My gas and electricity suppliers, SSE were taken over by OVO in 2020.
They have finally spotted that I don't have smart metering and have been quarterly billing based on consumer readings.
Some 28/09 I got a mail advising a move to a monthly fixed direct debit. The amounts seemed a bit high but given the lack of published information about actual costs and not knowing the impact of Govt. subsidies I decided to ignore it.
29/09 They posted a likely increase of £532/yr for gas/electricity based on average user consumption.
21/10 They posted my new plan would be £111/month Electricity and £121.month for gas.
07/11 They advised my new plan would be £268/month Electricity and £339 for gas.
15/11 Grovelling apology about miscommunication but basically confirming the 07/11 figures!
I rather suspect OVO are hoping I'll jump ship!
Any takers for consumers not willing to accept smart metering?
The shift of SSE customers (I was on quarterly billing by variable direct debit) to Ovo monthly fixed direct debit has been a complete dog's dinner. I've had multiple e-mails about the new levels of monthly fixed direct debit, corrections, updates. It's awful. I look after 3 different properties (all, as it happens, with dual fuel gas & elec SSE/Ovo so I have seen a pattern). On one property, the estimates of the fixed monthly DD are reasonable, on the other two, they are way over-inflated. And trying to get through to customer service on the phone has a wait time of between 10 and 50 minutes (thank goodness for hands free). I hope it settles down. I don't suppose any other company is much better. I quite liked the quarerly biling and variable direct debit, and SSE were one of the last of offer it, so I'll probably have to fall in line with giving SSE/Ovo a nice free loan.
The very first e-mail I received from SSE about the change on 21 Oct said "We're always working to make things simpler for our customers. Most of our customers who have a Direct Debit pay a set monthly amount. It makes it easier for them to spread their energy costs over the year". I was very happy with quarterly variable direct debit: the process has
*not* been "simpler" and it does *not* make it "easier" to spread the costs.
[Rant over]
It only eliminates risk of non-payment if you cut people off the moment they run out of credit. I expect rather a lot of people would be unhappy at being cut off as a result of a Direct Debit failing - eg for lack of funds when an employer was late paying.
Surely, like EDF, the meters are monitored every 30 mins and the bill is based on actual readings. Why should they be estimating monthly? I'm on direct debit quarterly on the actual readings, and thus far its worked. It will of course be any ones guess what the rates will be when my fixed rate expires in 2024, assuming the crisis still goes on, but they have assured me that it will still be on actual readings and with the talking in home monitor and the accessible EDF app I will at least be able to get a pretty good idea of costs. Brian
Yes, how does that compare to EDFs standard variable though, or whatever else is out there? Personally, I tend to think they make it up as they go along. I'm lucky to be bound by EDF contracts, but I'd have thought that any company taking over another should be duty bound to do the same arrangement. After all you should only pay for what you use. Brian
With our SMETS2 meters the 30 minute readings go to the DCC but our supplier (currently BG) only gets what we allow them to see (currently every 30 days).
Ah, my energy supplier has £700 of mine for my own good! Mighty decent of them! It'll be over £800 in a few days.
No, you don't actually have to cut people off, you can, but you can also operate standard penalty/overdraft type facilities where you charge fees for running out of credit. Banks, Credit Companies, would fall over themselves to offer such a facility to energy companies.
Personally, I would be happy to take responsibility for myself.
Look at your bill, it should tell you your annual consumption in kWh.
Multiply that by your unit rate, add the standing charge, that's your expected bill for the year.
Divide it by 12, that's your breakeven monthly payment.
Look at any negative balance on your account, work out how many months you need to clear it (let's say 3 months, for argument's sake). Add that negative balance divided by 3 to your breakeven monthly payment.
Alternatively, make a one-off payment to clear the negative balance.
That should come up with an expected DD figure.
That should not differ massively from the DD figure they have chosen for you. If it does, you should contact them and challenge it. Say you've done your sums and what you expect your DD to be based on your consumption.
When the rate changes you may have to repeat the process.
(some firms profile your DD throughout the year rather than a fixed payment, and for them this process will give you the middle figure, but not the peaks or troughs)
Crazy DDs seem to arise for two reasons: having a negative balance and needing to pay it down, or a massive mis-estimate of your usage (E7 readings the wrong way round is a common one). Both of which are something you can address.
If you've been with them a while they should have a good idea of your usage. If you've been moved from another firm they should still have the annual consumption figures, but if not your old bills will tell you.
Given everyone is paying more or less the same tariff these days, I don't really see any point in jumping ship any more. You get a different customer service department but that's about it.
SSE/Ovo keep ringing me (on a withheld number, on a poor quality line, with a foreign sounding accent - all the hallmarks of a scam) to discuss my "complaint" and before they do they want all sorts of personal information, and can't see why I'm not happy to do that. When I suggest they provide me half the post code and I'll give them the other half, or they give me the gas account number and I'll give them the electric account number, they won't. It's high time these companies got wise to improving their customer offering when making contact, instead of being very one-sided. I've suggested Zoom or Teams, and I will be having to eat my hat if they are able to do Zoom.
Last time I was an with an energy company that got took over they put the prices up and basically said that if I didn't like it I was allowed to walk free from the contract!
Well, my current direct debit + government contribution is about equal to the current cost of my maximum usage for any month in the last 3 years. So, if nothing is done, I would expect my credit balance to go up. So I'm building the enthusiasm to complain, again.
My initial response was to attempt to change supplier, but all the comparison sites have shut down.
The energy company transfers the risk to the banks and credit companies. Thus, it eliminates credit risk.
It is astonishing how much credit companies will pay to enter into a credit agreement with a new customer. Usury pays!
Obviously, there would need to be rules to regulate the maximum penalty fees and interest. Much as there are for credit cards and pay day loans.
Personally, I think just cut them off, is a fine solution, but if people don't like it...
Well, they coerce, they over-charge for non-monthly tariffs. In my case, the standing charge is an extra £60 per year + 4% and 2% bump in tariffs.
This isn't representative of the costs to the energy supplier, costs over and above a correctly administered flat monthly rate. Mobile phone companies can operate such prepayment schemes for buttons. In the past, they overcharged for Pay as you Go, too. I'm not sure what changed, competition or regulation.
The real advantage to a company of DD is typically that it reduces customer control. Reduces customer scrutiny of accounts, reduces customer's ability to combat over charging, mischarging. DD has very negative side effects.
Good competitive markets should maximise customer ability to make an informed choice of supplier. DD/long contracts impact this ability to make an informed choice, and large companies naturally abuse this to their advantage.
They should, yes. However, My electricity smart meter hasn't been smart for nearly two years. I guess the government incentivised the energy companies to install smart meters, but doesn't incentivise them to make them work.
I had smart meters (many years ago got pissed-off with the number of meter reader visits requiring days at home) but they went dumb after e.on started having expensive fixed tariffs, instead of cheap, and I moved supplier.
In no rush now to get another smart meter, as working from home is now a thing, and meter readers seem to be extinct.
The only good thing about smart meters is the IHD, no more having to go and tangle with the spiders to send an online reading.
I now have one! Install and instruction took about 30 minutes. OVO now have no reason to charge the ridiculous direct debit that SSE notified. Watch this space ( )
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