Switching electricity supplier

Hysteron

Getferret said:

In reply to OP, currently with Bulb and looking to switch.  I have E7 and could be saving £500/year if switch to EDF based on new rates and last 12 months usage.  I don’t have smart meter so that one my questions for EDF and Octopus when I call tomorrow for quotes.

E7 rates have changed significantly, I reckon I would save around £250 by switching so obviously that makes sense to do that. I would be very cheesed off though to find that new customers would not be offered the same tariffs that existing customers are being offered.
After all the whole point of opening up the market was to make them compete with each other on price and it looks like some are now doing that at least on the off-peak rates while due to the crisis are unable to do so with the single variable rate.

[Deleted User]

Dolor said:

grn99 said:

Deleted_User said:

If they only offer fixed tariffs to switching customers, that are way higher than the EPG rate, then they fulfil that licence condition.  Is that what you want?

Well that would surely be restrictive practice to offer uncompetitive tariffs only and not within the spirit of the code; not least now that the Gov intervention has given what the industry was supposedly asking for.

If people are suffering poor customer service or poor deals  why shouldn’t they be able to move supplier? Otherwise it’s a virtual monopoly of poor service by the industry, (which quite frankly is not renowned for excelling in CS) in the full and certain knowledge you cannot move away!

Ofgem has made it very clear in recent days that suppliers have to accept requests to switch. The problem prior to yesterday was that most suppliers were losing money on the capped tariff if they accepted new customers. I haven’t a clue whether this situation has changed with the introduction of the EPG. 

Which supplier do you want to switch to? Have you tried giving CS a call rather than resorting to an online switch. I know of two people who have switched to Octopus in the past 2 days.

I wonder if it was anything to do with this letter?

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/energy-price-guarantee-domestic-scheme-regulatory-expectations-letter

QrizB

Hysteron said:

"Have any posters on the MSE forum tried to change suppliers recently but been refused because the supplier says they are not accepting new customers, or have you managed to change with little difficulty?"

For what it's worth, I've read every thread on this forum for the past 18 months and I don't recall any recent instances of posters complaining that their attempts to switch supplier have been flatly refused.

However, for the past 3-4 months we've been recommending EDF and Octopus because they seem to be the least obstructive to inward switching.

(There are two exceptions. I think Bulb are definitely not taking new customers as they're in administration. Outfox The Market were banned from taking new customers by Ofgem in July, and that ban seems to remain in place.)

Hysteron

Made the call this morning to Scottish Power and was told that no new customers were being accepted at this time due to the market turmoil. I responded that I believed that they were obliged under the terms of their license to provide a domestic customer with a quote.

We went back and forth for a short time and it was explained to me that Scottish Power had withdrawn all their fixed tariffs for new customers but I explained I was looking for a quote on Economy 7 at their Standard Variable rate.

I was then provided with a quote at the new rates of 44.26p for the day rate and 11.46p for the night rate paying by direct debit, the standing charge is 51.16p. The man on the other end of the phone was polite and helpful once we had gotten past the policy of not providing quotes to new customers but overall I was on the phone for 1 hour 2 minutes, so it wasn't done quickly and there were IT issues in getting my details registered onto their system which all took time.

So in my experience, they will take on new customers but there are a few hoops to jump through first before they will provide you with a quote. All being well my switch should be complete within two weeks.

[Deleted User]

Sounds like a good result, thanks for the update.

EssexHebridean

Getferret said:

In reply to OP, currently with Bulb and looking to switch.  I have E7 and could be saving £500/year if switch to EDF based on new rates and last 12 months usage.  I don’t have smart meter so that one my questions for EDF and Octopus when I call tomorrow for quotes.

I have just instigated a switch to EDF from GEUK. Initially tried by livechat from their app (I'm with them for gas already) and got deferred across to whatsApp at their direction. Spent 36 hours waiting for a reply and then 3 hours going round in circles with someone who was so blatantly determined to misunderstand what I wanted to do in the hope I'd give up it wasn't even funny. Finally called them and got through nice and fast - initially hit a stumbling block because they claimed not to be doing anything other than meter readings currently but I was politely persistent and when they realised I was determined they finally started being helpful. There was no effort to either steer me into a fix OR to suggest they weren't willing to take my electricity supply over. Interestingly they also didn't make even a mention of sorting an appointment for a SM, which is a surprise as they have seemed to nag almost daily about taking that route for the gas! 

Getferret

I've just come off the phone to EDF for a quote, their SVR E7 rate for Eastern region including VAT are 

46.59p day rate
11.80p night rate
standing charge 39.02p

Will be switching from Bulb as EDF will save me £30 a month