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Electricity suppliers - ony advice?


Muckle Oxters
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I've been tinkin to move energy suppliers after SSE recently hiked the prices.

 

Dir seems to be lots of start-up companies offering very low prices den going bust, and some dunna operate in Shetland.

 

Do any of you fine folk have ony advice?

 

Oh, and I'm on da Total Heating Total Control tariff which fairly limits the choices.

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Yeah, unfortunately THTC pretty much limits you to SSE.  Problem is that THTC uses 2 supplies and most companies aren't setup to cope with that.  Did use Coop Energy for a while but honestly couldn't recommend them, they made SSE look competent and fair.  You may also find that, if you can get an alternative supplier, they may charge 2 standing charges because there are 2 supplies.

 

You could ask SSE if they can disconnect 1 supply and put an Eco7 meter on the other (probably chargeable) but you would be responsible for getting your home reconnected to the new meter.  This would be more difficult because SSE apparently don't have any engineers in Shetland.

 

There's also a requirement for companies to work with people on restrictive tariffs like THTC, but this only means that they will offer you their single rate tariff instead and this is not usually an improvement because everything that you use on the heating rate would be charged at normal rate.

 

Best advice is to look out for fixed rate offers, had a few good ones from SSE over the years, but they are few and far between.

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Bulb is one of the newer energy companies, they have an “Economy 7 meter” tick box on the page that lets you look up their tariffs. I am told by someone with Bulb that they are very good at responding to any queries you have; they are happy with them and their prices. With Bulb,you have to give them all meter readings yourself online, perhaps I think also emailing them a photo of the meter when you change over. We are on year three of a three-year fixed tariff with SSE, now a very good price, but plan to look around when that expires.

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A gentleman from Citrus Energy has been up at various energy efficiency events. They are a social enterprise based in Scotland that is non-profit and out to save Scots money on their energy bills.   

 

He was very knowledgeable and said they could switch any tariff from any company including THTC. Apparently they have access to a huge range of products which are not on comparison sites and their tariffs available update much more regularly than online. Worth a phone I'd say. 

 

http://citrusenergy.businesscatalyst.com/about_us.html 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Took me the best part of a year to get the SSE THTC meter taken out of my house, SSE told me it was “too far” to send an engineer to do the work!! Despite their published “...you can change your supplier anytime...” it is not realistic given how few electricity companies can effectively manage that type of meter - I tried and it was a nightmare. I involved the Energy Ombudsman Service to try and help - they eventually made a decision (which couldn’t be appealed) that SSE should make a written apology (not worth the paper it was written on) and remove the meter. SSE said they would remove it by 26.12.18 - the OS believed them and closed the case and in March 2019 the meter was still in place. I had complained to and about the OS and was ignored. I told SSE there was an electrician who lived very near to me who I thought undertook SSE work on occasions but that information seemed to be ignored. I contacted the Guardian newspaper ‘Consumer Champions’, they replied asking for my electricity account number and all the OS letters as they were going to investigate the fiasco. That same day I received a telephone call from the electrician I had told SSE about and within 2 days the proficient worker took under an hour to remove and replace the THTC meter.

Apart from the “its too far” excuse, I had also been told that the delay was due to SSE meter engineers not being available as they were being trained up to deal with smart meters - no comfort as apparently we are not (yet) eligible for them.

I would suggest, IF you can, get the THTC meter removed and change supplier. In my experience SSE appeared to prioritise their profit margins over and above customer care.

Good Luck - I think you will need it!!

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Trying to follow the rabbit down the hole..

First lets try the internet..

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/energy-price-cap-will-give-11-million-fairer-deal-1-january

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-price-caps/consumers

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-price-caps/levels-energy-price-caps

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/default-tariff-cap-level-1-april-2019-30-september-2019

https://www.energyscanner.com/energy-price-cap-level-1-april-2019/

> With effect from 1 April 2019 energy consumers on Standard Variable Rate and other default tariffs
> are about to get hammered with massively higher energy bills courtesy of the Energy Price Cap.

I thought this 'price cap' stuff was supposed to help folk ?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/09/ofgem-announces-price-cap-/

> At the time, May said: "For far too long, older people, hard-working families
> and those on low incomes have been subject to rip-off energy tariffs.
> Our energy price cap will protect households from unfair price rises in time
> for this winter when people can feel the pinch more acutely."

So no mention of next winter, when it will be +22% +46% and +56% price rises !

I think I preferred the old system where it went up a few percentage a year !

Is this working as intended ?

I guess its like when in London they wanted to introduce better housing conditions for poor folk, as such rents went up 300% in less than a decade..

Did they replace your meter for free ?

I wonder when smart meters will be coming here ?
(Not that I'm a great fan of them, but it would solve the problem of getting the meter read when there are no meter readers available..)
 

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  • 1 month later...

we switched from the SSE to EON, then to Bulb a year or so ago and it's all been fairly straightforward. had to get a new box fitted by SSE to be compatible (economy 7 i think....) 

 

this is a handy thing to see what you could save if you're considering switching: https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/

 

if anyone fancies going over to Bulb you can get £50 off at signup if you go through a referral link (so does the referrer). PM me if you want a link.  :thmbsup

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