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Cobra

Cobra

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My dual fuel "contract" with EON ends in 4 weeks time, it seems I'm just shy of £200 in credit, and they want to increase my tariff by just shy of £300 / year?
It seems the one I am on is no longer available :rolleyes:
That'll be bye bye EON then.

U-Switch > Bulb is the favourite, and going on actual consumption they will increase my payments by just over £1 / month.

Googling Bulb, it seems they are quite good at raising prices, 3 times this year, but there is no contract, not get out penalty.

Still looking....
 
Strangely I had a letter from my supplier the other day telling me that as I have been with them for a few years
the energy regulator is going to look into my tariff and find a cheaper one
WTF is that all about
 
It does say I don't have to do anything, the regulator will contact me
 
Cobra said:
My dual fuel "contract" with EON ends in 4 weeks time, it seems I'm just shy of £200 in credit, and they want to increase my tariff by just shy of £300 / year?
It seems the one I am on is no longer available :rolleyes:
That'll be bye bye EON then.

U-Switch > Bulb is the favourite, and going on actual consumption they will increase my payments by just over £1 / month.

Googling Bulb, it seems they are quite good at raising prices, 3 times this year, but there is no contract, not get out penalty.

Still looking....
Click to expand...
How much do you pay per month roughly?
 
Gremlin said:
It does say I don't have to do anything, the regulator will contact me
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the regulator doesn't contact anyone, not regarding individual price changes/contracts anyway :confused:
 
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Last Thursday I had a guy come to the house, all official looking with his ID badge around his neck (although facing the wrong way - deliberate? Me thinks so) and literally tried to step into the house whilst saying that he was here to read my Smart Meter as if it was just a matter of course. It's a Smart Meter mate, duh. Anyway, after stopping and interrogating him it transpires that he's actually just some small local 3rd party energy supplier with a single office so hardly any overheads etc compared to British Gas etc so they could supply my Gas and Electricity something like 17 times cheaper (but got flustered when I queried the Standing Charge, yep you don't get to use those pipes for free), apparently it's all commissioned by the Government to attack the Big 6. Aye, p*ss off. Very sneaky to try and pretend to be an official meter reader and then hit people with a hard sell. Besides, aren't the Smart Meters supposed to be encrypted? I'm guessing he is just after the usage reports for his hard sell.

Each to their own but I just stick with British Gas for both and save all the hassle just to save a few quid. Besides, your payments are recorded in your credit file and it's far too easy for these suppliers to make a mess of things when you try and switch all the time.
 
gman said:
and literally tried to step into the house whilst saying that he was here to read my Smart Meter
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Cheeky sod!

gman said:
it's far too easy for these suppliers to make a mess of things when you try and switch all the time.
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I switch all the time, and so far so good :thumbs:
British gas is one of the most expensive suppliers, for me at least.
 
gman said:
Last Thursday I had a guy come to the house, all official looking with his ID badge around his neck (although facing the wrong way - deliberate? Me thinks so) and literally tried to step into the house whilst saying that he was here to read my Smart Meter as if it was just a matter of course. It's a Smart Meter mate, duh. Anyway, after stopping and interrogating him it transpires that he's actually just some small local 3rd party energy supplier with a single office so hardly any overheads etc compared to British Gas etc so they could supply my Gas and Electricity something like 17 times cheaper (but got flustered when I queried the Standing Charge, yep you don't get to use those pipes for free), apparently it's all commissioned by the Government to attack the Big 6. Aye, p*ss off. Very sneaky to try and pretend to be an official meter reader and then hit people with a hard sell. Besides, aren't the Smart Meters supposed to be encrypted? I'm guessing he is just after the usage reports for his hard sell.

Each to their own but I just stick with British Gas for both and save all the hassle just to save a few quid. Besides, your payments are recorded in your credit file and it's far too easy for these suppliers to make a mess of things when you try and switch all the time.
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1. that's not a supplier, it's a broker
2. smart meters don't always provide readings for suppliers, particularly if you've switched
3. If you've still got his details report him to trading standards, they can quote the Mis-selling regs at him.
 
I never took any of his details, his ID was turned although he did flip it quickly when I challenged him. I was more concerned about him returning when I'm not there because my wife or parents/in-laws when babysitting would probably just let him in.

British Gas probably aren't the cheapest for me either but it's just one of those things where the savings aren't worth the effort to me. All it takes is an admin to make a mistake and you've suddenly got a missed payment on your credit file, if they are really bad then you end up with a default. I'm helping a retired MD at the moment who switches every year to fight a battle against a company who claims he hasn't paid them the final bill of about £1,500 despite having obvious proof that he has. He just keeps getting the same asinine response chasing for money and in the meantime his credit file is being dragged down to the gutter. It's frustrating though because the last thing he needs to do is save a few quid but it's almost like an addiction and now it's causing him a lot of stress. We had a similar problem a long time ago, my wife was using EON I think and we tried to move to another supplier and it was a God awful experience.

