Feedback on Utility Point

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Comments

  • ashe
    ashe Posts: 1,551 Forumite
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    Glandel wrote: »
    Just coming to an end of a 2 year fix from Ovo.
    We had our monthly payment set 2 years ago, and Ovo never suggested any change over those 2 years.

    At the end of the term (next month) we think we will be in credit by about £25.

    Beats me how people say they have built up £100s & £100s of credit with their energy supplier. If they were that far out with their estimated annual usage at the start of their term, they probably chose the wrong supplier & tariff from the outset.

    A low cost tariff for a high user is often a high cost tariff for a low user (and vice versa)

    I did MSE comparison with our actual usage based on previous 12 months. I work in the utilities industry as a business analyst. Utility Point take the usage and suggest a payment amount, for us it was £99 a month for 6 months and £49.99 a month for 6 months, however we also referred about £150 worth of people towards it as we have a lot of people that "follow" our energy supplier so when we switch we take them with us and everyone gets credit. In addition we are also quite conscious of usage, turn things off where possible, and only heat the house when necessary, seeing our usage as the "score to beat" for environmental and financial reasons. Other suppliers would never really suggest a DD change although before their demise, Economy Energy were always trying to change ours despite our usage being lower.
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989 Forumite
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    The starting point of current discussion was UP increasing some peoples' direct debits. If the initial UP direct debit was set correctly IE was based upon actual 12 months previous usage then is no reason for UP to increase DDs especially since last Winter was much milder than usual.
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • ader42
    ader42 Posts: 269 Forumite
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    My agreement was similar to yours ashe.

    Some posters here don't get that the "deal" or agreement or basis on which the tariff was sold was 6 months at £x and then 6 months at £0.5x and not 12 months for a fixed amount.

    My DD went down as expected after 6 months but now they have hiked it up even though I think we will not use more energy than originally predicted and are £220 in credit.

    To answer questions, no I haven't asked for the credit to be refunded. Yet.

    I contacted them via email, got a reply which didn't "alleviate my concerns" so I emailed again and haven't had a 2nd reply.

    They say that they think my usage will be higher than originally planned, but I disagree and I am not happy about a direct debit increase of £70 per month when I am currently using almost zero gas and am £220 in credit.

    Glandel, I'm not sure why you think your personal situation and energy usage fits everyone else. I did switch, I did use price comparison sites UP were the cheapest when I switched based on my usage.

    I am currently paying 11.741p p/kWh for electricity and 3.179p p/kWh for gas. I just checked on uswitch just now and there is not a cheaper deal for me yet!
  • Streaky_Bacon
    Streaky_Bacon Posts: 656 Forumite
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    edited 25 August 2019 at 4:33AM
    I've also had my DD hiked.

    I've been a customer since January. The DD amount for the first 6 months was £170, and then it was supposed to be £85 for the next 6 months. That has now been hiked to £100 for the final four installments.

    I've asked them to confirm what they now think my usage will now be, how they have calculated that, and how they have calculated the new DD amount.

    I was £400 in credit at the beginning of August, so four more DD payment between now and the end of the 12 months, will be £800, to cover 5 months of energy (beginning of August to beginning of January 2020).

    That's £160 a month which is more than any single previous month (except Jan to Feb, which was £190). I give them two readings a month.

    My best guess is that Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec will be no worse than Jan, Feb, Mar, April, May (when I spent £660).

    On that basis I'm inclined to tell them to keep the higher DD amount, but refund me £140 of my credit balance, but I'll wait to see what they come back with.

    The posts above about switches being blocked don't fill me with a huge amount of confidence, so I'd like to see how well they handle a credit refund request.

    The DD is not enough for me to worry too much about, but I don't like the fact that it seems somewhat arbitrary.
  • fred246
    fred246 Posts: 3,620 Forumite
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    I joined Utility Point. After a few months they unexpectedly hiked my payment for no obvious reason. When a sufficient credit had built up I asked for a refund and a reduction in payments. The bit that made me laugh was they said they couldn't reduce my payment without my permission and I had to email my permission back to them. They never asked my permission to INCREASE the payment!
  • bristolleedsfan
    bristolleedsfan Posts: 12,084 Forumite
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    Streaky_Bacon wrote: »
    On that basis I'm inclined to tell them to keep the higher DD amount, but refund me £140 of my credit balance,

    /QUOTE]


    That is what I would do, when I asked for credit balance to be refunded a few months ago they replied saying would be done within a month, it wasnt, I emailed a complaint that it hadnt happened was offered 15.00 Bill credit compensation and higher credit requested within emailed complaint was processed immediately.
  • niktheguru
    niktheguru Posts: 1,476 Forumite
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    I think the main thing with Utility point, if you use them as a supplier..... (as with most suppliers, if you want the most accurate and economical bills)

    1. Ensure you provide at least 1 meter reading a month, prefereably 24-48hrs before your billing date, to get the most accurate bill
    2. Keep an eye on your credit/debit balance. If you are going crazily high in credit, make sure you request a credit refund. With utility point these can take up to a month, but they do do it. If you are heavily in debit, make a plan to either increase the direct debit early or to pay in some extra into your account (as much as you can afford depending on projections - dont leave it like 6 months and then be surprised you have so much to pay!)
    3. If you use refer-a-friend to get credit, make sure you keep a record and chase utility point as they often forget to credit you.

    In my personal experience I've found calling utility point to be the easiest way to get hold of them. The wait in the "queue" is really short and you get an instant response. If you are in a hurry for a resolution, doing one way communication by email is not the most efficient and is only something I would consider if they had extremely long phone queues.

    I've recently had nearly 200 pounds credited back to my account which was slowly building up for my gas, it was done on first request and without issue, granted its a bit stupid it took a month..

    Generally (but not in all cases) the problems occur when the customers arent keeping an eye on their account and are not proactive about ensuring a tight ship is kept with utility point. Sure, they could be a lot better in terms of informing of direct debit increases, and their estimations may be a bit off, but this is something i'm willing to accept whilst getting some of the cheapest rates around.
  • PennineAcute
    PennineAcute Posts: 1,161 Forumite
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    Their prices have really shot up at the moment. No longer one of the cheapest. When the big 6 are cheaper than you, you know you are expensive.
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989 Forumite
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    PennineAcute wrote: »
    Their prices have really shot up at the moment.
    Not for renewal. "Just Up Renewal July 19 v2" is about the same as my current tariff with them. And competetitive with buying from a new supplier. Their strategy does appear to one of keeping existing customers rather than attracting new ones.
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • PennineAcute
    PennineAcute Posts: 1,161 Forumite
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    grumpycrab wrote: »
    Not for renewal. "Just Up Renewal July 19 v2" is about the same as my current tariff with them. And competitive with buying from a new supplier. Their strategy does appear to one of keeping existing customers rather than attracting new ones.

    Lost the email; must have deleted it. However, when I moved from UP in July, their offer was £10 more than the tariff I am now on with EON.

    When I joined, in Jan 18 on their variable tariff, they obviously hit the market with a bang. Factoring in my WHD allowance, they were the cheapest. Three months later, their fixed tariff was the price of their variable tariff, so of cause I fixed.

    Fifteen months later, excluding WHD, they were more expensive than EON.
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