No Longer allowed to switch Energy Companies or have a prepaid meter removed due to the price cap?

DAWNG_3

I have recently moved into a new property, it has a prepaid meter and is with E-on, i have requested that this is changed to a Credit meter but have been told that due to the price cap they are not changing these out and i can "register my Interest" for the the future.

I don't have a good past with E-ON after issues resolving my dads account after he passed away -  it became one of the most stressful elements of sorting his estate so decided i would switch to British Gas or any other energy company only to be told they cannot switch over from another supplier because of the price cap? Is this correct anyone else had this issue, surely in a competitive market place you should be able to switch and not be held to using one supplier.

alleycat`

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/01/moneysavingexpert-to-report-energy-firms-wrongly-pushing-new-hom/

pochase

Contrary to the belief that suppliers earn obscene amounts of money they are losing money on customers on SVT. They have a 2% margin written into the cap, but only if they can but energy at the cost that Ofgem has forecast. When they announced the cap the Ukraine war had not started for example.

So why would somebody taking you on as a customer when they know that it is highly likely that they will lose money doing so?

EDF and Octopus might accept you as a new customer, if you call them (maybe repeatedly) until you  find an agent who will let you join. Somebody mentioned SP recently, but not how exactly he managed.

Regarding credit meters I assume that with people threatening not to pay, and they been forced to move those onto prepaid meters, they just don't want to increase the risk base. 

alleycat`

pochase said:

So why would somebody taking you on as a customer when they know that it is highly likely that they will lose money doing so?

Because they're legally obligated to?

I do agree they have my sympathy that taking on a loss leader is not what they'd want to do (nor would i).

macman

alleycat` said:

pochase said:

So why would somebody taking you on as a customer when they know that it is highly likely that they will lose money doing so?

Because they're legally obligated to?

I do agree they have my sympathy that taking on a loss leader is not what they'd want to do (nor would i).

How are they legally obligated to accept new customers, except under a deemed contract?
OP, is the existing meter a smart meter or dumb meter? if the latter, the change can be done remotely, no need to physically change it.
The actual tariff difference between credit meters and PPM is now very slight.
As others have suggested, you can try Octopus and EDF, but don't get your hopes up.

pochase

alleycat` said:

pochase said:

So why would somebody taking you on as a customer when they know that it is highly likely that they will lose money doing so?

Because they're legally obligated to?

I do agree they have my sympathy that taking on a loss leader is not what they'd want to do (nor would i).

User has a existing supplier. Can you please point me to the legislation that another supplier needs to allow somebody to join? 

You have a right to join on a deemed contract when you move into a new home, you are even automatically a customer, but no supplier is otherwise forced to accept you as a new customer.

Kakes88

I switched to Octopus yesterday really easily. I also called EDF who were willing to take me too! 

pochase

That are the two supplier I mentioned above. Nobody else seems to be interested in new customers.

alleycat`

Possibly I'm not interpreting this correctly but i read it as they're pretty much required to - otherwise i'd consider it's "cherry picking":-

SLC 32 requires (with specified exceptions set out in SLC 32(2) of the electricity supply
licence and SLC 32(2) and (3) of the gas supply licence) suppliers to offer terms to all
domestic customers that make a valid request. This standard licence condition also
requires a supplier to provide a supply of gas or electricity where the customer accepts
the offer of terms. This duty to offer terms and provide supply for customers at domestic
premises was included as a licence obligation to mitigate the risk of ‘cherry-picking’ by
suppliers and the concern that therefore certain groups of customers would be excluded
from the benefits of the competitive market.

(Edited to add i can't find any modifications that explicitly reword/withdraw this wording - i am prepared to accept that i may be wrong though).

macman

Kakes88 said:

I switched to Octopus yesterday really easily. I also called EDF who were willing to take me too! 

But presumably they were only offering expensive fixes?

EssexHebridean

alleycat` said:

Possibly I'm not interpreting this correctly but i read it as they're pretty much required to - otherwise i'd consider it's "cherry picking":-

SLC 32 requires (with specified exceptions set out in SLC 32(2) of the electricity supply
licence and SLC 32(2) and (3) of the gas supply licence) suppliers to offer terms to all
domestic customers that make a valid request. This standard licence condition also
requires a supplier to provide a supply of gas or electricity where the customer accepts
the offer of terms. This duty to offer terms and provide supply for customers at domestic
premises was included as a licence obligation to mitigate the risk of ‘cherry-picking’ by
suppliers and the concern that therefore certain groups of customers would be excluded
from the benefits of the competitive market.

(Edited to add i can't find any modifications that explicitly reword/withdraw this wording - i am prepared to accept that i may be wrong though).

The vast majority of suppliers WILL be willing to take on customers - but on an expensive fixed tariff rather than on the SVR. The two suppliers mentioned previously are the only ones anyone is seemingly aware of right now who are prepared to take folk on at SVR.