Staywarm

millie

Had my renewal from Staywarm today it is going up from £53.90 to £63.25 For a 3 bedroomed semi with 2 people. They say I have used 3521 kw Electricity & 21604 kilowatt hours of gas. How does that compare with the people they have branded as high users. I am now going to search to see if I can find a cheaper supplier based on their figures

System

Hi Millie, when I signed up with them a couple of days ago after they'd given me a quote re my monthly fee ie two people in two bedroom, I asked them what would happen if I exceeded the usage amount. They told me that I would be offered a FREE check on everything within the household BEFORE my monthly premium was introduced. THEN, if we could see no alternative, I would be invited to pay a slightly greater monthly amount.

I'd suggest you give them a call and see if anything can be done.

millie

They are not saying that we are high users but a 17.35% increase seems a bit steep to me.  I have tried the comparison sites using their estimated figures, and it comes out at abouy £200 cheaper with London Energy, and a few others are quite close .  The only problem seems to be that when asked what supplier I am on at present Staywarm is not among the choices.  I have used powergen age concern,but am not sure thats the right one. Do I have to stay with them for the whole year if I do not cancel. or could I cancel part way through

djohn2002uk

Millie, I'm pretty sure you can change from them the same as anyone else but not 100% certain. I'm waiting for the letter inviting me back then I'll see what the situation is like come the Spring.

millie

I was thinking the same myself I will probably stay on it during the winter, and reconsider when the weather gets better. I read on teletext Channel 4 finance pages today that gas & electricity prices were expected to rise by 10 to 15% in 2005 so perhaps it wont be a bad deal if they do, as they have already gone up by that much recently

ehs34

Hi Millie,
I have been on Staywarm since Oct 2003 and I rec'd a letter some time ago saying I was using too much and would be switched to there ordinary tariff. Then on 14 Oct Martin said they had changed their minds and existing users would remain on Staywarm. Today I received 2 separate letters quoting a monthly amount for gas and a monthly amount for electricity. The 2 of them combined (£117.50) is more than twice the amount I was paying for Staywarm. Has anyone else rec'd these letters. If Martin reads this perhaps he could contact them again.

f107btx

Millie try this site
http://www.switchandgive.com/enterdetails.aspx?pc=SR5%202DZ&rg=6&cw=False&CID=45
Put in your detals and click on Powegen Ageconcern you will find their tariffs.

gatita

Ehs34 , Staywarm seem to be sending out different statements to different people :-/ what a mess! £117 a month!!!!!!!! that seems way over the top. Out of a matter of interest, what were the readings Staywarm/Powergen used to arrive at these figures? it would be interesting to see!
I will repeat yet again...............WHY won't Staywarm SAY what THEY consider to be high usage.......... is this too difficult to answer? What is the answer you have been given by them when you asked?

lovelyjubbly

we had a high usage letter from stay warm with the usual thing of saying they were going to transfer us onto their normal tariff, we decided straight away that they were not going to move us onto their normal tariff so we have moved to southern electric, we then got a letter from power gen (before they had the notification from southern that we were swapping) to say that our new DD would be £199 a month, (we also do not know where they got this figure from)we could not believe it, I telephoned them and told them we were swapping so they have cancelled the DD. We still have not had a letter from staywarm inviting us back. The last few weeks we have been checking our leccy meter, (we don't have gas) and the consumption has been roughly £12 a week, we have used it in our usual way and not cut back, this means that the staywarm monthly figure of £54 (it was going to be £62 if they had not kicked us off) was in line with what we were actually using, I know for a fact that we use roughly £7 a week in summer, how they ever got to send us the high user letter I don't know, but now at least we only pay for what we use, and we will get our £200 winter fuel allowance so I think we will be better off. I think this whole sorry tale has reflects very badly on staywarm and power gen, I hope as many people as possible leave them. There...... I feel better for getting that off my chest! ;D

System

Last week I applied to join Staywarm. Today I received the Contractual Agreement and a while ago, read through all the above messages and decided to call Staywarm.

Basically my line of enquiry was that I was a bit concerned as a new customer, to read the adverse publicity (quoted a few examples but withheld names etc) surrounding Staywarm on this site and that there was a degree of aprehension on my part.

The response from Staywarm was that, my particular quote of £53.50 will remain as such for the twelve month period and come what may, will not be increased during that period.

Ref. people who have in Staywarms opinion, exceeded their "threshhold/limit",= Staywarm HAD transferred some to Powergen, but due to the response, had decided to take them back for a period of three months onto their quoted tarif, and that currently Staywarm are in the process of introducing a NEW tarif/package that higher users will be invited to transfer to once the tarif is made known.

Ref. I asked, "wouldn't Staywarm save themselves a lot of bother and inconvenience if they were prepared to state exactly how much power one could use". The reply was that even "we", that is the customer services people, didn't know that.

Other than that, I think that's all I gained. THEY, are of the opinion that in many cases people's circumstances change and they use more.

I concluded my conversation with them saying that once I have been notified I am a fully fledged Staywarm customer and am on their tarif, no doubt I will continue to use power sparingly, (old habits die hard), I will also wear more clothes, BUT, if after that, they tell me my usage is over and above my allocation, then I too will shout.

chateau42

As said before. I use Staywarm. Actual KW Gas 22350, Elect. 5800. Just a bit, About £2/ month more expensive than nearest cheaper supplier(not including Telecom) But persuaded by unlimited usage?????????, so far, + fixed price for 12 months.
Again, I say just take your own actual annual Kws for gas and elect. and multiply by cost/kw for gas and elect. supplied by the different suppliers, and the result is your annual cost. DO NOT listen to their estimates. BG (like BT) avoid unless you wish to tear up your valuable taxed earnings.