If YE can avoid that route, they are doing well.

ILikeToSave

I dropped in here just to see if there were any rumours as to Yorkshire Energy's financial situation. The reason being I am on a fixed tariff with them & recently received an email suggesting that (although I am in credit from overpaying during the summer months) I should consider making extra payments in addition to my Direct Debit to avoid falling into debt over the winter. As my Direct Debit was set by them (and as far as I can see will cover my entire years usage at my fixed tariff) I was surprised they would suggest this and made me wonder if they are having cash flow problems?

pokora

Same situation here. I've been waiting for 6 months for this email. I don't like the way they push you to a new deal without details of the alternative variable. Thank you for all the information you provide, I will look for an alternative in the meantime they give more information.

UnclaimedEnergy

ILikeToSave said:

I dropped in here just to see if there were any rumours as to Yorkshire Energy's financial situation. The reason being I am on a fixed tariff with them & recently received an email suggesting that (although I am in credit from overpaying during the summer months) I should consider making extra payments in addition to my Direct Debit to avoid falling into debt over the winter. As my Direct Debit was set by them (and as far as I can see will cover my entire years usage at my fixed tariff) I was surprised they would suggest this and made me wonder if they are having cash flow problems?

Every supplier will be having cash-flow problems at this time due to a build up of non-payments along with higher usage from their customers.

The issue though is that the majority of domestic suppliers run on a very tight cash forecast, meaning anything from wholesale rises to not billing their customers (Tonik) can push them over the edge and cause them to fail.

Most smaller suppliers look to do a variable DD which changes over summer/winter anyway - whether or not it's a cause of concern depends more if it was planned, or if they just decided to do it in the middle of the winter period (October - March).

In the case of Yorkshire Energy... in August they raised their prices to around the average price point for the first time in over a year. A change of pricing strategy by a smaller energy supplier is always a good indicator of their current financial state.