Fuse Energy, anybody with them?

Spoonie_Turtle

bristolleedsfan said:

MeteredOut said:

bnabound said:

I've been with them for 4 months and have had no issues. I specifically moved to them because of their lower standing charge, which unfortunately they have now increased significantly as of April 1st. As a low energy user, it means I will be paying a lot more per unit despite them lowering the actual electricity price.

I am going to investigate to see whether switching to anyone but BG would mean lower standing charge. I fear that isn't likely to happen

This whole standing charge farce needs to stop. I hope Martin manages to make a difference, I know he mentioned he's working hard on getting rid of it altogether.

There is no "getting rid of it altogether".

If the (misguided IMO) call to have the SC removed is successful, the suppliers are not going to simply reduce their income. The equivalent costs will just be included in unit prices, and once the market opens up a bit, we'll probably end up with laddered pricing, so the first x kWh will be more expensive. ie. the SC in all but name.

Business tariffs with no standing charge seems very reasonable rates to me. as a ultra low user 

Business tariffs like that are usually only available to businesses that will use a minimum of X number of kWh per year.  Probably that's what the 'Band2' in the tariff name refers to.

Edit: yep
https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/what-is-my-business-electricity-band/
https://octopus.energy/blog/no-standing-charge-business-tariff/

MeteredOut

bristolleedsfan said:

MeteredOut said:

bnabound said:

I've been with them for 4 months and have had no issues. I specifically moved to them because of their lower standing charge, which unfortunately they have now increased significantly as of April 1st. As a low energy user, it means I will be paying a lot more per unit despite them lowering the actual electricity price.

I am going to investigate to see whether switching to anyone but BG would mean lower standing charge. I fear that isn't likely to happen

This whole standing charge farce needs to stop. I hope Martin manages to make a difference, I know he mentioned he's working hard on getting rid of it altogether.

There is no "getting rid of it altogether".

If the (misguided IMO) call to have the SC removed is successful, the suppliers are not going to simply reduce their income. The equivalent costs will just be included in unit prices, and once the market opens up a bit, we'll probably end up with laddered pricing, so the first x kWh will be more expensive. ie. the SC in all but name.

Business tariffs with no standing charge seems very reasonable rates to me. as a ultra low user 

Can you share your actual bill (redacted, of course) showing how this is applied to a low user business customer?

bristolleedsfan

In reply Spoonie and MeteroutOut

Taken from top screenshot I posted, have been No Standing Charge Tariffs on other business bands as well.  

Description

This tariff offers you the flexibility to pay only when you consume energy, avoiding paying any fixed costs if you are not consuming energy

Copen

Been with Fuse 3 months now. Although the new rates are a little dissapointing, I think I will stick with them for now. Why? Well the switch was very easy and fast. The app is simple to use and informative. They respond very quickly to any queries. It's the best customer service I have experienced with energy companies.  I left BGas as there billing was atrocious.  Estimated bills even though I have their smart meter.  Even their final reading was (over) estimated and did not tie up with  my first reading from Fuze. Incase your wondering, Fuse has had no issues reading my meter.
I would highly recommend them, but you have to accept this is not a budget account and you pay for what you use by DDebit each month. On the plus side  this keeps the bills very simple, they are not holding on to your money and the app shows you exact ballance every day.

Gerry1

Copen said:

They respond very quickly to any queries. It's the best customer service I have experienced with energy companies.

I'm not a Fuse customer because they don't support my RTS meter.

I emailed a query at 9:10pm last Tuesday and a reply from Kayleigh was sent just three minutes later !

I suppose it might have been AI, but it was a sensible reply without any irrelevant or generic waffle.

