Recommendations for an energy company

mrsyardbroom

Can anyone recommend an energy company other than Octopus, please. I have an old smart meter installed and I'm on Economy 7.

[Deleted User]

mrsyardbroom said:

Can anyone recommend an energy company other than Octopus, please. I have an old smart meter installed and I'm on Economy 7.

Why not Octopus? It has one of the best smart meter technical teams in the sector; industry-leading smart tariffs; freedom to adjust your monthly DD and billing each time you enter a manual reading. If your smart meters cannot be updated: Octopus will replace them with SMETS2.

dealyboy

What region are you in?

mrsyardbroom

I was hoping for a recommendation for another company before this one drives me mad. I'm not the only one complaining either.

MattMattMattUK

mrsyardbroom said:

I was hoping for a recommendation for another company before this one drives me mad. I'm not the only one complaining either.

In general Octopus are far better than the others, what is your issue? Maybe we can help you resolve it.

mrsyardbroom

dealyboy said:

What region are you in?

Southwest.

mrsyardbroom

MattMattMattUK said:

mrsyardbroom said:

I was hoping for a recommendation for another company before this one drives me mad. I'm not the only one complaining either.

In general Octopus are far better than the others, what is your issue? Maybe we can help you resolve it.

I feel harassed. They are so incompetent I feel I just don't want to stay with this company. First they said they couldn't read my smart meter, then they couldn't tell me how to read it. After a couple of months I eventually managed to speak to someone who was able to tell me which buttons to push in order to read the meter. I gave them a reading. They appeared to be able to read the meter after that as I started getting bills and they took money from my account. Then they sent an email saying the meter reader couldn't access my property to read the meter. I replied to the email as instructed and asked them why a meter reader needed to call as they were reading my smart meter. They said,
"Thank you for getting in touch with us regarding your smart meter readings. I'm sorry for any confusion caused by our request for manual meter readings.I understand that you are currently away, so please do not worry about submitting your meter readings as your smart meter has sent us your readings on 05/07/2023. An updated statement will be sent out to you based on these in the next 24 - 48 hours."
I received the bill and the money has been taken from my account. This morning, one month later, I received this email.
"We dropped you an email on 06/07/2023, and have not had a response back from you.
We've not had a meter reading from you in a while. A meter reader did try to visit, but they told us that you may not have been at home or free at the time of the visit.
We do still need a meter reading though. Are you able to provide us with a reading? It's super quick and simple to do online. Alternatively, if you're also unable to access the meter, please could you let us know what's preventing that? We can then work with you to ensure that the meter is accessible for you and for the next time a meter reader visits you."

I have a smart meter. I don't want visits from a meter reader, I just want to switch to an energy provider that can deal with my account without sending this kind of email on a Sunday morning.

I'm trying to research on the internet but some personal recommendations would be great.

CSI_Yorkshire

What is the thing that you are mainly looking for?

Price? Customer service?  Billing type?

Do you know how much you use peak vs off-peak?

[Deleted User]

mrsyardbroom said:

MattMattMattUK said:

mrsyardbroom said:

I was hoping for a recommendation for another company before this one drives me mad. I'm not the only one complaining either.

In general Octopus are far better than the others, what is your issue? Maybe we can help you resolve it.

I feel harassed. They are so incompetent I feel I just don't want to stay with this company. First they said they couldn't read my smart meter, then they couldn't tell me how to read it. After a couple of months I eventually managed to speak to someone who was able to tell me which buttons to push in order to read the meter. I gave them a reading. They appeared to be able to read the meter after that as I started getting bills and they took money from my account. Then they sent an email saying the meter reader couldn't access my property to read the meter. I replied to the email as instructed and asked them why a meter reader needed to call as they were reading my smart meter. They said,
"Thank you for getting in touch with us regarding your smart meter readings. I'm sorry for any confusion caused by our request for manual meter readings.I understand that you are currently away, so please do not worry about submitting your meter readings as your smart meter has sent us your readings on 05/07/2023. An updated statement will be sent out to you based on these in the next 24 - 48 hours."
I received the bill and the money has been taken from my account. This morning, one month later, I received this email.
"We dropped you an email on 06/07/2023, and have not had a response back from you.
We've not had a meter reading from you in a while. A meter reader did try to visit, but they told us that you may not have been at home or free at the time of the visit.
We do still need a meter reading though. Are you able to provide us with a reading? It's super quick and simple to do online. Alternatively, if you're also unable to access the meter, please could you let us know what's preventing that? We can then work with you to ensure that the meter is accessible for you and for the next time a meter reader visits you."

I have a smart meter. I don't want visits from a meter reader, I just want to switch to an energy provider that can deal with my account without sending this kind of email on a Sunday morning.

I'm trying to research on the internet but some personal recommendations would be great.

All suppliers are required to carryout smart meter safety checks which includes a meter reading. It is your choice to ditch and switch but no one can guarantee that you will have smooth seas with another supplier. 

fromdusktilldawn

I am on economy 7 like you, and taking manual readings is a faff - I found eon next and octopus meters equally confusing. You have to select advanced billing, then TOU, then you get the values. It is not at all intuitive. But once you've been through it a couple of times, it's ok. 
Octopus also got the billing descriptions the wrong way round which made my head hurt. They did correct it when asked, so overall they are not perfect, but they do respond to problems. 
I don't trust any suppliers to get it right so always worth checking for the first couple of months to avoid mistakes from building up. 
British gas on the other hand weren't able to even install a smart meter ! And their customer service is appalling. So I am sticking with octopus for now. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Just a quick skim through the responses you've had, sounds like you may have met the AI customer service bot on the first one.  It hasn't been helpful for me either.  But the humans are when they pick it up - if you're on Twitter, a message to them usually sorts it or if not, a phone call. 
(Granted, we shouldn't have to make extra effort because the bot gets it wrong, but in my experience the humans then getting it right means I am still happy with them.)

Of the other main suppliers, British Gas and Scottish Power have l trucks reputations for customer service, EDF bills 6-monthly which would drive me insane, and I don't know what Eon is like - although their bills would be familiar at least.