Sainsbury's Energy won't offer me Eon Next details despite being part of the same energy company

cxdesouza

Having read an article on the Money Saving Expert website detailing that it may be worth considering getting a fixed tariff, particularly if there is a good deal available, I called my utility supplier. Sainsbury's Energy are part of Eon Next, so have the same contact phone numbers.

The deals on the MSE website ie Eon Next/ Eon Fixed Online v15 & Next Online v15 one year fixed are not available to me, as I am a Sainsburys Energy customer.

Sainsburys Energy offer 2 tariffs only, 1 year Smooth Renew v15 £288 a month or 1 year Fix & Reward v26 £315 a month.

Both are not as good as the Eon v15 deals & when I asked if they could offer these, they detailed that I was a Sainsburys Energy customer & these deals were not available to me.

I would need to switch to Eon Next (Eon is soon to be phased out), however as they are not accepting new customers, there was nothing they could do for me.

I wanted to confirm that what was detailed was indeed above board and correct. As it stands no other utility provider is offering fixed tariffs, unless you are an existing customer.

Summary is that I am stuck on a standard variable deal with Sainsburys Energy for the foreseeable future and will ultimately lose out when prices go up in October this year.

Would be interested to know if anyone else has encountered this and if there are other options avaiable.

pochase

You are not part of the same energy company. Sainsbury Energy and Eon Next are two different companies with their own tariffs.

Unfortunately you are in the same situation as most, you are unable to switch to another supplier on SVT. Only one now seems to be EDF when you call them, and there is no guarantee you will be offered an acceptable fix if you join them as it seems to be a lottery with them what fix and rates you are offered.

Sainsbury Energy cannot offer you tariffs of another company, and Eon Next will not accept new customers on SVT, or on fixed rates exclusive to their own customers.

Eon Next had until earlier this week an ok fixed tariff for new customers, but it has been withdrawn after the latest increase prediction.

Alnat1

Curious as to what the unit rates and standing charges are for those Eon and Sainsburys fixed tariffs, mostly because both say V15 and I wondered if they were identical but with a different title. Have you got the details?

Mstty

It's a bit like phoning up Tesco mobile and getting them to match a deal with O2 as Tesco run on the same network.

However like Tesco they don't have to match and they can't get O2 to just give you the deal if they are closed to new customers.

johnbhoy70

No luck!! You've actually given me a heads up for about 14 months from now. I'm glad now i went for the 2 year deal last September. So i've got that time before then. 

Best of it is,  i manage my mum's account for her and got her an Eon Next deal last August for 2 years so based on this she's gonna be in a better position than us when the time comes.

gj373

Mstty said:

It's a bit like phoning up Tesco mobile and getting them to match a deal with O2 as Tesco run on the same network.

However like Tesco they don't have to match and they can't get O2 to just give you the deal if they are closed to new customers.

Yes and no. I can understand where the original poster is coming from. For example, i am a "Sainsbury's energy" customer. When I make a one off payment to "Sainsbury's energy" it actually shows on my bank account as a payment to "eon next". In fact, all correspondence makes it clear that "Sainsbury's Energy" is just a trading name of "eon next" so that would suggest we are actually "eon next" customers.

pochase

Eon Next is providing the infrastructure, but you have a contract with Sainsbury. It is not a trading name, it is a different company.

gj373

In fact the contract specifically states it is with Eon Next....

"– us, ‘Sainsbury’s Energy’, is a trading name used under licence by E.ON Next Energy Limited, this will be

referred to as E.ON in the rest of this document. Electricity and gas is supplied under this contract by E.ON

Next Energy Limited ."

gj373

pochase said:

Eon Next is providing the infrastructure, but you have a contract with Sainsbury. It is not a trading name, it is a different company.

This is entirely wrong I'm afraid

SaverRate

Try logging into your Sainsburys account on the Eon next website (it works for me) and see if the tariff is available that way?

[Deleted User]

gj373 said:

In fact the contract specifically states it is with Eon Next....

"– us, ‘Sainsbury’s Energy’, is a trading name used under licence by E.ON Next Energy Limited, this will be

referred to as E.ON in the rest of this document. Electricity and gas is supplied under this contract by E.ON

Next Energy Limited ."

Correct. Normally, these arrangements are known as White label; however, this appears to be a commercial arrangement whereby E.oN Next sells its energy under the Sainsbury's brand name. I suspect that one of the metrics to determine payments to Sainsbury's is the number of customers: this may be a bar to E.oN Next 'poaching' customers. That said, what is to stop the OP switching to E.oN Next?