Energy Suppliers

Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,583
I'd rather they take payment for what I use.
If I use £67.89 bill me for that much. Not £80 a month.

I have my credit down to about £80 now, let it go into debit then I will just pay what I owe them each month so it stays at zero.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2003
Posts
34,518
Location
Wiltshire
They also vary the direct debit depending on winter/summer months the amount of which for me hasn't changed in 6 months. Currently mine is set at £60.89 for April to Sept and £91.34 Oct-March and while I am in credit, its probably about right to keep credit in a comfy zone and not taking the **** like some suppliers have done.
Do you know how often they change the DD amount if you're paying too much for what you use?
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2010
Posts
4,202
I had no option. When I signed up the took 2 months up front, it's continued to rise since. I had no way to reduce it, it had to be them. They were running out of money so no way they'd reduce it.

Just before Xmas I cancelled my DD to Economy Energy due to them informing me they had to put my dual fuel DD up to £172 a month due to mounting debt on the account (3 bed semi with just me and the wife), I did some calculations (because low and behold they had once again estimated my meter readings despite me giving them online every 4 weeks) and found I was about £50 in credit for each, I also started the switching process to British Gas for the January 2019 fixed tariff.

I've not transferred to British Gas yet (it's still in the system as going through) so hopefully that goes through before I get forced onto a different supplier by Economy goings breasts up.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
What are these jokers playing at?

I know quite a few forum members are with them. Interested to hear your thoughts?

They are getting very close pricewise to the big boys now. Making me wonder about changing again. British gas with quidco is actually on par, plus I get the reward benefits!

To be honest, when I heard about them on here and decided to join, I had a feeling they'd sting me with constant increases. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. My bill has gone from £67 a month to over £120 in the space of four months lol I know they have this weird winter/summer pricing structure now but even with that factored in, they are getting expensive.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.outfoxthemarket.co.uk

had the exact same issue as you. 4 price increases in a row. month after month.

so i switched to toto energy who had no exit fees. then 1 week later switched to peoples energy.

toto never passed on my initial readings so outfox the market doesn't trust the readings i gave them and has decided to help themselves to £200 instead of the £80 i owe them.

toto who i was with for a week before switching again took 2 months up front. which is okay but now they won't refund me or give outfox the initial readings. so i now have over £200 being held by 2 different companies.

i'm now with people's energy who give you shares in the company and if they make a profit i get paid a dividend. plus they are cheap. if it's not resolved by friday i'll be phoning all 3 companies on monday and telling them they better sort it out or i'll be going to ofgem or whoever it is that regulates them.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
4,096
Thanks Guys.
Just to confirm both Pure and Bulb are variable, bulb is still one of my top choices as it has been one of the cheapest the last 3 times I wanted to switch but I I did not choose them in the past due to the worries about variable price.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2012
Posts
17,510
Location
Gloucestershire
Thanks Guys.
Just to confirm both Pure and Bulb are variable, bulb is still one of my top choices as it has been one of the cheapest the last 3 times I wanted to switch but I I did not choose them in the past due to the worries about variable price.
Bulb are certainly variable, I don't know about Pure. I've not regretted being on Bulb, as they've been the cheapest or close to cheapest on the market for the 8 or 9 months I've been with them. Obviously, you lose out if you opt against a fixed price and then prices rise but, equally, you make hay if prices drop.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Posts
1,153
Location
Stafford
I would hedge a bet we see the whole sale gas price come down a bit over the next few months. The reason they were so high is the market was expecting us to have a cold winter, which lets be honest, hasn't happened yet and its almost the middle of Jan. Companies would have hedged on it being a cold winter and brought a load of gas which if its stays mild over the next few weeks they will look to offload to the market, even if it does get cold there should be enough to at least buffer any rise in prices for consumers for now, at least I keep telling myself this! :)
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
4,096
I would hedge a bet we see the whole sale gas price come down a bit over the next few months. The reason they were so high is the market was expecting us to have a cold winter, which lets be honest, hasn't happened yet and its almost the middle of Jan. Companies would have hedged on it being a cold winter and brought a load of gas which if its stays mild over the next few weeks they will look to offload to the market, even if it does get cold there should be enough to at least buffer any rise in prices for consumers for now, at least I keep telling myself this! :)
You could be right, I did another comparison today and e-on is the 2nd cheapest now but was not even in the 10 yesterday.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,290
It’s not really any different to last winter, started off really mild and then we had 2 huge cold snaps at the end of Jan and Feb. The cold weather has been getting later and later the last few years.

I remember it was snowing in March last year.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Sep 2009
Posts
2,859
Location
Gloucestershire
octopus caught my eye for that ... their variable day tarif was of little use to me though .. they seem to want to check you really have an ev too, and don't abuse it ! just a marketting ploy ?

I'll have another look but they wouldn't switch direct to the an "EV" tariff last I looked and the charging hours are too restrictive as I don't always plug in until 5am depending on my needs. Plus they won't support my smart meter and don't mention they will swap it out.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Posts
1,153
Location
Stafford
It’s not really any different to last winter, started off really mild and then we had 2 huge cold snaps at the end of Jan and Feb. The cold weather has been getting later and later the last few years.

I remember it was snowing in March last year.

It was much colder earlier last year as we had snow over winter in the midlands which resulted in almost every school in the region closing. I believe there was some patches of snow later on but I remember spending time on the beach in April. I suspect 2017 would have been fairly high when it comes to the degree day data as probably was the beginning of 2018. I think so far its been fairly mild this winter, not saying it will last of course but we shall see.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
12 Jul 2005
Posts
20,547
Location
Aberlour, NE Scotland
It’s not really any different to last winter, started off really mild and then we had 2 huge cold snaps at the end of Jan and Feb. The cold weather has been getting later and later the last few years.

I remember it was snowing in March last year.

It's much warmer here than it was last winter (2017/2018). Last winter we had snow on the ground on 12th November. So far this year we haven't had any. There have been some on the mountain behind us but not down here. I have weather data going back to 2010 (that was a nightmare winter) from my weather station and this year is significantly warmer and drier (only 34.6mm rain for all of December). It's been windier though and we had the highest gust I have ever recorded in December at 110mph which did quite a bit of damage around here. My poor anemometer must have been scared to death because it then went offline for two weeks!! it's working again now.

I have been keeping a spreadsheet of our energy use over the past few years and electricity (not so much now that all lights are led) and gas use are dropping year on year. Our central heating and hot water are gas powered (combi boiler) while everything else is electric. We had a massive drop in gas use when we had our cavity wall insulation replaced two and a half years ago. That made so much difference in winter although it has a downside in that we cannot cool the house in hot periods which was a nightmare last year. Since then there have been steady drops in gas use due to the warmer weather.

February/March is usually our worst time for snow/frost here so I wonder if it will actually be the case this year. If we don't have any snow then it will be the first winter without snow for me since I moved to Scotland in 1999.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
4,096
Over all Bulb seam the best option for me, once that changes I can always switch.
Does any one want to offer a referral similar to the £100 referral above.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2007
Posts
103
I too am with bulb. No complaints here. They are the cheapest locally. Excellent customer service.
Referral code is a great bonus. No exit fees of the price does rise. Etc.
 
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