Ebico? Any recent switchers ?

yelias

Norman_Castle said:

... I've been with Ebico in the past without a problem but understand things have changed in recent years. Are they now good and are there any referrals available?...

How long ago was it you were last supplied by Ebico?

Ebico started supplying gas in 1999 and electricity in 2001 and from the start until 2017, they partnered with SSE as their supply partner.
This also meant that SSE essentially did all the billing and customer service for Ebico energy supply.

Ebico were originally going to be called the Equitable Billing Company. This was because they are a not for profit company, and originally proposed one simple tariff, a variable one, where people paid only for what they used. The more they used, the more they paid and conversly, the less they used the less they paid. If you used nothing, you paid nothing. They charged the same for prepayment as they did for credit customers.

They aimed themselves at the lower income amongst us who by necessity are often low users, and often on prepayment meters, yet their equitable billing based on a non profit approach was still favoured by higher income customers (if not by MoneySavingExperts) despite essentially subsidising lower users.

Ebico did this essentially by buying energy from SSE (a profit making company) and setting their own tariffs that SSE then supplied.

However things turned sour in 2017. It was unclear what caused the original upset, but perhaps it was the ever increasing prices that SSE were charging as they tried to satisy their shareholders; a price that Ebico had to buy at. Or I think it may have been the suggestion that SSE indicated they would not indefinitely support the existing agreement with Ebico to allow them to set their own tariffs separate from SSE.

So Ebico formed a new relationship with Robin Hood Energy, a not for profit supplier. As the two suppliers were both not for profit companies, then Ebico assumed a more common approach to their own business aims would be possible. Indeed Robin Hood Energy did originally agree to a supply partnership similar to the previous one Ebico had with SSE, where Ebico bought the energy from RHE and then Ebico re-sold it according to their own Equitable Billing model. RHE did all the billing and customer support for Ebico.

This new supply partnership with RHE also soured the existing relationship Ebico had with SSE further, and SSE refused to allow Ebico to take it's own customer base with them. They also ended their supply partnership for Ebico.
Ebico had to contact all it's own customers directly and ask them to explicitly agree to the change of supply partner to RHE.
SSE shortly thereafter (about 6 months later, I think) removed all Ebico tariffs from those customers who had not switched away.

But things went even worse with the few years Ebico were supplied by RHE. Within a year, there was the introduction of various other Ebico tariffs (some of which seemed remarkably similar to that with RHE already offered directly) and then the introducton of a minimum charge now applied to the traditional Ebico tariff model. The first and only minimum charge clause that I have known any domestic supplier to make.
This obviously alienated a number of higher income customers who no longer could see the 'equitability' of the traditional equitable billing, whilst at the same time they were being enticed by the newer, often chaeper for them, Ebico/RHE tariffs now being offered to them by Ebico.

The other bigger issue with RHE was that not only were they a non-profit making company, but consistently made huge "losses" year after year having to potentially be bailed out by Nottinghamshire Council Tax payers.

The situation came to a sudden and abrupt end when RHE sold its total customer book (including Ebico customers) to British Gas, apparently without Ebico being informed, let alone agreeing, beforehand.

Ebico has started up again as an energy supplier (calling themselves Ebico Living), this time partnering with Octopus Energy. Octopus Energy will do all the billing and customer service, but at the moment Ebico only seem to be reselling existing Octopus tariffs. (albeit under a different name)

Octopus Energy only supply electricity only or dual fuel, and so that is what Ebico now currently do too.

Also, as Ebico's previous customer book was sold to British Gas, Ebico Living have to start again from scratch building up a new customer base.

On a postive note, Octopus billing and customer service are generally considered by most to be quite good, if that is what is driving your decision making process. But you'll have to move your electricity to them too. And why would you choose Ebico Living over Octopus???


Have you tried looking at the referrals board if you are searching for a referral?

Gerry1

yelias said:

Have you tried looking at the referrals board if you are searching for a referral?

The referrals board has gone the way of Robin Hood...

yelias

Gerry1 said:

yelias said:

Have you tried looking at the referrals board if you are searching for a referral?

The referrals board has gone the way of Robin Hood...

Oh yes, so it has. When and why did that happen?

Presumably that means no referrals at all then.



Just re-read this site's T&Cs for today:

"Referral codes and links

Please don’t share referral codes and links as we cannot verify their validity and security."

Sorry! Can't help the OP further on that now.

Gerry1

It happened as part of the recent revamp.

Grizzlebeard

yelias said:

......Ebico started supplying gas in 1999 and electricity in 2001 and from the start until 2017, they partnered with SSE as their supply partner.
This also meant that SSE essentially did all the billing and customer service for Ebico energy supply.

Ebico were originally going to be called the Equitable Billing Company. This was because they are a not for profit company, and originally proposed one simple tariff, a variable one, where people paid only for what they used.....

..(snip)..

Thanks yelias for the informative and detailed post.

They will never be so closely "integrated" with Octopus as they were with RH so we'll have to wait and see how the new arrangement works.

I notice already that unfortunately Octopus haven't allowed them the facility to apply Minimum Usage Charges to replace Standing Charges, and their once freephone helpline has gone...

I will be moving back to Ebico Living at the end of the month and will report back on my experience.

Norman_Castle

yelias said:

Norman_Castle said:

... I've been with Ebico in the past without a problem but understand things have changed in recent years. Are they now good and are there any referrals available?...

How long ago was it you were last supplied by Ebico?

10-15 years ago. Ebico can't supply just gas to me so I'll check my electricity terms and do another comparison.

niktheguru

Grizzlebeard said:

yelias said:

......Ebico started supplying gas in 1999 and electricity in 2001 and from the start until 2017, they partnered with SSE as their supply partner.
This also meant that SSE essentially did all the billing and customer service for Ebico energy supply.

Ebico were originally going to be called the Equitable Billing Company. This was because they are a not for profit company, and originally proposed one simple tariff, a variable one, where people paid only for what they used.....

..(snip)..

Thanks yelias for the informative and detailed post.

They will never be so closely "integrated" with Octopus as they were with RH so we'll have to wait and see how the new arrangement works.

I notice already that unfortunately Octopus haven't allowed them the facility to apply Minimum Usage Charges to replace Standing Charges, and their once freephone helpline has gone...

I will be moving back to Ebico Living at the end of the month and will report back on my experience.

Your experience will be exactly the same as being with octopus. Ebico are essentially just their broker in this latest arrangement. Everything will be done by octopus, which isn’t too bad as they’re a good company to deal with.

Cardew

yelias said:

Norman_Castle said:

... I've been with Ebico in the past without a problem but understand things have changed in recent years. Are they now good and are there any referrals available?...

They aimed themselves at the lower income amongst us who by necessity are often low users, and often on prepayment meters, yet their equitable billing based on a non profit approach was still favoured by higher income customers (if not by MoneySavingExperts) despite essentially subsidising lower users.

Excellent post. Thank You.

I would add that the original Ebico tariff with a zero daily standing charge, was also favoured by those with a holiday home and/or properties used for holiday letting.