Outfox Energy

BubbleResident

Has anyone else had a terrible experience with Outfox Energy?

I signed up with them for a £70 monthly fixed rate deal with both gas and energy on July 17, stupidly ignoring the £250 exit fee.

On October 2, they said the rate was increasing by 60% to £125.68.

I replied by saying I wanted to be released from the contract without paying the exit fee, as this is so at odds with what I signed up for.

And their response today (October 29) is that they won't waive the exit fee and intend to raise the rate again to £185.30 a month (264% more than what I signed up for my my reckoning).

Obvioulsy, I'll be going to the ombudsman, but is this unusual and am I likely to get any redress?

Y_am_I_Here

Are you using £70 a month of gas/electric or are you using more than this?

luci

BubbleResident said:

Has anyone else had a terrible experience with Outfox Energy?

I signed up with them for a £70 monthly fixed rate deal with both gas and energy on July 17, stupidly ignoring the £250 exit fee.

On October 2, they said the rate was increasing by 60% to £125.68.

I replied by saying I wanted to be released from the contract without paying the exit fee, as this is so at odds with what I signed up for.

And their response today (October 29) is that they won't waive the exit fee and intend to raise the rate again to £185.30 a month (264% more than what I signed up for my my reckoning).

Obvioulsy, I'll be going to the ombudsman, but is this unusual and am I likely to get any redress?

Have you checked your annual usage in kWh and checked how much it should be on the MSE energy comparison? Your usage will either be on your previous supplier's statement or you can work it out by subtracting your meter reading from 12 months ago from your current meter reading.

debitcardmayhem

BubbleResident said:

Has anyone else had a terrible experience with Outfox Energy?

I signed up with them for a £70 monthly fixed rate deal with both gas and energy on July 17, stupidly ignoring the £250 exit fee.

On October 2, they said the rate was increasing by 60% to £125.68.

I replied by saying I wanted to be released from the contract without paying the exit fee, as this is so at odds with what I signed up for.

And their response today (October 29) is that they won't waive the exit fee and intend to raise the rate again to £185.30 a month (264% more than what I signed up for my my reckoning).

Obvioulsy, I'll be going to the ombudsman, but is this unusual and am I likely to get any redress?

If it’s a fixed rate it won’t go up. But the fixed part refers to your unit rates, it’s not all you can eat, is it a higher DD, ? That says that you are using more energy that you pay for monthly, especially heading into winter.

Keep_pedalling

You did not sign up for an all the energy you can use for £70 pm. The £70 was based on your estimated usage,  the fixed rate is on every kWh you actually use, so it seems like you are using a lot more than the original estimate, and have nothing to complain to the ombudsman about.

Can you give us some data on your actual usage so we can get an idea of how much you should be paying?

BubbleResident

I entered all the usage data when I made the switch and the deal was confirmed. Given that we're still in October, I can't believe my usage has changed excessively since then.

But Outfox have made the same point about actual cost being affected by changes in usage. 

I still don't understand how the rate can go up by 185%, especially as the first increase was announced during a period when I wasn't (or hardly at all) using any heating. I'll check my usage against MSE's figures. 

I've never experienced anything like this with multiple other suppliers. Normally, I go into the red in the winter and build up substantial credit in warmer/milder months, without too much (or, in some cases, any) variation in monthly payments.

More fool me for signing up for a deal with a £250 exit charge, but this feels like mis-selling given it's so at odds with what I signed up to.

And it seems obvious that the rate will go up by a whole lot more when the heating is on for longer periods, and that the rate is effectively meaningless, and that I'd be mad not to pay the exit charge ASAP.

BubbleResident

Y_am_I_Here said:

Are you using £70 a month of gas/electric or are you using more than this?

Probably more at the moment, but I thought these things were supposed to be elastic: usage goes up in the autumn/winter and down in the milder/warmer months, and averages out over the year, with payments staying fairly stable or fixed overall.

debitcardmayhem

BubbleResident said:

Y_am_I_Here said:

Are you using £70 a month of gas/electric or are you using more than this?

Probably more at the moment, but I thought these things were supposed to be elastic: usage goes up in the autumn/winter and down in the milder/warmer months, and averages out over the year, with payments staying fairly stable or fixed overall.

How much did you pay last 12 months ? In total, and how many kWh did you use, on gas and electric 

Swipe

Ask to pay via variable direct debit if available then you'll be just paying for what you've used each month.

mebu60

Are you confusing / conflating the rate (i.e. the fixed unit cost) with the direct debit amount (i.e. how much you are paying for your usage of those units)? 

BubbleResident

Quite possibly; but when I've signed up for deals like this before, the headline figure (eg, £70 or whatever a month) is what I've ended up paying for the duration of the deal.