Economy Seven Energy reviews: Give your feedback

olympusmegavolt · 3 December 2018 at 2:23PM

I am too am in the process of moving away from E7E after 2 months of interminable changes to DD and tariffs.

In my case the final straw was notification of a 35% increase in gas tariff due on 1 January 2019. This gives me a 20% increase on my annual £1k spend and my calculations now show that this will be on a par with the big boys as far as pricing is concerned.

I quote;
“From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rates will change from £0.1438/kWh to £0.1518/kWh and from £0.0735/kWh to £0.0777/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0266/kWh to £0.0361/kWh and your standing charge will increase to 29p per fuel per day..”

If you think of changing to this supplier because of the CEC comparator table prediction, then be aware this increased price is not used in the calculation for E7E as of today; 3 DEC 2018

I cannot imagine that I, alone, am going to be subjected to this increase.

Gerry1 · 3 December 2018 at 3:59PM

E7E are either operating a ‘Bait and Switch’ scam or are hopelessly incompetent. Judging by their very poor website and emails, I suspect it's a bit of both.

I had a slight degree of sympathy because they were by far the cheapest and have no doubt been caught out by the rises in wholesale prices, but they have been far from honest and transparent in their communications. As others have reported, they messed up big time by announcing a 70% increase in DDs, only to change it to 40% the next day.

But the worst deception was the latest email that gave new prices and then said "Based on your current usage, your estimated annual electricity consumption (EAC) is and your estimated gas consumption is Default Value". No, those aren't my typos, that sentence is pasted verbatim.

Their email stated 'Price Increase £32.69' for electricity but completely omitted the massive additional 'Price Increase £238.59' for gas ! The only clue was the price per kWh quietly changing from £0.0267/kWh to £0.0351/kWh. I joined E7E Dual Fuel in March 2018 at an annual rate of £1115 but after several hikes in quick succession it would be £1507 from January.

So I've switched to Avro !

olympusmegavolt · 3 December 2018 at 6:03PM

olympusmegavolt wrote: »

I am too am in the process of moving away from E7E after 2 months of interminable changes to DD and tariffs.

In my case the final straw was notification of a 35% increase in gas tariff due on 1 January 2019. This gives me a 20% increase on my annual £1k spend and my calculations now show that this will be on a par with the big boys as far as pricing is concerned.

I quote;
“From 1st January 2019 your electricity unit rates will change from £0.1438/kWh to £0.1518/kWh and from £0.0735/kWh to £0.0777/kWh.

Your gas unit rate will change from £0.0266/kWh to £0.0361/kWh and your standing charge will increase to 29p per fuel per day..”

If you think of changing to this supplier because of the CEC comparator table prediction, then be aware this increased price is not used in the calculation for E7E as of today; 3 DEC 2018

I cannot imagine that I, alone, am going to be subjected to this increase.

To reinforce my point, I entered the tariff from my new supplier (People’s Energy) into my account tariff details of the CEC.

I then received an email alert from the CEC, informing me that I could save over £50 by switching

click----SEE CHEAPEST TARIFF----

Having done that, guess who it was

Economy 7 Energy

BE AWARE PEOPLE.

Gerry1 · 4 December 2018 at 12:47AM

olympusmegavolt wrote: »

To reinforce my point, I entered the tariff from my new supplier (People’s Energy) into my account tariff details of the CEC.

I then received an email alert from the CEC, informing me that I could save over £50 by switching
click----SEE CHEAPEST TARIFF----

Having done that, guess who it was
Economy 7 Energy

BE AWARE PEOPLE.

Unfortunately the CEC and many Ofgen accredited websites have out of date tariff information, so you have to check with the suppliers' own websites.

But even that is no guarantee if you have an Economy 7 meter (i.e. a two-rate meter with a radio teleswitch, as opposed to a meter installed via the E7E company).

Amazingly, many companies (even big ones such as British Gas / Sainsbury's) give Fake Quotations. They don't ask for Day and Night usage, only the total amount; they then make wholly unjustified estimates of your night usage, typically from 40% to a whopping 70%. They do this to make their so-called 'quotations' appear artificially low.

For example, BG have just given me a Fake Quotation of £506.03 for Electricity, assuming I use 42% at night. However, my night usage is only 24%, so the true cost would be £561.28. This amounts to the criminal offence of Misrepresentation.