I go by the same principle with my wife's car insurance, I can shop about each year and get it £20 or £30 quid cheaper but by the time it takes me to fill out all the new forms etc it's probably cost a lot more in my time which I'd rather be using elsewhere. I do wonder how much I could save though if I really looked at all my expenditure. Perhaps a D5 could be on the table.....
 
gman said:
I go by the same principle with my wife's car insurance, I can shop about each year and get it £20 or £30 quid cheaper but by the time it takes me to fill out all the new forms etc it's probably cost a lot more in my time which I'd rather be using elsewhere
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That's fair enough, if it suits you then :thumbs:

Have you looked lately though? its a cut throat business out there, I saved £200 on renewal of my car insurance.
If you log in to a comparison site, it also saves your details and there is very little to do "next time"
Just a thought :)
 
I don't change a lot but after a recent thread on here I changed from BG to bulb, the only change other than the price is paying up front but I'm already in credit after the first month.

For a 3 bed semi, 2 people they came up with around £84 combined, our first month was around £35 electric £8 gas.
 
gman said:
I go by the same principle with my wife's car insurance, I can shop about each year and get it £20 or £30 quid cheaper but by the time it takes me to fill out all the new forms etc it's probably cost a lot more in my time which I'd rather be using elsewhere. I do wonder how much I could save though if I really looked at all my expenditure. Perhaps a D5 could be on the table.....
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Between two of us we've saved over £400 on insurance this year; Admiral wanted over £800 to renew after 3 or 4 years with them but we managed to get both done for just under £400 with Hastings
 
Be very careful of the power company comparisons. We looked but they made assumptions or frigged the figures that would have cost us at leat £30 more a month, whilst claiming we were making £800 savings in a year
 
Byker28i said:
whilst claiming we were making £800 savings in a year
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Indeed I always compare the prices per unit & the standing charge.
Bulb is almost equal to what I'm paying now, on both, although the standing charge is a few pence higher, so the figures do work out.
As above though it just worries me slightly that they have increased their prices 3 times this year ...
 
It just seemed very strange that when I put in exactly what we were paying a month, the cost per unit for gas and electricity, all the comparison sites suddenly upped our yearly costs by almost £1000 so they could claim they were saving us hundreds whilst costing us more. Almost as though their business model is based on getting paid money from people switching ;) :D
 
gman said:
I never took any of his details, his ID was turned although he did flip it quickly when I challenged him. I was more concerned about him returning when I'm not there because my wife or parents/in-laws when babysitting would probably just let him in.

British Gas probably aren't the cheapest for me either but it's just one of those things where the savings aren't worth the effort to me. All it takes is an admin to make a mistake and you've suddenly got a missed payment on your credit file, if they are really bad then you end up with a default. I'm helping a retired MD at the moment who switches every year to fight a battle against a company who claims he hasn't paid them the final bill of about £1,500 despite having obvious proof that he has. He just keeps getting the same asinine response chasing for money and in the meantime his credit file is being dragged down to the gutter. It's frustrating though because the last thing he needs to do is save a few quid but it's almost like an addiction and now it's causing him a lot of stress. We had a similar problem a long time ago, my wife was using EON I think and we tried to move to another supplier and it was a God awful experience.

I go by the same principle with my wife's car insurance, I can shop about each year and get it £20 or £30 quid cheaper but by the time it takes me to fill out all the new forms etc it's probably cost a lot more in my time which I'd rather be using elsewhere. I do wonder how much I could save though if I really looked at all my expenditure. Perhaps a D5 could be on the table.....
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this. We use British Gas although only for Electricity. It seems the bigger savings come from the Gas supply as the amount we could save by switching is usually £20-£30/year. It's just not worth the bother. We did use to switch and had a few problems with Scottish Power and NPower.

Insurance however, we do switch nowadays. We were with Direct Line for years until we realised we were being taken for a ride and they quoted us £900/year to house and contents insurance when we bought this place. Since then we moved all of our policies away from them.
 
I'm sure that last time I did go through the comparison sites I still had to refill all the forms online on the actual insurance provider's site? Perhaps it's changed.

There are other factors that I take into account such as it's very unlikely that I'd claim on my wife's insurance and would repair the car myself, so I don't care if they are difficult to contact or handle claims. I like their online portal and it's incredibly easy and cheap to add a temporary car into the policy. The price is competitive enough.

