Green.Energy - 35% price increase on Redwood variable tariff

CoastingHatbox

Over the last few years, our energy bills have increased immensely, yet the amount of energy we use has been reduced, at least up until COVID and WFH.

I've always shopped around for energy. Two suppliers have gone bust (IRESA Limited, Yorkshire Energy). We've had problems such as new providers taking months to obtain meter details and setup billing or return bill credit. And not for the first time, a provider has announced a whopping tarriff change just as we draw towards Winter.

Green.Energy are increasing their Redwood tariff by a whopping 35%. It has literally been two months since switching to them. I note that they have a Hornbeam Variable Rate tariff and switching to that would see our energy bills increase by 17.6%. I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

By the looks of things, I'll be switching us to Igloo.energy, which will be a third energy supplier in the space of one year. Electricity prices over the last 4 years have practically doubled (11p/KWh to 20p/KWh).

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting very grumpy with this merry-go-round.

afewdollarsmore

Same here, a whacking great 35% increase on Electricity on Cherry Blossom tariff, and over 40% on gas, also sneaked in standing charge increases,  will definitely be moving out of principle but none of the other suppliers are much better.

Perfect timing just when the heating is about to go on again.

QrizB

CoastingHatbox said:

Green.Energy are increasing their Redwood tariff by a whopping 35%. It has literally been two months since switching to them. I note that they have a Hornbeam Variable Rate tariff and switching to that would see our energy bills increase by 17.6%. I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

Forgive me but am I right in assuming Redwood is a variable tariff? If so, why are you so surprised that it has been varied? The clue is in the name.

(If it's a fixed tariff, then of course there's something fishy going on.)

CoastingHatbox

QrizB said:

CoastingHatbox said:

Green.Energy are increasing their Redwood tariff by a whopping 35%. It has literally been two months since switching to them. I note that they have a Hornbeam Variable Rate tariff and switching to that would see our energy bills increase by 17.6%. I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

Forgive me but am I right in assuming Redwood is a variable tariff? If so, why are you so surprised that it has been varied? The clue is in the name.

(If it's a fixed tariff, then of course there's something fishy going on.)

Also acknowdeged in the title.

Thank you for the response. Why not lambast and patronise a fellow human for opting to take a variable rate tariff, ignore the fact we have yet another case of an energy provider offering better rates to new customers and ignore what is going on in the energy industry as a whole.

QrizB

Always happy to help. You did write:

CoastingHatbox said:

I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

... which made me wonder if you were on a fixed tariff. Apparently not!

You might like to look at Zog for gas (their 2-year fix at ~3.2p/kWh is/was pretty good) and Logicor for electricity (they were offering ~15p/kWh).

DiseasedBunny

Ridiculous amount it’s gone up 40% standing charge increase and electricity up about the same on oak

[Deleted User]

CoastingHatbox said:

Green.Energy are increasing their Redwood tariff by a whopping 35%. It has literally been two months since switching to them. I note that they have a Hornbeam Variable Rate tariff and switching to that would see our energy bills increase by 17.6%. I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

I've just had an online chat with Green because I'm in the same boat, Oak tariff gone up 33% so I tried to negotiate with them given that I have been with them since the started up and have £1000 credit balance but they just directed my to their quote page and said they would swap me to any of their current tariffs.

I asked if the Hornbeam Variable tariff already included the 1st October price rise on the quote screen and they said it didn't so even though I could swap to that it was going to increase on the 1st Oct so no point switching to that one.

I'm happy though, just got a 2 year fixed with Zog on my gas and 1 year fixed with Neon Reef on elec for £400 less than Green price rise tariff and it should all switch before 1st Oct.

Was tempted with Symbio for elec as that would be cheaper that even the pre-rise Green tariff but it is not renewable elec and they are on the naughty list with Ofgem at the moment so don't want to end up on an SoLR in a few months when I'll probably have fewer choices.

It's all part of the game, I've done well regularly switching variable tariffs for the last 5 years and saved a lot money compared to fixed rates but I'm betting on all the variables on offer at the moment rising in the next couple of months so I'm happy with my fixed deals, and only £30 each to exit if I've got it wrong and energy prices drop next year.

QrizB said:

You might like to look at Zog for gas (their 2-year fix at ~3.2p/kWh is/was pretty good) and Logicor for electricity (they were offering ~15p/kWh).

Zog were good for me for gas.

Logicor looked better at 15.9p/kwh and 15p standing charge until I realised the annual cost was more than Neon Reef at 16.4 / 17.23 because Logicor don't show the 5% VAT on their quote so be careful on that one because nowhere on the site does it have transparent tariff details. Thankfully I spreadsheet all my comparisons so I could see the discrepancy straight away.

brewerdave

[Deleted User] said:

CoastingHatbox said:

Green.Energy are increasing their Redwood tariff by a whopping 35%. It has literally been two months since switching to them. I note that they have a Hornbeam Variable Rate tariff and switching to that would see our energy bills increase by 17.6%. I can't see any provision in Green.Energy's T&Cs for changing tariff. What I can see is that the tariff forms part of the contract entered into with Green.Energy, so change of tariff means change of contract.

I've just had an online chat with Green because I'm in the same boat, Oak tariff gone up 33% so I tried to negotiate with them given that I have been with them since the started up and have £1000 credit balance but they just directed my to their quote page and said they would swap me to any of their current tariffs.

QrizB said:

You might like to look at Zog for gas (their 2-year fix at ~3.2p/kWh is/was pretty good) and Logicor for electricity (they were offering ~15p/kWh).

Might be waiting for a while to get that back if everyone starts switching away!!

paul2louise

I have just had same email. Only been with them few weeks. Tried to use the calculator to find another tariff but it won't let me edit it to reflect the massive increased tariff. 

[Deleted User]

paul2louise said:

I have just had same email. Only been with them few weeks. Tried to use the calculator to find another tariff but it won't let me edit it to reflect the massive increased tariff. 

You don't need to wait for the comparison sites to be updated -  a quick bit of back of a cig packet maths sorts it out:

Based on your annual consumption (3rd column) work out your total annual £cost for elec / gas (1st/2nd) for the new 1st Oct and current tariff and optionally convert to monthly (4th/5th) column and you can compare all you like with separate and dual deals to see how they compare to your current and future green tariff.

This is all I needed last night to get my switches under way.

If your annual consumption figures are correct on the email from Green then you have all the numbers anyway so it is really easy to fill out this table, if you don't, then you'll just have to do a bit of maths to work them out - there are some online calculators to make it easy.



So from the above I can see whether a deal works out better than the price rise - eg if a dual fuel was less than £175 per month it was better, or if individual gas/elec was less than £63/£112 then it was better - can use annual figures instead for same result.

[Deleted User]

DiseasedBunny said:

Ridiculous amount it’s gone up 40% standing charge increase and electricity up about the same on oak

A variable tariff, I assume? These price rises have been well telegraphed for months. Sadly, a lot of suppliers have increased their fixed tariffs in anticipation of taking on a large number of customers from those on variable tariffs. I took the decision to switch my gas supply the day that Ofgem announced the price cap increase. I got in at 3.2p up from 2.85p. Last week, the tariff on offer was showing close to 3.8p.

These days, imho, all consumers have to be proactive energy customers.