No Notification of Price Changes [Merged]

Spoonie_Turtle

cannugec5 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

SRS007 said: 

I emailed & asked to do this 12 days after I signed up, I was within the 14 days cancellation period, but EDF ignored me.  Because the prices went down I was content to leave things as they were.

I received an email 8 hrs before it took place at midnight on 30th June BUT I was not asked to submit a reading, I did so of my own volition, AND  when I looked at my account the prices had already been increased & I don’t have any answer from EDF for how long the prices went up BEFORE 1st July.   

…

 They have said that they informed me when the prices went down last year that they would go back up at the end of the gov discount.  

For what it's worth, with all the uncertainty going on and people having to think about all sorts of things and not just energy costs, I think it unreasonable for suppliers to expect people to remember what was said 9 months ago 

I’m amazed that people can sign up for a fixed tariff yet think it unreasonable that people need to remember what they have signed up for! 

Then maybe you and I have different dedinitions of reasonable, in the absolute maelstrom that was July-September last year.

The gamble of fixes is usually just whether the wholesale prices will go up or down, not whether the government will intervene.  At the time, government intervention was not publicly on the cards so you can hardly fault people for not factoring that in to their decision to fix at far higher rates than they ever would have if they had known.

I'm not saying the supplier has actually done anything wrong in terms of no notification*, but they could certainly have done better.

*Argiably ignoring the request to come off a fix within the cooling off period is indeed something they have done wrong, in this poster's case.

Annemos

I wish British Gas had a database of their old tariffs. For a certain period after the date they come to an end. I cannot find one anywhere. 

I found the terms and conditions for this Fix on a general website. But it contains no actual tariff prices in it. 

I have been trying to find out exactly what this was, for a friend, so I can check her bills. 

Cannot find the kWh and standard charge anywhere. (Lady is 80. Used to get everything by post. Doesn't know what this was any more.)

It is the Fixed Oct 23v1

CSI_Yorkshire

Annemos said:

I wish British Gas had a database of their old tariffs. For a certain period after the date they come to an end. I cannot find one anywhere. 

I found the terms and conditions for this Fix on a general website. But it contains no actual tariff prices in it. 

I have been trying to find out exactly what this was, for a friend, so I can check her bills. 

Cannot find the kWh and standard charge anywhere. (Lady is 80. Used to get everything by post. Doesn't know what this was any more.)

It is the Fixed Oct 23v1

They do - and Fixed Oct 23v1 is on it.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/GetAQuote/tariff-information

stick in the postcode and pick the tariff from the dropdown

for example - at my postcode (Yorkshire region):

Neil_Jones

SRS007 said:

Last year, 2022, people on  Fixed Tariffs were told it would be cheaper, when the prices were about to shoot up for standard tariff people.  So I signed up. 

A few days after the gov introduced the Gov Energy Guarentee Discount for the standard tariff & the fixed tariffs were also adjusted to account for this, so we paid the same as the standard rate. Otherwise our rates were going to be much higher than the standard rate.

Now the Gov discount has ceased as from 1st July 2023 & Fixed Tariff people have been reverted back to their original sign-up rates, which in my case is considerably higher than the standard rates now.  About £800 based upon last years useage.

Why have they been allowed to do this?  Fixed Rate tariffs were adjusted to accomodate the change when we all had the Gov Energy Guarentee Discount but for some reason we are the fall guys this time?  Fixed rate tariffs are no longer a cheaper option & we should be allowed to abandon them without penalty. 

I emailed & asked to do this 12 days after I signed up, I was within the 14 days cancellation period, but EDF ignored me.  Because the prices went down I was content to leave things as they were.

EDF has not informed me 30 days in advance of the increases to my gas/elec. I received an email 8 hrs before it took place at midnight on 30th June BUT I was not asked to submit a reading, I did so of my own volition, AND  when I looked at my account the prices had already been increased & I don’t have any answer from EDF for how long the prices went up BEFORE 1st July.   

It will cost me £300 to leave the fixed tariff & about £850 more next year based on last years useage.  I want to know if the supplier is in 'breach of contract' with me for not advising me & if i can then leave the fixed tariff without penalty? 

 They have said that they informed me when the prices went down last year that they would go back up at the end of the gov discount.  I have no recollection of that & surely i would have insisted they cancel the Fixed Tariff if i had know!

I have read on the ML website somewhere ''Tariffs remain Fixed unless there is a gov intervention''  We had a gov intervention last year & our prices were dropped, although they were called 'Fixed'… isnt this another gov intervention, shouldn’t our prices drop to the standrad rate because we no longer have a Fixed Tariff now that the Gov have intervened again?

You chose to fix based on the information you had at the time.  If that decision turns out to be wrong for whatever reason, that's your bed, that's the way you've made it and you now must lie in it.  All the points, the discussion, the paraphernalia, the stuff - they all recommended you stay where you were based on the predictions of the cap direction.  Yet you chose to ignore that.

The whole point of a fix is to guard against higher rates - what you probably wanted was a capped tariff, where the price could fall but not above an initial set point.  That's what the EPG was on a much wider scale, though many providers haven't done these for a while I believe.

You had special dispensation applied when your fix that was above the EPG rate to bring that back to that level.  But that sort of intervention doesn't happen very often.

As for 30 days - yeah that doesn't apply because you have a fix.  You go into those with your eyes open and aware of the risks that it may be incredibly costly in the long run particularly if the market continues to fall.  But timed right, a fix will pay off (assuming the company survives that is) - I remember parents took a new fix about four months before everything went crazy and until February this year they were paying just 15p per electricity kWh and something like 3.2 per kWh for gas - which as it turned out was probably the best thing they ever did.

Sorry but there is no fault here.  You made a call, it turned out to be wrong, you're not the first and you won't be the last.  Maybe it will be worth monitoring the market because if things fall dramatically and you save more than £300 by switching it may pay for itself.  Whether we get that far is another matter.

Annemos

Ohhh thank you so much CSI_Yorkshire. 

HUGE help. (But this means I shan't get to bed yet, as the curiosity is killing me.) 

Many thanks. 

(Just been in. I did find that, but had assumed it was just for checking out new tariffs. So did not bother to try it!) 

SRS007

EDF change my tariff without my consent.  How can i stop them doing this?  

[Deleted User]

What tariff were you on and what tariff is EDF wanting to out you on?

CSI_Yorkshire

You'll need to explain more than that.

What tariff were you on?  Name, start date, end date etc.

What tariff have EdF put you on?  Name, start date etc.

Some possibilities:
If you're on the variable rate and the price has changed, that isn't a change of tariff.
If you've just finished a fixed tariff and have gone onto standard variable, you gave your consent when you signed up for the fix.

MattMattMattUK

SRS007 said:

EDF change my tariff without my consent.  How can i stop them doing this?  

It depends what you mean by change and tariff. Are they moving you from one tariff to another then no, are they renaming a tariff, are they changing the rates on an SVT?

Robin9

See other thread from @SRS007

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6457965/no-notification-of-price-changes-merged#latest