Simplicity Energy - Ceasing to Trade

Leon_W

I was caught in mid switch from Gulf when Simplicity went bust.

Had my.. "Hooray, you are now a customer of Simplicity Energy and we now need your meter readings." email just this morning so it looks like the switch went through      I'm guessing BG will be in touch but just to make sure they are I've immediately cancelled the direct debit        I've learnt the hard way with a couple of companies having gone bust on me. Cancel the DD !

Notnewnotold

I didn't cancel the DD until they took a payment on the 1st Feb (hadn't heard the news at that point) but as I'm still going to be in debit by about £60, I'm not too concerned. Just more hassle overall that I'd prefer not to have.

Shedman, re UP, thanks, will take a closer look before deciding. Simplicity was my first go at using a non-mainstream supplier so I don't want to end up in the same situation twice in a year. Maybe Avro - they seem to have decent reviews...

KevPude

So much for Ofgem running a competition and selecting BG Evolve as the SoLR for ex Simplicity customers. I’ve just received details of their “Simplicity Promise” tariff for my son’s HMO in Bristol which has electric heating.

Gas - 3.091p/kWh; SC:26.074p/day

Electricity - 17.765p/kWh; SC:24.027p/day

No price increase until April 2022 and two weeks free electricity if you stay with them for more than 6/months.

Based on a Simplicity Broccoli 19 tariff I secured last June, at 11.59p/kWh, that’s a massive 53% hike!

What a cheek to call the tariff “Simplicity Promise”, while EDF, who are taking on GNE customers, guarantees they will see a price decrease versus their current tariff until 30 September 2021.

Ofgem’s advice is not to switch until the Evolve Acc is set up (which should be by mid March). However, circa 6 weeks on the new tariff at this time of year is likely to cost an extra £200. I’m tempted to start a switch now but don’t want to get my fingers burnt.......has anybody successfully switched away from a failed supplier and SoLR while the transfer was in progress?

Leon_W

I might give it a go KevPude .  I won't use a switching site though as that could lead to a whole different level of headache !

Notnewnotold

Are there any Ofgem rules that ensure consistent and fair treatment for SoLR'd customers, given the very obvious disparity that is being seen here between how BGE and EDF are behaving?

 I realise that there needs to be a mechanism for supply continuity and accept that there may be some small cost increase to pay for the admin around that, but it shouldn't be an opportunity for blatant price gouging...

olip74

Shedman said:

I thinking NR for Elec (can get a £25 referral bonus credit code from stepdaughter and gives her £25 as well...) and So Energy for Gas as there are referrals giving £40+ in the Referrers section which would make them cheaper than Zog for me and fixed rate only £5 exit fee.   Either that or just put dual fuel to Avro (who I think are the least likely of the lesser suppliers to go bust....famous last words 😅).

Where's the 'Referrers section'? Looking for referrals for Utility Point or Zog for gas and Neon Reef or Symbio for electricity.
Any reasons why I shouldn't go with these suppliers, that is are they about to go under? I'm not too bothered about customer service ratings, I never had any problems with Iresa, OFtM or Simplicity. The worst customer service experiences I've had have all been with the big providers.

Shedman

Referrers section is down the list of different forums towards the end under a main section heading called "Who and Where Are You"

Not sure there are any Zog or Symbio referrals ( I searched but didn't find any) but there are NR and UP ones.  

UP seem to be getting some strange comments about moving customers (Elec only ones) to NR ( which is a sister company but with its own supply licence).  I suspect they might be trying to bolster NR to make it more viable (more customers maybe less cost per customer on overheads?)...NR have been OK so far (since my stepdaughter joined them in Aug anyway).

 Symbio are likely to get an up to £100k fine by Ofgem recently for late payments into renewables scheme (and they would be towards the top of my list of likely next failures but obviously that's just my view.  

edit: although looking at their accounts to Mar 2020 they seem to be better capitalised than a lot of the other 2nd/3rd tier suppliers so maybe my view is wrong)

Shedman

Just got an email from BGE giving details of account number and that they are aiming to switch utilities on 16 Feb.  Progress I guess. Presumably if I start switch now then by the time cooling off period finishes in 14 days then BGE will have completed their switch and so I shouldn't get a rejection.

Just logged into account.  Love this on the top of the account summery page 😅

Good news!

You've accepted our offer for the tariff 'Simplicity Promise' starting on 16 Feb 2021 and finishing on 15 Apr 2022.

Right like I had a lot of choice !!

Notnewnotold

Shedman said:

Just got an email from BGE giving details of account number and that they are aiming to switch utilities on 16 Feb.  Progress I guess. Presumably if I start switch now then by the time cooling off period finishes in 14 days then BGE will have completed their switch and so I shouldn't get a rejection.

Just logged into account.  Love this on the top of the account summery page 😅

Good news!

You've accepted our offer for the tariff 'Simplicity Promise' starting on 16 Feb 2021 and finishing on 15 Apr 2022.

Right like I had a lot of choice !!

Interesting, so that begs the question around whether or not the existing Simplicity tariff applies up till the 16th. Hopefully so as BGE are not going to see my meters for dust as soon as I get my email from them...

Shedman

Notnewnotold said:

Shedman said:

Just got an email from BGE giving details of account number and that they are aiming to switch utilities on 16 Feb.  Progress I guess. Presumably if I start switch now then by the time cooling off period finishes in 14 days then BGE will have completed their switch and so I shouldn't get a rejection.

Just logged into account.  Love this on the top of the account summery page 😅

Good news!

You've accepted our offer for the tariff 'Simplicity Promise' starting on 16 Feb 2021 and finishing on 15 Apr 2022.

Right like I had a lot of choice !!

Interesting, so that begs the question around whether or not the existing Simplicity tariff applies up till the 16th. Hopefully so as BGE are not going to see my meters for dust as soon as I get my email from them...

That's an interesting point I hadn't thought about.   The tariff details say that the tariff is fixed until 15 April 2022 so as they had said previously that it was a 14 month tariff that makes sense.  They also only seem to be wanting meter readings from switch date i.e. 16th Feb.   However, I reckon they've probably bastardised a standard switch template and not thought through the differences so I reckon they will still charge the new tariff from 31 Jan.   I can see I will have to query this with them.   Anyway I reckon it's probably safe to start the switch away now as hopefully database will be updated next week 🙏