Energy firm gone bust? How your new firm and tariff stacks up

Former_MSE_Gary

Six energy suppliers have gone bust in the recent weeks, leaving nearly 1.5 million energy customers needing a new supplier. Ofgem has now appointed a provider to take over for each of these – we've analysis of what it means for your energy bill, and how the new supplier stacks up to the old one. 

Read the full story here:
Energy firm gone bust? How your new firm and tariff stacks up
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GingerTim

MSE really are going to have to rename the 'Cheap Energy Club' - cheap energy being a thing of the past.

wakeupalarm

"Costly Energy Club"

BaldacchinoR

 I was with Avro, now with Octopus who want to charge me £365 more than the cap of £1277 @1/10/21. Despite my being a single occupier who doesnt use central heating boiler or washing machine. My carers boil a kettle for hot water i.e. I am a vunerable 72 year old. Octopus falsely claim they are charging me £10 less than the cap and less than quoted for new customers. Also I was told not to move on to a new supplier but to wait until transfer to Octopus completed so as not to affect finalising my Avro account. Now I find I just need to supply final meter readings to Avro to complete my account I.e. there was no need to wait before transferring from Octopus! Plus I am asked for multiple meter readings despite Avro and Octopus knowing the ID nos. of my 2nd Gen. SMART meters!!  Seems the staff are not as smart as the meters!! Will go to Ombudsman now re overcharging by Octopus and the other issues highlighted here.

stewie_griffin

Before going to the Ombudsman you might want to investigate more what the price cap is and how it works. It doesn't mean you can only be charged a maximum amount per year regardless of how much you use.

What is your annual usage in kWh please? If you don't use central heating then how do you heat your home.

MWT

BaldacchinoR said:

 I was with Avro, now with Octopus who want to charge me £365 more than the cap of £1277 @1/10/21. Despite my being a single occupier who doesnt use central heating boiler or washing machine. My carers boil a kettle for hot water i.e. I am a vunerable 72 year old. Octopus falsely claim they are charging me £10 less than the cap and less than quoted for new customers. Also I was told not to move on to a new supplier but to wait until transfer to Octopus completed so as not to affect finalising my Avro account. Now I find I just need to supply final meter readings to Avro to complete my account I.e. there was no need to wait before transferring from Octopus! Plus I am asked for multiple meter readings despite Avro and Octopus knowing the ID nos. of my 2nd Gen. SMART meters!!  Seems the staff are not as smart as the meters!! Will go to Ombudsman now re overcharging by Octopus and the other issues highlighted here.

I fear you have misunderstood how the cap works, or you are looking at the wrong tariff.

Octopus with their 'Flexible Octopus October 2021 v2' are fully compliant with the Ofcom cap and it does work out to be around £10 below that cap, if you are using their 'Quote' option to check the tariff then you are not looking in the right place as they do not offer the tariff you will be on under the SoLR scheme to new customers.

Alternatively you have misunderstood the cap and believe that it limits your bill to £1277 which is not the case.

That £1277 figure is based on a 'typical' customer who uses 2900kWh of electricity and 12,000kWh of gas each year.

If you use more or less than those consumption figures then you will pay more or less than £1277 a year.

Even if you could go straight to the Ombudsman (which you can't) you would fail, so do talk to Octopus first as you must do, and raise a complaint if you have to so they can explain where you are making a mistake...

Petriix

With Symbio's demise I've gone from 12.6p/kWh and 10p per day to 20.87p/kWh and 24p per day. £414 per year increased to £713 - a 72% increase.

I'm seriously looking at battery storage to go with my solar panels. The numbers are starting to look favourable. 

[Deleted User]

BaldacchinoR said:

 I was with Avro, now with Octopus who want to charge me £365 more than the cap of £1277 @1/10/21. Despite my being a single occupier who doesnt use central heating boiler or washing machine. My carers boil a kettle for hot water i.e. I am a vunerable 72 year old. Octopus falsely claim they are charging me £10 less than the cap and less than quoted for new customers. Also I was told not to move on to a new supplier but to wait until transfer to Octopus completed so as not to affect finalising my Avro account. Now I find I just need to supply final meter readings to Avro to complete my account I.e. there was no need to wait before transferring from Octopus! Plus I am asked for multiple meter readings despite Avro and Octopus knowing the ID nos. of my 2nd Gen. SMART meters!!  Seems the staff are not as smart as the meters!! Will go to Ombudsman now re overcharging by Octopus and the other issues highlighted here.

I get it that you are annoyed and worried. Octopus has been struggling to get access to all the customer data from Avro: it relies on the cooperation of the Receiver. As others have said, the price that you will pay will be related to the amount of energy that you use: not the Cap limit.

When a supplier fails, Ofgem appoints a SoLR to make sure that your lights stay on. The SoLR takes over customers from the failed supplier using a batch switching process. Had you attempted to switch, it might have been blocked. Moreover, Octopus would still have charged you for energy consumed until the transfer went through.

As far as your meters are concerned. Avro has never retrieved data from your meters. Octopus will, but only when it is your nominated supplier on the various system databases. Data can only be retrieved when Octopus has applied its meter security certificate to your meters. The principle behind smart meter security is ‘one meter:one supplier’.

You can only escalate a complaint to The EO once you have engaged with Octopus’ formal complaints procedure. The EO will not accept any complaints against Avro as Avro no longer holds a Supply Licence.

Finally, you will not find any cheaper tariffs by switching.

Cisco001

Could anyone tell me where can I find the rate for Ofcom SVT cap?
I was told by new supplier they will move me to the cheapest SVT, but I can't find out the exact rate

LessImpecunious

Cisco001 said:

Could anyone tell me where can I find the rate for Ofcom SVT cap?
I was told by new supplier they will move me to the cheapest SVT, but I can't find out the exact rate

Have a look at this news item from MSE - explains how to use MSE Cheap Energy Club to find out what your new supplier's rate will be - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/energy-firm-gone-bust--how-your-new-firm-and-tariff-stacks-up/

dean_1966

The company I used Igloo has now ceased trading and we are being moved over to E-On Next, just before they ceased trading I was contacted by a switch company and had decided to move my electricity to Neon Reef because they offered a reasonable unit rate of 18.54, I am still in the 14 cooling off period and have been trying to find out the unit rate for the E-On Next account but can't find it anywhere, can anyone help before my cooling off period expires?