So Energy - phone call about changing tariff

Gerry1

tanyasharma said:

Dogbyte009 said:

I'm on So Clementine, which was fixed at the start of November, so I'm paying a bit over the odds now on the grounds I'll be better off next year.

Rates are:

Electricity:

Unit rate 24.33 p/kWh

Standing charge 24.38 p/day

Gas:

Unit rate 5.94 p/kWh

Standing charge 26.11 p/day

Ok, thanks, that doesn't look too far off the variable rate, so might be worth a fix. I'll see what they say on Monday and if they can offer anything similar to those numbers.
Thanks again!

Make sure they can quote your account number, last meter reading or something a scammer definitely wouldn't know, and don't give DoB or banking info that they have already.

I was once nearly taken in by a cold caller with a cut glass 'Charlotte Green' English accent, no giveaway clues such as a 'Press 1' recorded announcement followed by call centre noise and then a heavily accented foreign agent stumbling through a 'How Are You Today' script.  The trick was to list some expensive purchases recently made in a distant town and to get me to check that I had all my bank cards.

The penny dropped when I was asked to call the number on the back of my card.  Sure enough, there was no dial tone.  I dialled my own number and there was the same lady answering as 'Fraud Department'.  It may have been a scam by a single person, I'm sure that a foreign call centre would had an obviously different sounding person answer the return call.

Of course it may all be genuine, energy companies may well be looking to recover their losses by returning to discredited practices such as knocking on doors and making cold calls, but I fear the topicality and the massive price rises will also see an explosion of scamming: many energy users won't be so suspicious if it's not the predictable 'Microsoft' / 'BT' scam.

wild666

I would have asked them to send a letter with details of the tariff to your address. If you never receive one then it likely possible that the call is a a scam as would be if they asked for the address.  

roddydogs

Had the same not a scam, they just want you to fix, I didnt bite.

worrywart_3

I’m on so carrot just for gas nothing here yet. 

Gerry1

roddydogs said:

Had the same not a scam, they just want you to fix, I didnt bite.

Your call may have been genuine, but others may not be.

StinkerPinker

On the gas side, the current fix (given via their Quote page on the evening of 21Jan2022) is So Grape at 8.46 p/kWh inc.VAT, down from a peak (so far) of So Geranium at 11.99 p/kWh inc.VAT which lasted for just a few days shortly before Christmas.  
The SVR is 4.05 p/kWh inc.VAT.  All of these with a standing charge of 26.11 p/day inc.VAT.  
The SVR cap is likely to rise substantially this coming April as I understand the situation, with a speculated 50% rise giving an SVR of 6.075 p/kWh.
They would have to offer me a fix down in the high 6 or low 7 range before I would even vaguely consider coming off the SVR, bearing in mind there will likely be a further rise in SVR in September and they are now saying the gas supply crunch could go on for several years.
note - those figures are for my local gas area - your area might be slightly different.

roddydogs

Its all SO confusing, how does a 50% increase mean a 100% increase?

QrizB

roddydogs said:

Its all SO confusing, how does a 50% increase mean a 100% increase?

When people talk about "a 50% increase" they're talking about the headline Ofgem cap. The current cap is £1277 and a 50% increase would be £1915.

However, an energy bill isn't just a lump sum. There are separate unit pricess for gas and electricity plus two standing charges. Each of thse parts is likely to change by a different percentage.

The standing charges are unlikely to change by much. The electricity unit price might increase by 40%. The gas unit price, which is most sensitive to the wholesale price of gas, could increase by 100%.

(These are just the sort of numbers that might result in a 50% cap increase. I'm expecting an increase of more than 60%, but what do I know?)

ChaunceyGardiner

I just missed a call from 0191 4957834, which seems to be one of their numbers.

bristolleedsfan

ChaunceyGardiner said:

I just missed a call from 0191 4957834, which seems to be one of their numbers.

This is what they might have had to say