Regarding things like house insurance, price takes second place to reputation when it comes to a claim. Point as case, my neighbour and I both had to claim for snow damage to gutters. We both suffered the exact same amount of damage at the same time. I received full payment for the whole cost of repairs within 6 days, my neighbour received 2.5 times less over a month later from their insurer who I had never heard of. I am with AXA who my in-laws also insure with and had an excellent experience claiming after their house was robbed. Sometimes it is worth paying more.

But, I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever use British Gas to go anywhere near my boiler.
 
Different matter, but still energy company grief

We pay for our gas and electric like many others with a direct debit, sensible way to manage the bills.
Did the latest meter readings, turns out the gas was 142 quid in credit, been a very warm summer and autumn so no surprise (electric was in credit, but only about thirty quid)
That's good I think, good few bob to put towards the winter heating bill, the way its supposed to work or at least it was.

Energy company have credited it back to my account and its now zero balance. so got to start all over again for the winter.
Apparently its government regulations that anything over fifty quid has to be refunded, bloody ridiculous.
All to do with silly old buggers moaning that the energy company have got their money, yes its to stop you getting a great big bill after the winter.

No doubt now after the next quarter it will mean the DD going up by a large amount because my current payment is insufficient
They will say if I carry on paying the existing amount I will owe them at the end of the period
I wouldn't if you had kept the 142 quid, madness
 
British Gas started doing the same thing but only at the beginning of January, plenty of credit built up over summer refunded so DD has to go up. I'm with bulb now but only since early September and already in credit, first time this weekend I've use the heating though.
 
Byker28i said:
It just seemed very strange that when I put in exactly what we were paying a month, the cost per unit for gas and electricity, all the comparison sites suddenly upped our yearly costs by almost £1000 so they could claim they were saving us hundreds whilst costing us more. Almost as though their business model is based on getting paid money from people switching ;) :D
Click to expand...

Be aware of this when using comparison sites and they produce suppliers with savings.
The comparison site makes the assumption that when your existing energy contract ends you will be ‘rolled over’ to the companies ‘Standard’ tariff (may be called different) This ‘Standard tariff’ tends to be the relevant companies most expensive tariff. Hence you may be currently be on the companies cheapest tariff and the apparent potential savings can appear huge.
 
foggy4ever said:
British Gas started doing the same thing but only at the beginning of January, plenty of credit built up over summer refunded so DD has to go up. I'm with bulb now but only since early September and already in credit, first time this weekend I've use the heating though.
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It was BG, I don't understand why the refund option can't be voluntary, everyone is happy then.

badlywornroy said:
Are you on an ‘Online account’ ? (they tend to be the cheapest) I read my meters and submit results when asked by my energy company. I pay by DD but have the option to make ‘one off’ payments via my online account whenever I wish. My DD is set at the level of last years energy usage. If we have a severe winter and my DD are insufficient I just make a payment.
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Yes its all online, I provide the meter readings and yes I can make a payment, but that's not the point.
Why refund credit when its obvious it will be needed for the next couple of quarters.
 
I was with BG for dual fuel until approx. 5 years ago. I was in credit but they wanted to increase DD. I refused and they said they needed to increase. I arranged to move to OVO and asked for refund of credit. It took ages and an email to CEO before they actioned. In the end I received my credit and £250 compensation for the way it had been handled.

When I opened the OVO account my DD was set at £110 per month, as I started with them in the winter. This has since reduced to £100 per month. I have a 4 bed detached which was occupied by myself and Wife. Unfortunately my Wife has Alzheimer's, which has deteriorated to the stage that she is now in a care home. In consequence, just me at home, but when family come and stay the house is full. My real costs equal to approx. £80 per month. So, why do I still pay £100 per month? It's my choice. I am approx. £1,000 in credit, but they pay me 5% interest on the credit, so I'm happy with this arrangement.

OVO have received some complaints recently and have been the subject of comments by the regulator. My experience has been brilliant and not thinking of changing.
 
‘Nikon Ken’ Sorry to hear about your personal circumstances, I wish you and your wife all the best.

Are you sure OVO pay you 5% interest ? Is this on all money in credit ?

My Santander 123 account pays 1.5% (up to £20,000)

I think I will close my 123 account, change to OVO and get seriously into credit. :)
 
badlywornroy said:
‘Nikon Ken’ Sorry to hear about your personal circumstances, I wish you and your wife all the best.

Are you sure OVO pay you 5% interest ? Is this on all money in credit ?

My Santander 123 account pays 1.5% (up to £20,000)

I think I will close my 123 account, change to OVO and get seriously into credit. :)
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Thanks for kind comments - not something I would wish on my worst enemy but we made the best of things for 9 years before things got too much. I see my Wife every day for 2 or 3 hours and am comforted that she is well looked after by some very special people at the care home.

