Symbio Energy feedback

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  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,802 Forumite
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    It certainly makes your brain ache trying to figure it out. Just looked at my daughter's, the agreed DD rate was £84.31 and they are going to take £71.26. The other thing is that the unit rates and standing charges are lower than signed up for, about 25p less on the actual usage calculated on my spreadsheet.


    I have not had a bill but something seems to have gone wrong, I cannot log into my account - wrong e-mail or password - and cannot set up a new account - account and postcode do not match ! Waiting for a reply to my e-mail sent Wednesday.
  • griffb
    griffb Posts: 168 Forumite
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    molerat wrote: »
    It certainly makes your brain ache trying to figure it out. Just looked at my daughter's, the agreed DD rate was £84.31 and they are going to take £71.26. The other thing is that the unit rates and standing charges are lower than signed up for, about 25p less on the actual usage calculated on my spreadsheet.


    I am also paying a very slightly lower rate than on my confirmation letter. Keeping quiet about that.


    My usage has so far been very close to my original estimate, so the actual d/d only varies by the odd couple of £
  • Talldave
    Talldave Posts: 2,002 Forumite
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    Tafrock wrote: »
    I have no problem with their bills though it is a strange way of doing it. Symbio accept readings up to 5th of the month for your bills. What they do is estimate your usage for the month according to the usage you supplied when you signed up

    Then the next month any overbill is returned to you ie the variance calculation. What they do is work out how much you were overbilled by on your previous bill as a result of them using estimated readings. To do this they use your actual readings. The difference between the estimate and actual reading is called a variance figure

    They deduct this figure from your actual bill

    It's a weird way of doing it but it works. Your never in credit or debit with them. Works for me
    I accept that it works, but for their estimates of the month ahead, why don't they use my 5th Oct figure, instead of an imaginary estimate that's wrong?


    And don't have a heading of "Electricity used" (past tense) to describe an estimate for the coming month.


    They happily used my 5th Oct reading for working out what I actually used, but are then pretending that that reading doesn't exist when making up their imaginary estimates of the month ahead. That's the bit that's bonkers to me.
  • griffb
    griffb Posts: 168 Forumite
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    Talldave wrote: »
    They happily used my 5th Oct reading for working out what I actually used, but are then pretending that that reading doesn't exist when making up their imaginary estimates of the month ahead. That's the bit that's bonkers to me.


    It is strange, because for mine they did use the same reading for both. Admittedly it was labelled "E" for the October usage calculation.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 31,802 Forumite
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    edited 12 October 2019 at 2:16PM
    molerat wrote: »
    I have not had a bill but something seems to have gone wrong, I cannot log into my account - wrong e-mail or password - and cannot set up a new account - account and postcode do not match ! Waiting for a reply to my e-mail sent Wednesday.
    Well, it gets worse. This morning I received a bill from Utilita covering 18-30 Sep. I switched from Eversmart on 11th Sept. Phoned Symbio and gave them my customer number and they asked some questions such as have I been with them a while - seemed a bit strange - but I said you have billed me and taken a direct debit once already. Said they would speak to billing and get back to me and gave me my landline number as contact - I phoned them on my mobile - so they do have a record of me. So something has gone drastically wrong somewhere and I feel a whole lot of pain coming.


    Edit : Symbio got back to me within an hour. I was with them from 11th - 18th Sept when Utilita took my account from them . They do not send out sorry you are leaving mails. I have now got to sort out an erroneous transfer. :mad:

    edit 2 : Got through to Utilita after 25minutes on hold and started the complaint. They agree they took the account from Symbio, seems I may not the only one, and they will start the transfer back.
  • MABLE
    MABLE Posts: 4,080 Forumite
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    Received my bill on the 11th October and again everything is in line with my expectations.
  • Talldave
    Talldave Posts: 2,002 Forumite
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    Although I probably can't confirm until my third bill arrives, I think Symbio's algorithm has done them out of some cash.


    The first bill estimate was 452kWh. Actual usage was 449kWh. But because of their surreal mathematical estimation gymnastics trying to compensate for the fact that the billing period ran another 4 days into the month, they've then credited for 57kWh. They've then estimated 383kWh for the remainder of the billing period.
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,606 Forumite
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    I really cant see the point of all these mathematical gymnastics.

    It seems unreasonably complex for a simple energy bill.

    Those who cant understand an energy bill in the first place, r cant work out the simple sums of a normal direct debit or just dont bother to send in readings are going to be totally stuffed.

    If they think they've signed up for a fixed monthly DD and then find all sorts of random amounts being taken then heaven help them, especially if they are based on guesses by Symbio or the verification organisation.

    I guess we can look forward to a very long and entertaining thread
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • polysia
    polysia Posts: 4 Newbie
    Anyone taken advantage of Symbio's price guarantee yet?

    Price Guarantee


    Find a lower equivalent tariff within 14 days and we will match the difference and give you a £10 Amazon voucher for your troubles.


    They are not coming up as the cheapest for me on the MSE Cheap Energy Club, but I'm not too keen to go with those that are cheaper not least because of the MSE warnings attached to those others, so was thinking of going with Symbio, in anticipation of then taking advantage of the above guarantee.

    Trouble is, I cannot see the T&Cs for this guarantee; the link to 'find out more' simply takes me to their quote page.
  • jobdone1
    jobdone1 Posts: 841 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Post
    Started a switch from bulb on the 26th September 2019, transfer complete 11 October readings provide all smooth to date no issues.
    Be aware some emails do go to your junk email folder some don't. My first bill went to junk folder but all good
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