Add your feedback on energy supplier Powershop

fredandwilma · 13 July 2017 at 5:52PM

As Powershop is a trading name of PS Energy UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Npower Limited, are you offering the Warm Home Discount Scheme, too?

Ps - I'm most definitely not even remotely considering switching to Powershop. Too many if's, what's and questionable variables, and i most definitely wouldn't consider paying for a years energy supply to any energy company upfront / in advance, (unless you are offering me shares in the company?) although I'm sure there are some people in a position to consider this? :money:

I can see the idea behind it, but that's not to say i agree with this business practice, and agree some people already pay for various services in advance to save money, (insurance, for example).

Not for me, though.

On this occasion, for me personally, why fix something that ain't broke?

fewkeste · 13 July 2017 at 7:06PM

@Powershop - Thanks for your answer - a couple of clarifications if that's OK.

Powershop_UK wrote: »

... you can get automatic notifications to your smartphone with our mobile app. (Believe you said you use the Android app) You definitely don't need to check your account every day! _pale_

Do we have to enable anything to get a notification? - if so what? or, do you mean the action of opening up the app IS the notification action?

Powershop_UK wrote: »

We have an overall discount pot and budget specials to hit the rates budgeted for in the TIL.

TIL?

What were the Future Pack discounts for July, June, May & April?

fewkeste · 13 July 2017 at 7:56PM

fredandwilma wrote: »

Too many if's, what's and questionable variables,

1.The only aspect of the Powershop model that might fall under this criticism is that at this time of year the discounts are only in the region of roughly 12-15% but in order to be competitive against rival suppliers, I need to achieve/receive a discount of 20-22% over the whole year. That means the discounts offered over the winter months have got to be much greater than 22% to make the annual average hit 20-22% given the summer savings are in the 12-15% range.

2. If you want to take a short term 'cynical' approach, customers joining in the winter months will achieve higher short term savings compared to year round customers.

3. Building on point 2, if a potential customer were prepared to move to Powershop for the winter and move to the next cheapest provider for the summer, I guess even higher savings might be possible.

I wonder if 'Winter arrivers, Spring leavers, Winter re-joiners' are an aspect that Powershop have considered?

Powershop_UK · 13 July 2017 at 9:44PM

Hi all,

We'll try to answer all your questions in one go.

fredandwilma wrote:

As Powershop is a trading name of PS Energy UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Npower Limited, are you offering the Warm Home Discount Scheme, too?

A: Yes, we do offer Warm Home Discount to both the narrow and broader group.

fewkeste wrote: »

Do we have to enable anything to get a notification? - if so what? or, do you mean the action of opening up the app IS the notification action?

A: If you go into Settings in the side menu of your Powershop android app you will see "Push notifications alert". Click on that and check if it's on. Below that you can see "Push notification test" you can send yourself an alert (it may take a few minutes) to check if it's working and see what a notification will look like.

fewkeste wrote: »

TIL?

Sorry didn't mean to use jargon. That's Tariff Information Label. You can find yours at https://secure.powershop.co.uk/rates

fewkeste wrote: »

What were the Future Pack discounts for July, June, May & April?

Don't worry fewkeste, We know why you're asking. We remember your account, and how long it took your previous supplier to allow you to switch over. The pricing team has already calculated the amount that you missed and credited your account as an ex-gratia. We had several conversations with your favourite service agent about it.

fewkeste wrote: »

Spring leavers, Winter re-joiners' are an aspect that Powershop have considered?

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

Have a good evening all.

- Powershop Pricing Team

fewkeste · 14 July 2017 at 12:34AM

Powershop_UK wrote: »

A: If you go into Settings in the side menu of your Powershop android app you will see "Push notifications alert". Click on that and check if it's on. Below that you can see "Push notification test" you can send yourself an alert (it may take a few minutes) to check if it's working and see what a notification will look like.

Thanks for that - I bought an Android smartphone just so I could download the Powershop app and I'm on a learning curve with that as well

given my normal day to day mobile phone is an original Nokia 3310!!

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

I wouldn't bother but some might:eek:

fredandwilma · 14 July 2017 at 7:00AM

Powershop_UK wrote: »

We have had external legal advice on the price point, and it is very achievable.

- Powershop Pricing Team

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

Have a good evening all.

- Powershop Pricing Team

Seriously? :rotfl::rotfl:

The changing face of energy supply.

What was the conclusion from your external legal advice regarding a customer who is flagged in the system as taking advantage / money savers? :money: What happens to someone flagged in your system as 'taking advantage'? Are you saying your recourse will be to refuse to supply energy to a customer / money saver, this being the case?

Else it's an empty statement.

Watch out, here comes a money saver, money saver alert...... :eek:

System · 14 July 2017 at 9:26AM

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Hi all,

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

- Powershop Pricing Team

Interesting. Some keen MSErs have for years been switching to a fixed deal with no exit fees for the Winter and then switching to a supplier with no standing charges for the summer. Is this seen by suppliers as consumers taking advantage?

Powershop_UK · 14 July 2017 at 12:04PM

Thanks all

. We'll try to summarise what we've heard so far. We'll start with the basics for those who might just be joining the conversation on page 5 without much context.

Powershop was founded on one fundamental principle, that an engaged energy consumer is better off than a disengaged one.

