Best Energy Company

SwiftFox

Which do you think is the best company. I'll start you off, we were moved from Scottish Energy to OVO. And since the move we were forced to have a smart meter installed,and everyday since the readings are wrong.

We can use £8.50 one day and on looking on their website it says we've £12.50. Then during the week we will see a decrease on one day and then it will be correct. But on phoning, the guy says don't take any notice of your smart clock, just use the app or our website for correct prices.

We're thinking of moving to Octopus and see what they're like.

bookrabbit

Octopus are great.

But the smart meter won't necessarily change although Octopus has a mini meter that can show you live and daily usage before it's available from the smart meter itself. Smart meters aren't read by the company but released by a separate company and the dates don't always line up properly with days as they don't change when readings are taken when the clocks change and they aren't released until the afternoon for the previous day. This is probably the source of your problem with the smart meter disagreeing with your own estimate.

I'm a big fan of smart meters and save lots of money by only using off peak electricity. I only pay about 15p per kWh as I have batteries that charge when it's cheap.

SwiftFox

The clock is great, it's the meter that's the problem. It sometimes doesn't send a signal or reading to them, I've reported it on numerous occasions, but they said if they have to come out and look at it, they will charge me £150.

figraspberry41

#@SwiftFox

Happy New Year!

I cannot advise you on which utilities provider is better than others. However, a few years ago, I had to have my meters changed (not simply to get a Smart Meter given the choice I would have preferred not to get one) but as mine were outside the legal limit of use i.e. 30 years+.

The company I had at the time duly sent their representative to install the Smart Meters (one for gas the other for Electricity). Unfortunately the In Home Devise would not work despite doing all the 'things' that I had been advised to do, which none of them worked!

Fortunately, a friend suggested I try Scope to 'help' with this and I am very grateful for their support and advise talking me through the process of making a complaint via the Energy Ombudsman. After many enquires, emails and phone calls and going around in circles, it transpires that the company who instal the Smart Meters have nothing to do with the supplying energy company. I then discovered that my In Home Meter (of which, I had received three at the time) and none of them worked. Apparently, the Smart Meter does not communicate with In Home Devise, defeating the object of the exercise (unless you are a utility company reliant on them sending readings of course!) In short I still do not have an In Home Working Devise that displays my usage, so I effectively cannot view my usage or know where I might be spending more than I need to (or adjust to meet a budget) because the Smart Meter doesn't work.

Perhaps discussing with your current supplier first before you decide to switch, since if you live in an area as I do the In Home Devise still won't work. This does not 'help' you directly, except knowing that not all In Home Devises work changing suppliers might not change that position. Just thought you may like to know that you are not alone with difficulties getting you devise to work for you. Hope this may be 'helpful' to be aware of.

OverlyAnxious

I had an EonNext Smart Meter in a temporary property for a few months last year. Seemed to work well and show the correct figures on the mobile app when checked. It did miss one or two days but corrected itself afterwards.

I didn't get a display with it as the previous tenant must have taken it when they moved. (No idea why as they only work with the original meter!).

I still have a non-Smart Meter at home but will be forced to change that to a Smart one at some point. I'm not against Smart Meters, but wanted to keep my obsolete tariff with a longer cheap rate than the standard Economy 7.

You probably know already but Smart Meters use mobile phone SIM cards to transmit data. If you live in an area with poor mobile signal then none of the Smart Meters will work properly.

Wibbles

Octopus every time - their Customer Service is second to none.

SwiftFox

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1093329#Comment_1093329

We pay monthly or Pay as You go I think and not by direct debit. Do Octopus let you pay monthly? I've had loads of problems with ovo with this meter.

Wibbles

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1093356#Comment_1093356

Yes - just on monthly bills - prepayment also

Although Direct Debits/ paying a set amount monthly - IS cheaper and with Octopus, YOU ARE in control of the amount.

[Link removed by moderator]

66Mustang

We're with Octopus and they seem so decent and customer-focused, I often forget that they're a business

I think where they differ is they don't promise the world and then fail to deliver - their promises are more modest but sustainable so they never let us down

Something I'd like to mention specifically is several months ago they hosted a conference in London focused on climate change; it had about 15 speakers incl. Prof. Brian Cox, Stephen Fry, Prof. Hannah Fry… They had 500 pairs of tickets to give away and hosted a raffle - you had to say why you'd like the tickets, apparently 25,000 people entered.

Cautious of playing the disabled card too much I did mention my autism / anxiety etc. and how they've held me back from progressing even though academically I think I could have but how I'd love to attend and I ended up winning a pair of tickets. I have no idea whether winners were just randomly picked, and if not whether what I wrote made an impact, but the chance was 2% so perhaps not just pot luck. If true, though, they deserve a huge thumbs up because their commitment to inclusivity and support to disabled people goes further than simply offering money off your bills

Sadly I couldn't attend as I had a health issue flare up at the time… but, to go even further above and beyond… winners had to pay £20 per ticket which was refunded upon turning up, in other words it was just to make sure people didn't waste the tickets… I emailed them to apologise that I wouldn't make it but that I understand I'd lose my £40 and they even refunded that!!! (so I donated it to charity)

Kimi87

I'm with Octopus and am generally happy, one meter issue few years ago I did get resolved but really had to push, another issue recently with payment where I feel I was misadvised, then didn't get the answer I asked for but managed to sort myself.