Either way it worked a treat so I was highly impressed with what a small newcomer can achieve.

bnabound

Copen said:

Been with Fuse 3 months now. Although the new rates are a little dissapointing, I think I will stick with them for now. Why? Well the switch was very easy and fast. The app is simple to use and informative. They respond very quickly to any queries. It's the best customer service I have experienced with energy companies.  I left BGas as there billing was atrocious.  Estimated bills even though I have their smart meter.  Even their final reading was (over) estimated and did not tie up with  my first reading from Fuze. Incase your wondering, Fuse has had no issues reading my meter.
I would highly recommend them, but you have to accept this is not a budget account and you pay for what you use by DDebit each month. On the plus side  this keeps the bills very simple, they are not holding on to your money and the app shows you exact ballance every day.

Couldn't agree more - everything I've had to do with them for the past 4 months has been very good. I also love that they charge me for what I use, none of that rubbish estimated charging despite a fully functioning meter (yes, I'm looking at you, BG!). The app is easy to use, shows you a pretty good prediction of your month's usage and customer service has been fast and on point (especially after the nightmare that was BG).

I just hate the standing charge increase because it leaves me unable to control my expenses that way. I've already been mega careful with my energy use (I'm not dual fuel) and can't see another way to save even more money. I will need to check out all above mentioned suggestions to see if they apply to my situation.

bristolleedsfan

MeteredOut said:

bnabound said:

I've been with them for 4 months and have had no issues. I specifically moved to them because of their lower standing charge, which unfortunately they have now increased significantly as of April 1st. As a low energy user, it means I will be paying a lot more per unit despite them lowering the actual electricity price.

I am going to investigate to see whether switching to anyone but BG would mean lower standing charge. I fear that isn't likely to happen

This whole standing charge farce needs to stop. I hope Martin manages to make a difference, I know he mentioned he's working hard on getting rid of it altogether.

The equivalent costs will just be included in unit prices, and once the market opens up a bit, we'll probably end up with laddered pricing, so the first x kWh will be more expensive. ie. the SC in all but name.

Tomato Energy offer variable electricity tariff with flat rate standing charge/unit rate

Tomato Energy also offer variable DD option on signup.

masca

I too am very disappointed with the hike in sc (and I might look to switch again). It was the sc that attracted me to Fuse, together with their fresh approach and green energy. Hopefully they are reading this thread and might reconsider. It would seem that the sc has gone up by about 10p per day more than I might have expected (taking into account the info supplied by OFCOM). Perhaps this is to pay for a new solar farm, but if this is the case, it would be nice if Fuse would let customers know this/justify the large increase.

As for OFCOM removing standing charges, I would encourage them to at least do away with the postcode lottery. If all customers on a given tariff were charged the same, it would make comparing prices much, much easier. The same should apply to water standing charges too. Furthermore, it would also then be easy to see how much profit companies are making from the sc!

bristolleedsfan

masca said:

I too am very disappointed with the hike in sc (and I might look to switch again). It was the sc that attracted me to Fuse, together with their fresh approach and green energy. Hopefully they are reading this thread and might reconsider. It would seem that the sc has gone up by about 10p per day more than I might have expected (taking into account the info supplied by OFCOM). Perhaps this is to pay for a new solar farm, but if this is the case, it would be nice if Fuse would let customers know this/justify the large increase.

For illustration/comparison purposes what region of the country do you reside?

GingerTim

masca said:

I too am very disappointed with the hike in sc (and I might look to switch again). It was the sc that attracted me to Fuse, together with their fresh approach and green energy. Hopefully they are reading this thread and might reconsider. It would seem that the sc has gone up by about 10p per day more than I might have expected (taking into account the info supplied by OFCOM). Perhaps this is to pay for a new solar farm, but if this is the case, it would be nice if Fuse would let customers know this/justify the large increase.

As for OFCOM removing standing charges, I would encourage them to at least do away with the postcode lottery. If all customers on a given tariff were charged the same, it would make comparing prices much, much easier. The same should apply to water standing charges too.

I'm not sure you can describe it as a 'postcode lottery' as that just means it's dumb luck as to how much the standing charge is in a given region. It's simply a fact that the infrastructure required to deliver and maintain the network in certain parts of the country is more expensive than in others.