Electricity Suppliers - advice?

[foxhole]

Currently with Bulb, no problems, find customer service tends to be c r a p, whatever the supplier big or small.

If anyone wants to move this link gets us both £50 on sign up.

bulb.co.uk/refer/nigels7972

 

[AndyPRK]

Do you have mains gas John ?

 

[JohnW2]

Do you have mains gas John ?

Nope.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Currently with Bulb, no problems, find customer service tends to be c r a p, whatever the supplier big or small.

Thanks. From what I've seen of the reviews, it seems that the people I really need to hear from are those who have gone with a small/cheap company and then subsequently 'switched away' from them - since that seems to be when the great majority of the problems/dissatisfactions arise.

Kind Regards, John

 

[foxhole]

Thanks. From what I've seen of the reviews, it seems that the people I really need to hear from are those who have gone with a small/cheap company and then subsequently 'switched away' from them - since that seems to be when the great majority of the problems/dissatisfactions arise.

Kind Regards, John

Yes still awaiting final bill from previous supplier , they all tend to be useless , has the same problems with Eon as well.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes still awaiting final bill from previous supplier , they all tend to be useless , has the same problems with Eon as well.

Fair enough - but at least with E.ON it is difficult or impossible to build up large credit balances (which might take a long time to get back after one leaves). For a start, they appear to have a policy of automatically repaying any credit balances >£50 at the time of each bill (every 6-months) and, in between bills, one is able to manipulate the monthly DD amounts online in order to minimise credit balances.

In contrast, a lot of the people writing reviews seem to have somehow acquired credit balances (from small/cheap companies) of anything up to nearly £1000 which then take weeks or months to get back when they leave.

Kind Regards, John

 

[AndyPRK]

Oh so that is eon policy.

EDF must have a similar policy.
Refunded me £55 and then increased my DD

I had my DD spot on.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

In contrast, a lot of the people writing reviews seem to have somehow acquired credit balances (from small/cheap companies) of anything up to nearly £1000 which then take weeks or months to get back when they leave.

Kind Regards, John

Ovo paid a good rate of interest on credit balances when I was with them - better than bank rates.

 

[JohnW2]

Ovo paid a good rate of interest on credit balances when I was with them - better than bank rates.

Yes, I saw a good few mentions of that in the reviews - 3% if I recall, and some folk said that they were moving their savings into it!

Mind you, interest rates are so low these days, that for many people it's having the money, rather than the interest, which matters most.

I imagine that the lot of the problems we see being reported in relation to the very small companies are an almost inevitable consequence of the cashflow issues they presumably have to contend with - even though that's little consolation to their customers!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Oh so that is eon policy. EDF must have a similar policy. Refunded me £55 and then increased my DD

I've never seen it stated as an E.ON policy, but that's certainly how it appears to work. I've had credit balances just under £50 which have been 'carried over' to the next period, but anything over £50 (even if only slightly over) has been refunded immediately, often back in my account before I've even seen the bill!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, I saw a good few mentions of that in the reviews - 3% if I recall, and some folk said that they were moving their savings into it!

There was a limit on how much cash you could get interest upon. £1000 or £1500 I seem to remember.

Best interest rate at the moment, without any conditions or limits, seems to be Marcus at 1.5% for the first year. Interest paid in monthly, but you can only transfer money in or out, via a normal bank account. You cannot use it as a normal banking current account, but they use faster payments so it is a quick transfer process.

 

[foxhole]

Current supplier Bulb, allows me to override the DD when they try and raise it, also they ask for meter readings every month which also avoids rediculous estimates.

 

[JohnW2]

Current supplier Bulb, allows me to override the DD when they try and raise it ....

Thanks - that's good to hear - sounds like my current situation with E.ON (which allows me to reverse, online, anything up to a 20% increase).

... also they ask for meter readings every month which also avoids rediculous estimates.

It seems that many of them do ask for monthly meter readings (and others for 2-monthly or whatever readings), but a fair few of the complaints I've read are about inappropriate and excessive DD increases despite the customer having given monthly meter readings.

Kind Regards, John

 

[foxhole]

Thanks - that's good to hear - sounds like my current situation with E.ON (which allows me to reverse, online, anything up to a 20% increase).
It seems that many of them do ask for monthly meter readings (and others for 2-monthly or whatever readings), but a fair few of the complaints I've read are about inappropriate and excessive DD increases despite the customer having given monthly meter readings.

Kind Regards, John

Yes they all like you to be in credit rather than the other way round .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks - that's good to hear - sounds like my current situation with E.ON (which allows me to reverse, online, anything up to a 20% increase).
It seems that many of them do ask for monthly meter readings (and others for 2-monthly or whatever readings), but a fair few of the complaints I've read are about inappropriate and excessive DD increases despite the customer having given monthly meter readings.

Kind Regards, John

I feed them meter readings each Sunday, at the same time as entering them into my spreadsheet.