MrHappy

I'm currently with OVO but i've switched suppliers frequently over the years.

Maybe i'm seeing things incorrectly however for me my electricity bills don't really fluctuate regardless of supplier. What has changed in recent years and i'm not a fan of it is the demise of quarterly billing which i liked. The bill would arrive every three months and i would call them and pay it. Now Energy companies routinely want monthly billing preferably paid by Direct Debit which i don't like because i'm always fearful of not having enough available funds in my bank a/c to pay Direct Debits which could mean bank charges/penalties for not having enough money when DD's are taken.

Wibbles

Just one more important point :

The actual amount that you pay will not vary much between suppliers - in fact within a few pence it's virtually the same - this is because the "PRICE CAP" or rather "average amount that a property similar to yours will pay" is set by the government - so obviously most suppliers will charge exactly this rate….

So your only decision is how you pay and your choice should be based on customer service.

Direct Debit is cheapest and with Octopus is easy to adjust YOURSELF - the Day money taken AND amount.

Kimi87

I have variable direct debit with Octopus, so I only pay for what I use.

I did have to call to request this as they didn't allow changing to VDD via app (unsure if it's changed since).

I get emailed with my bill once a month and a date the money will be taken from my bank account (approximately 14 days).

It does obviously require flexibility in budgeting with payment being more in winter & less in summer.

MrHappy

I've never been keen on variable DD's because it allows Energy companies to effectively help themselves to a customers bank a/c. Its also a known issue that some Energy companies like to build up a customers credit balance sighting more energy will be used in the winter months than summer. I don't buy it!

My preference is to call and pay my energy bill when the bill arrives because then i am only paying for my actual usage not any more and not any less.

Its also worth remembering DD's are controlled by the Energy company not the customer which is completely different from yesteryear when Standing Orders were a thing.

MrHappy

Increasing numbers of people switch their energy supplier regularly and if one has a credit balance with a supplier its a guessing game when that balance will be refunded and how much will be refunded. There are lots of horror stories where energy companies take much longer than the 6 week deadline to refund plus even more horror stories as to the amounts refunded. Nope… my energy bill arrives then i call them and pay my bill in full.

Kimi87

I don't like Fixed Direct Debit either.

Although it's very easy with Octopus to adjust the payment amount, I prefer not to effectively give them an interest free loan against my predicted energy use.

With Variable Direct Debit you are billed once a month for the energy you have actually used. No more, no less. The exact amount you owe is then taken around 2 weeks later.

For both FDD & VDD there are strict banking protections under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-guarantee/

Suzy2stella

I moved last May to my bungalow & before that I was in a flat for 15 years with gas & electric meters. My money went on the electric meter mostly & in winter I used blankets i couldn't afford heating! Since moving I'm with Ovo & because the phone signals are bad here nobody can have smart meters so I was put on a tariff of £91 for gas & electric per month, then because I never used that much they lowered it to £61 per month! And this year I got the winter heating allowance so that went onto my Ovo account. Last month I did use over £110 as I've had the heating on as its freezing in this bungalow. Ovo took money off my heating allowance. Have you told the company your with your disabled as they have to help you? Did you get you winter heating allowance? Hopefully you did & can keep warm. If not use a heated blanket, electric blanket on your bed, hot water bottles.

Chris75_

I have been with Ecotricity for about 15 years. They aren't the cheapest i'm sure, but it's my small contribution towards the environment. 😇

WhatThe

We're thinking of moving to Octopus and see what they're like.

Hi SwiftFox, everything Wibbles has said and more..

I set my monthly DD amount, I can vary and suspend payments. In December, Octopus recommended a lower figure because I'm in credit. I could claim a 'refund' which will be in my bank account in less than 24 hours.

There are no exit fees and Octopus is one of the greener suppliers of electricity.

I am not IT friendly but find their account information easy to understand.

SwiftFox

After being moved from Scottish electric, to Ovo, which was a con because Ovo own them both. That's when the problem started. Because the move made us have an smart meter.

After they put the smart meter in, the problems started. ( A) We couldn't understand a word the worker was on about, and after that farce, it wasn't charging us the right amount. After a 5 months they sent us a bill for £500 for electric. We argued against it saying it was their fault, but somehow they tried to blame us😂.

And the faults have been ongoing since, charging extra on the day, meaning my readings meant nothing. They did knock about £150 off my bill when I threatened to report them, so did admit guilt.

So now I'm looking forward to a better supplier.

Unfortunately my post's wont show for another day maybe because of let's say I said the wrongs things in another post apparently.

Wibbles

I had a bad experience with Scottish Power a few years ago and would not go near them with a barge pole !