switched to more expensive tariff by angry family member

Jcbah

BUFF said:

bear in mind that given the current state of the wholesale market any new tariff is likely to be at noticeably higher rates than the equivalent preceding one.
As an example over the last year my fixed gas tariff (ending at the end of this week) was based on: 

Unit rate	2.413p per kWh
Standing charge	16.800p per day

The new one that I am about to move to this week is: 

Unit rate	3.1049p per kWh
Standing Charge	24.15p per day

Substantially higher yet it is still the cheapest fixed gas tariff for my area/usage.

Btw that is with Zog who I have found to be consistently amongst the lowest (at least for me) for gas. They only supply gas though (so no duel fuel tariffs) & are a pretty basic supplier in terms of website etc.  Cheap Energy Club often don't show all Zog's current tariffs so if interested use the Citizen's Advice energy comparison to check for your area/useage.

Thanks for replying and the tips.
 I remember Martin Lewis notifying everyone about rising energy prices last week.
It's just that when I run the energy comparison on MSE I see a tariff that is cheaper than I am on currently. It looks like my family member has ignored recent notifications from MSE that I was paying too much. I'm not blaming him for this, just pointing it out. (It's just that I've been too thick and too scared to change this myself (without access to my username and password for the energy supplier)!) Thanks again. 

Robin9

Jcbah said:. (without access to my username and password for the energy supplier)!) Thanks again. 

You don't need these to change supplier.   You apply through a comparison site and the new supplier drives it all . You will be asked for a meter reading and can set up an online account with them. Beware your family member may have set up a tariff with a leaving fee of perhaps £30.

Do you know your actual annual consumption  - if not you can guess.

niktheguru

Everyone is making assumptions here.

How do we not know the OPs fixed rate tariff has not ended in the last month and the relative has switched over to another provider to save money.

Could it not be the case that the OP at some point was very happy with this relative sorting out the utility account for them. 

If the relationship is now strained the OP needs to contact the current provider ASAP and take back control of the account. Then he/she can do their own switch and keep hold of the account themselves.

Has the OP been providing regular meter readings? Without access to the account how can he/she be doing this. Are your bills accurate. Do you actually know your accurate usage in kwh and not in £ per month?

There may be a lot of confusion here from the OP. So not good to automatically assume this is a case of abuse of power. Given that the direct debit is from the OPs account it should be relatively easy to take back control of the account.

Gerry1

You can check who is your current supplier.

Find My Gas Supplier

Find My Electricity Supplier

You don't have access to your existing energy supplier in order to switch: it's all driven my the new supplier(s), so that's a viable plan B.  However, the drawback would be that if you can't access your old Avro account you won't be able to check your final bill (which takes up to six weeks to be sent).  Also, the final payment might be larger than you were expecting if you haven't been sending meter readings and your actual usage has been more than expected, so it would be prudent to make sure your bank account isn't close to the limit.

Obviously it's better to sort it out with Avro, but they seem to have a lot of problems at the moment and many people are complaining that they can't get a response.  But if all else fails it's good to know that you can escape just by dealing with the new supplier(s).

BTW, did you check with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' whether separate suppliers are cheaper than dual fuel?

Jcbah

BTW, did you check with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' whether separate suppliers are cheaper than dual fuel?

Thanks for the tip re Avro. I was going to contact them this week so it's good to know they might be slow to reply. (Last time I emailed them, they took a few weeks to get back to me: that is when I wanted to know the calorific value of gas...they referred me to the national grid website. Your previous answer was more helpful.). My current energy tariff with Avro ends in August. 

I heard either from from you or someone else, that if an energy switch has been initiated then I have 14 days to cancel it as a cooling off period. What if it takes Avro 14 days to get back to me as my email address isn't flagged up as being a customer of theirs? 

I had a quick look at CAB and Which sites but only for dual fuel comparisons. I'll need to look them up again for separate gas and electricity. It's just a bit daunting at first, but I'll get used to it. 

Isnt it it a lot more complicated using separate energy suppliers? 

Please don't worry if you can't answer my questions..you've been incredibly helpful! I'm just learning all this. Thank you again. 

Gerry1

Avro used to be extremely good.  They often brought out cheaper tariffs, you could just phone them up and switch immediately.  The website was straightforward and it worked well.  I only left them when it was cheaper elsewhere.

However in recent months it all seems to have gone horribly wrong and there's been a lot of media coverage, e.g. on Radio 4's You and Yours (starts at 32:34).

Probably the best way to cancel the unwanted switch is to send a letter to both companies via snail mail and get a free Certificate of Posting.  It's then deemed to have been accepted.  Obviously you can back this up with phone and email.

It's not a problem using separate suppliers, but note that some won't supply gas only.  The CA and Which sites won't show results for Gas Only if a company only supplies Dual Fuel.

Once you've sorted the unwanted switch you should find things quite straightforward.  The golden rules are to send monthly meter readings, keep records and to check your account(s) frequently to make sure that your direct debits are keeping up with your actual usage.  Many people don't understand that a fixed direct debit is only a top up of a kitty which may or may not prove sufficient to pay for the actual usage: it's not All You Can Eat.

niktheguru

Gerry1 said:

It's not a problem using separate suppliers, but note that some won't supply gas only.  The CA and Which sites won't show results for Gas Only if a company only supplies Dual Fuel.

Oh but they do. They quite often show pfp as the cheapest gas only tariff when they don’t do gas only.
however it’s only a few minutes work to find out if the company doesn’t do gas only, just move 0nto the next one on the list.

Gerry1

niktheguru said:

Gerry1 said:

It's not a problem using separate suppliers, but note that some won't supply gas only.  The CA and Which sites won't show results for Gas Only if a company only supplies Dual Fuel.

Oh but they do. They quite often show pfp as the cheapest gas only tariff when they don’t do gas only.

Or perhaps they do?

BUFF

Jcbah said:

It's just that when I run the energy comparison on MSE I see a tariff that is cheaper than I am on currently. It looks like my family member has ignored recent notifications from MSE that I was paying too much. I'm not blaming him for this, just pointing it out. 

Price is only 1 part of choosing a supplier, customer service being another - perhaps he has ruled out the other supplier for that or some other reason?

niktheguru

Gerry1 said:

niktheguru said:

Gerry1 said:

It's not a problem using separate suppliers, but note that some won't supply gas only.  The CA and Which sites won't show results for Gas Only if a company only supplies Dual Fuel.

Oh but they do. They quite often show pfp as the cheapest gas only tariff when they don’t do gas only.

Or perhaps they do?

Nope. I tried that. Got connected to their call centre in what i'm guessing is South Africa. They all seemed clueless. The first person said if I wanted to move my gas I would need to tell my existing provider that i wanted to be moved to pfp and the "existing provider" would contact pfp and transfer me over. (which we all know is complete BS) I then spoke to another customer service advisor who said they do not do gas only at the present time. After which I asked, well why does your website say to call you.....and they said, that is an error.