Now for the "interesting":D bit.

When I first contracted with OVO the interest rate was 3% on any credit. After a while, think it was 2 or 3 years, I got an email which informed me that as a loyal customer the interest will be increased to 5%.

OVO did return about £500 to me in the early years, but have made no attempt to refund the balance that has now grown to £1k. Not sure how far they will let you go but good luck trying.
 
badlywornroy said:
Are you a rich man ?

Whatever, I would sooner see any excess money in my bank account than in the energy supplies account.

Your concern that your DD will be raised due to the excess being repaid ? Several times I have had different Energy suppliers ‘inform’ me my DD was being raised to £X’s. I have many times contacted them and ‘declined’ this increase. This happened recently when OneSelect attempted to raise my £70.00 per month DD to £93.00 per month. This on the premise that ‘they’ didn’t want me to get into debt. I was £120.00 in credit at the time and based on my previous years energy usage there was good reason to raise my DD to £74.00 per month !

I also informed them I would not let my account go heavily into debt by using the ‘one off’ payment I referred to earlier. Outcome, my DD was left unchanged at £70.00.

Now I accept that many people do not want the ‘bother’ of monitoring and taking control of their energy usage ? This imo suits the energy companies. Now that their accounts are not ‘awash’ with excess funds due to having to return overpayments their response is to raise DD to replenish these funds ! Hence the cycle begins again.
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Well that is my name, but no not in the wealth sense, but the interest on 142 quid will hardly change my life.
Looked into changing once and when the discounts for paying by DD and having dual fuel was taken into account the saving was 40 or so quid.
Can't be doing with all the hassle for such a piddly amount, worth that to me to spend my time doing something else.
Some people seem to spend a lot of time researching all these deals then spend it on stuff like scratchcards
We all have ways of enjoying our cash and one of mine is not spending valuable time scratching about to save a few bob here and there.
 
Nikon Ken said:
Unfortunately my Wife has Alzheimer's, which has deteriorated to the stage that she is now in a care home.
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I'm sorry to hear this Ken, I had a relative with this a few years ago, not nice, not nice at all, but I see from your reply to Roy you are trying to keep your spirits up :thumbs:

Nikon Ken said:
It took ages and an email to CEO before they actioned.
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I had this with EON, when I left the first time, I'm now going with EDF on a fixed 13 month tariff, once I found the actual readings / usage ( they don't make it easy do they?)
They were £30 / month cheaper than my next tariff with EON.

There is just short of £200 in my account with EON, I'm sure I won't get that all back when I switch as there is this months fuel bill to take into account.

But I hope, I won't have to email Michael Lewis again and again, and again :D
 
tijuana taxi said:
Energy company have credited it back to my account and its now zero balance. so got to start all over again for the winter.
Apparently its government regulations that anything over fifty quid has to be refunded, bloody ridiculous.
Click to expand...
I don't believe that's correct - unless there is one rule for the 'Big Six' suppliers and one rule for rest. (I guess there might be.) My credit with Ovo is currently £542 and they seem quite happy with that. As am I.
 
badlywornroy said:
‘Are you sure OVO pay you 5% interest ? Is this on all money in credit ?
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I can confirm that's correct. Ovo pay me 5% on all credit balances.

It's not a fortune. Currently I am £542 in credit and this month they paid me £2.17. You can see that compounding that over a year will be £25+ which is 5%. But that's just the icing on the cake, not a reason to switch to Ovo. The price differences between suppliers can easily swamp that.
 
StewartR said:
I don't believe that's correct - unless there is one rule for the 'Big Six' suppliers and one rule for rest. (I guess there might be.) My credit with Ovo is currently £542 and they seem quite happy with that. As am I.
Click to expand...

Only going on what I was told over the phone when I queried the refund.
Must be something in it otherwise I'm sure they would rather keep hold of it.

More research needed
 
StewartR said:
I can confirm that's correct. Ovo pay me 5% on all credit balances.

It's not a fortune. Currently I am £542 in credit and this month they paid me £2.17. You can see that compounding that over a year will be £25+ which is 5%. But that's just the icing on the cake, not a reason to switch to Ovo. The price differences between suppliers can easily swamp that.
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Ok, I have to accept OVO pay 5.00% interest on balances.

If you look around for bank accounts paying 5% they are difficult to find and when you do you need to read the small print. I.e short term rates, no immediate access etc How do OVO do it ?

Just be aware energy companies can go ‘bust’ Iresa went bust recently (100,000 customers) Is your money they are holding safe if the worst happens ?
 
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I have had several refunds for overpayment , cant see a problem personally
 
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