What aren't British Gas telling us?

nettienettie

My neighbour who has no access to the internet has always been with BG. In April her fixed price rate ended and she says she was not given the option to fix again and was put on BG's variable rate.  She has phoned BG twice and about to ring for the 3rd time as she is very concerned about her prices going through the roof in October and can't believe what they are telling her which is: She has been assured that her prices will not increase even if the price cap goes up.  (Her prices Elec 27.627p kwh, SC 44.75p;  Gas 7.282kwh, SC 27.22p - No exit fees).  That her rate will stay the same until she says she wants to change it! 
I'm with BG and I too was offered this rate alongside a fixed rate which I took albeit being more expensive. (My prices:Exclusive Fixed Energy v12,  Elec 34.52p per kWh, SC 48.86p; Gas 8.95p per kWh, SC 31.33p).
BG state in their letter that their variable rate is priced in line with the price cap set by Ofgem, the energy regulator, and is variable, so your prices could go up or down.
So my question is What has changed? What do they know?  Surely 2 different customer service people can't both give out the wrong information?

jimjames

What tariff is she on? It's possible that she did get a fixed one and that's why it's not increasing. If it is the SVT then it will go up in October as per the cap. It really depends what question was asked as to whether the reply was wrong. 

brewerdave

The customer service agent is either as thick as a plank or being disingenuous !! Since the new price cap isn't being announced until Friday the only figures they can give are the current capped rates even tho' everyone knows that the SVT will almost certainly increase by a horrendous %age after that. BG ARE NOT going to guarantee the existing SVT when the cap goes up.

spot1034

They probably mean her prices won't go up beyond the level of the price cap.

pochase

spot1034 said:

They probably mean her prices won't go up beyond the level of the price cap.

The current price cap, and that is until October the SVT based on the April cap.

We don't know what you neighbour exactly asked, or what the exact answer was.

nettienettie

Thanks for your replies.  She definitely is on SVR - I've seen her paperwork.  I, too think she may have asked the wrong question or misunderstood the answer that's why I keep encouraging her to ring again.  This time I said get them to put it in writing!  She's very independent and wouldn't allow me to ring on her behalf unfortunately.

pochase

Unfortunately the fact is that if she is on a SVT, there will be a 80% increase in October, with a further increases in January and April predicted.

Calling them now will not change this outcome.

Regarding the fix that expired in in April, did she maybe give a email address to BG that belongs to somebody in her family?

Otherwise I would have expected that BG would send a letter with the new offer, but that could have been lost, thrown away etc.

Did she contact BG before her fix ended to enquire about the possibilities. Many thought the fixed tariffs offered were ridiculous high and did not take them. 

nettienettie

My neighbour rang BG again today & her prices definitely won’t be increasing - this was confirmed by a Supervisor. They said that is why they chose this tariff for her. I got my neighbour to read everything to me & the key word on her deal is ‘ Fixed - no end date. Tariff - variable. No exit fees. I can only think they’ve done this because she has been with them since forever! Lucky lady! 

[Deleted User]

nettienettie said:

My neighbour rang BG again today & her prices definitely won’t be increasing - this was confirmed by a Supervisor. They said that is why they chose this tariff for her. I got my neighbour to read everything to me & the key word on her deal is ‘ Fixed - no end date. Tariff - variable. No exit fees. I can only think they’ve done this because she has been with them since forever! Lucky lady! 

"Tariff - variable" would seem to suggest that the tariff can indeed vary.

spot1034

It can't be both fixed and variable. 

PennyForThem_2

Could it mean she is 'fixed' on a variable tarrif?