Energy consumers in the UK, in NZ where we were founded, and in Australia where we also trade, have had 20+ years of deregulated disengagement.

We chose a "Powershop" to be our vehicle for engagement. A tool which, we hope, prompts a customer to log into their account a couple of times a month. The prompt may be the ability to buy a special and save some money, or see a topical product that generates a giggle or a grin.

Our wish is, with this engagement, a customer might enter a read, or look at usage graph - and for the first time perhaps - have a broader relationship with their energy than just seeing a direct debit going out monthly or three monthly.

We know the experience is not perfect - it has to be tuned for each market, and especially tuned for consumers who have already engaged with their energy costs and consumption.

Highly engaged and granular customers are treasures for us - you. moneysavers keep us sharp and make us look at what we do and how we do it.

What have we learnt from this series of dialogues with you already ?

(1) Our articulation of seasonal discounts needs to be far, far better. It needs to be clear and explicit and give more comfort around the promise of value delivery.

(2) "Current month" special delivery versus future packs needs to be clearer. Customers should not feel like they MUST buy future packs to hit our best rate. This makes the experience feel like work, which is not at all our intention. Future packs are supposed to deliver an additional experience of value - self managed monthly debits if you like.

(3) The articulation of our rates, value delivery and model needs to be better on price comparison websites. We know this is a problem for all innovative tariffs in the industry and are in dialogue with those sites to improve the experience and clarity.

(4) In a sector where trust is in short supply we need to find a way to make it clear we have a differentiation - we genuinely think a customer questioning what we do and how we do it is a good thing. Sometimes we will get something wrong, when this happens we will apologise and fix it as soon as possible. We genuinely believe that being engaged with your energy is a good thing.

So this is a thank you to you all from the Powershop crew. Thanks for those of you giving us a go and thanks for making us think about what we do and how we are doing it.

Have a good one.
-Powershop Pricing Team

fredandwilma · 14 July 2017 at 12:44PM

What was your response to this?

What exactly is:

flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage

Obviously the switchers on MSE are "taking advantage", as Hengus eloquently explained, so what is your response to this, or was it just a "throwaway" comment, which i suspect it was?

It has to be remembered the switchers on MSE are still the minutest proportion of energy switchers, overall.

Originally Posted by Powershop UK

Hi all,

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

Have a good evening all.

- Powershop Pricing Team

fredandwilma wrote: »

Seriously? :rotfl::rotfl:

The changing face of energy supply.

What was the conclusion from your external legal advice regarding a customer who is flagged in the system as taking advantage / money savers? :money: What happens to someone flagged in your system as 'taking advantage'? Are you saying your recourse will be to refuse to supply energy to a customer / money saver, this being the case?

Else it's an empty statement.

Watch out, here comes a money saver, money saver alert...... :eek:

Hengus wrote: »

Interesting. Some keen MSErs have for years been switching to a fixed deal with no exit fees for the Winter and then switching to a supplier with no standing charges for the summer. Is this seen by suppliers as consumers taking advantage?

fewkeste · 14 July 2017 at 3:42PM

Powershop_UK wrote: »

Behave now! :A That's not exactly rewarding our transparency. On a serious note, previous customers addresses and emails are stored as long as is legally allowable, and you'll be flagged in our system if we suspect that you're taking advantage.

- Powershop Pricing Team

Wow! this comment seems to have stirred a Hornet's nest.

I must admit, I did expect to be able to buy my power via Powerpacks and make savings in the 20-22% range straight away. When I joined you I was not aware that the 20-22% figure would be an annual average and be much lower in summer (and I presume) much higher in the winter.

Perhaps to avoid the 'Winter Joiners, Spring Leavers and Winter re-joiners' theoretical scenario I described, you might consider leveling the discount all year round at 20-22%:)

After all, by creating a seasonal 'discount differential' you are effectively sowing the seeds of this potential behaviour yourselves.

If your Powerpack/Future Pack discount was more level throughout the year, the Join, Leave, Join potential would be eliminated/reduced and you would have less new customers thinking they are not getting what they thought they signed up to.

Certainly when I did my price comparison on the Which? website it was the 22% discounted tariff I was shown that persuaded me to sign up - I was not aware I would need to experience a whole year cycle of lower discount (then presumably higher discount in winter) to achieve the overall quoted figure. I suspect many other new customers will feel the same.

I'm quite relaxed about this now I know how the model works and intend to stay. Powershop have been more than fair to me - compensating me for losses caused by a delayed switch that was not of Powershop's doing. Therefore PS has scored a lot of Kudos with me, but other new customers who do not straight away achieve the 20-22% saving they were expecting, might be less understanding and sympathetic to you.

I think your model and way of doing things is very interesting and deserves a chance. It won't be for everyone but those customers who wish to engage re. their energy consumption and potential savings might take a rather more jaundiced view of PS when they don't immediately achieve the savings they expected to make.

How serious a problem this turns out to be I could not guess but it seems a shame to potentially scupper an innovative way of buying and budgeting power, simply because there is a differential in the discounts you offer at different times of the year. That aspect may not be entirely clear to new and potential customers and it might be construed as an oversight but less charitable eyes may call it something else:eek:

It may well be in the Ts & Cs somewhere but we all know most people don't read loads of Ts & Cs these days.

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