Ofgem CEO Dermot Nolan has known about these scams for over two years but has failed to do anything to stop them. :mad:

olympusmegavolt · 4 December 2018 at 11:43AM

Well spotted Gerry1

Yes, this economy 7 (and E10) problem came to light when I asked for a quote from People’s Energy. I incorrectly assumed that 30 % night use would give me the best deal.

I inputted PE’s tariffs for both single and dual rate meters into a spreadsheet that I developed primarily to double check for anomalies on comparison sites which showed that I had to have 45% night usage to break even with the single rate tariff rates.

I questioned PE as to why this was so.

The reply was that the dual rate tariff is designed for high usage customers with appliances such as storage heaters. They were quick to point out however that they could add my day and night readings as though it were a single rate meter and be charged at the single rate tariff.

That seemed reasonable, so I signed up.

I then found this article that ‘WHICH’ magazine published:

Since 1 September 2017, all energy companies with more than 50,000 customers must make their single-rate tariffs available to customers with restricted meters, including Economy 10 meters and white meters. If you think you’d be better off on a single-rate tariff, and your meter needs changing to make this possible, your supplier cannot charge you to install a new meter. For a faster fix, some suppliers are willing to add the peak and off-peak readings together and charge you a single rate.

Best advice, therefore, when getting a quote from a supplier’s website and you possess a dual rate meter, is to enter two lots of data, one with your dual rate usage and one assuming that you have a single rate meter.

OR develop your own spreadsheet using excel or similar; it is not too difficult

WhyohWhy · 4 December 2018 at 1:45PM

I wondered whether to leave E7E when they put up the price shortly after joining and the announcement about varying the DD over the winter months but, after persuading them with hard facts about my usage, got them to reduce the winter DD decided to stay. Even after the price rise announced for Jan they still are cheaper for me (E10 with a higher night time usage) so was happy to stay but since reading the latest email increasing my DD again I'm having real doubts about their financial stability. Despite only increasing my electric by 6% they are trying to raise my DD by 13%, this is a blatant attempt to bolster their finances and concerning. It is hard enough to find a E10 supplier as it is so I do not relish the company going bust because no doubt the company I will be transferred to will charge considerably more. I have asked them again to review my DD but if they refuse I will probably jump ship.

For all those out there with E10 there is a good website that details all the suppliers but it does require regular input from users to keep it up to date. The site is economy10.com and is well worth a look,

Gerry1 · 4 December 2018 at 3:19PM

By the way, many people with E7 don't realise that the cheap rate period doesn't have to be seven continuous hours.

For example, in the South East (former Seeboard) area you can have it set to be 10.30pm - 12.30am and 2.30am - 7:30am GMT.

That can be useful because it allows cheaper use of electric showers, fan heaters, kettles etc before going to bed AND when getting up.

Richie-from-the-Boro · 4 December 2018 at 5:49PM

Gerry1 wrote: »

By the way, many people with E7 don't realise that the cheap rate period doesn't have to be seven continuous hours.

You can have it set to be 11.30pm - 1.30am and 3.30am - 8:30am GMT.

That can be useful because it allows cheaper use of electric showers, fan heaters, kettles etc before going to bed AND when getting up.

How + which tariff / provider ?

Jon3636 · 4 December 2018 at 8:26PM

An example of my communication with Eco 7 Energy / Economy Seven Energy.
Every week the price changes... And 2nd increase due within 2 months...

Thank you for the email sent 04/12/2018, following my recent meter reading update.
My recent electricity consumption (27/10/18 to 26/11/18) totalled £177.
Novembers balance was approx. £150 in credit, with a monthly direct debit of £179.
Today in credit by £157. But you want to increase up to £340/m.

Please can you advise the reason for the £163/m increase?

Why do I need to pay 200+% of my electricity per month?

Please reinstate the previous direct debit level of £178 per month within 48 hours, else I will take the necessary action.

This continuous unprofessional & ridiculous conduct of sending so many emails & various policies of direct debit. It makes me feel ether children are managing this company or you have severe business problems?

Gerry1 · 4 December 2018 at 10:37PM

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

How + which tariff / provider ?

It's plain E7. The cheap rate times vary by area and are determined by your Distribution Network Operator, not by the supply company that you pay.

If you call your DNO and quote the S-number on your bill (it must start with S02) you can ask them when the cheap rate applies and whether it can have a gap in the middle of the night.

Economy Seven Energy reviews: Give your feedback

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