Anyone on here use First Utility?
Seen mixed reviews on them but coming out as cheapest for me.
moved to flow energy no issues at all, apart from still waiting for my cashback
Ah yes seen them mentioned too, how long have you been with them?
Yes we moved to them from Scottish Power last year, a fair bit cheaper than SP, and everything still works as it did before. You take your own meter readings and upload them, otherwise no real difference.
Can't speak for customer service apart from the switchover which was painless.
For me it's price vs support when you need them, which hopefully is not often. On this basis, I went OVO which is amongst the cheapest and comes out very highly in the service surveys.
Whilst we were changing over, they did everything they said they would and in plain English with a slightly funky overtone (bit like Virgin Atlantic used to be). I had to call them yesterday to give them a reading as I was away during the switch. Uh oh I thought, here we go. Phone answered first ring by a normal bloke in Barnsley or some such. Sorted it immediately no fuss, no hassle, and no 'I need to transfer you to team x in Mumbai' bolleaux. They reminded me of Plusnet before BT mangled them.
We were with SSE before who were pretty good on service (but getting worse) though costly in comparison.
Which did a survey recently, FU came 10th of 22.
Things are unlikely to go wrong.
I used to be with them and had no problems. Only moved to GB Energy as they were cheaper come renewal time. Only good things to say about both companies.
I've just changed from them. No complaints, but e.on worked out cheaper. Switching is dead easy. Only took a phone call.
Switched tariff yesterday with Eon, gutted to find out if I'd switched from their variable to fixed tariff I'd have been £600 better off earlier. Even more gutted when ranting at them to be told my bill did say exactly that (albeit in fairly small print).
Decided to stay despite the poor customer service, can be impossible to speak to them although the website is fairly good for most things. Money saving expert had the new tariff as one of the best and I switched online in seconds, last time I switched it took 3 months.
Moral of the story as if it needs emphasising, check, I didn't realise how quickly a 'good' tariff can go bad.
I'm with Ovo and have been with them for several years now and cannot see myself changing in the near future.
Had smart meters put in last year so don't even need to send monthly readings in anymore its all automated.
Get a monthly statement which is logical and easy to understand, plus any credit in my account earns interest.
As above OVO.
Based in Bristol and superb service.
Just renewed our contract with Ovo. FU were cheapest on the comparison sites, but Ovo have just been so easy to deal with.
Not n power I have a potty mouth.
I seem to remember OVO coming out in the top few when doing comparisons but not on these I've done this week. Another one to check out then.
I do wonder sometimes if the negative feeback left on these newer smaller companies is somehow something to do with the 'big 6', just a thought?
Wouldn't touch any of the big 6 with a shitty stick anymore.
More competition the better,the market needs shaking up.
Just moved from SSE to GB Energy as they were about 15% cheaper, and got a 5% price cut mid move!
I do wonder sometimes if the negative feeback left on these newer smaller companies is somehow something to do with the 'big 6', just a thought?
We moved to Ovo last year; when I was looking into it I got the impression that a lot of the problems with the smaller companies were down to how quickly they have all expanded in the last couple of years, so they struggled a bit to keep up with the increase in numbers. It sounds like Ovo went through a period when their websites and other systems couldn't really keep up, so switching and bills were flakier and less timely than they should have been.
I assume they're all used to it by now, as it's all been fine here.
is it cheaper to switch, or just 'start a new account'? i ask as im about to move in 2 weeks time. least faffage is to just tell edf im going, cancel acc, and then start with someone else on the moving date.
but.... could there be a benefit to switching (no present exit fees) to ovo/flow/gb here and now and then just 'change address' in a couple of weeks?
thanks
moved to OVO on recommendation of forum member (both he and I got vouchers, as well).
They've been fine, and seem - on paper - to be a good way cheaper than my previous (big 6) supplier.
Moved from british gas to edf, very simple, currently saving 20pounds a month
I'm just moving from Ovo to British Gas, hope I'm doing the right thing. They were cheapest by a good way for me, through the Money Saving Expert Cheap Energy Club thing.
moved to OVO on recommendation of forum member (both he and I got vouchers, as well).
do they still do that offer?
Is there any way to switch energy suppliers without having to pay by direct debit?
Yes I've seen that BG deal with MSE too, might go with that myself but £60 exit fees if you leave before a year so I'm going to go through the list of other options from that site just to compare.
Ovo aren't in the top few cheapest now, for me anyway.
not sure @sadexpunk - at the time we got John Lewis vouchers - that was maybe 9 months ago. Then I moved my mums house supply to OVO - another couple of vouchers - then I recommended a forum member and another couple of vouchers.
I can check 🙂
£25 Amazon voucher each.. Do you want to switch ?!
i think so. not sure i can 'switch' tho, can you just recommend me to start a new acc?
the present one at edf will be closed and then ill start again at new pad, so theres no switch as such.
ill have another look at the comparison sites, i was trying to work out whats cheapest yesterday. ovo wasnt tooooo bad but daily standing charge seemed a lot. flows daily charge was better.
probably all much of a muchness, you can drive yerself daft looking at all the differences.....
thanks
What did you decide in the end Sadexpunk? Did you look at ecotricity too?
haha just looking through them again tonight. had a hectic few days moving and got a bit of time tonight.
sort of fancy ovo, but flow look a bit cheaper so just gonna have another hour or so looking through them now. nope, havent seen ecotricity on my radar, so will go have a look.
ta
EDIT: ecotricity seem expensive. maybe cos theyre green?
one thing puzzling me. i have an economy 7 meter that i used to use for day/night usage when everything ran through the night. these days we dont run anything during the night so cancelled the economy 7 tariff and went for straight tariff. yet when im asking for quotes/details, companies are implying ill be charged more cos of this meter, even tho id just be on a straight tariff. can you shed any light on this?
This reminds me I need to look at ours.
no idea regarding your eco7 question sorry.. but looking on the money saving expert group you appear correct they aint that cheap (not shocking though) for being eco.
I got a good one with flow too but first utility fixed until april still came out about £60 a year cheaper.. could be worth a punt? £60 buy out fee at the end tho that needs to factor in
ah yep, forgot about that, id always want a zero buy out fee. ive fallen out with so many of them in the past for being useless that i insist on being able to just cancel when i like 🙂
I've still not decided 🙂
Looked at duel fuel prices and then doing them separately as well.
Just chose one, it's not worth this level of scrutiny.
Oh and go for OVO
USwitch through Quidco and get some pennies back - it's worth switching.
ill probably go for ovo then, looks like theyve got the 2 options, online only or the other one with phone support too.
online is cheaper, but does that really mean i cant ring em at all to query something? or does it just mean i cant phone in meter readings?
Have a look at Good Energy our supplier of choice for the sparkle magic. We ain't got that there gas stuff up ere.
Sadexpunk, you can still ring them if you need to query something. I asked them this not so long back. Whenever I've needed an answer from them, they're very on the ball with emails as well.
sorted now ta, gone with ovo through kcals 'recommend a friend' thing ^^^
very friendly and excitable young lass sorted it all on the phone. apparently my address was 'awesome' and my phone number 'fantastic'. not so sure myself, but a very pleasant customer service experience for a change.
course, if any of you decide to go to ovo too, id be only too pleased to pass the recommend on again and make a few bob for us both 😉
thanks
What is this OVO, didn't notice it as an option when I looked via the MSE website comparison
We've just switched to Ecotricity from npower. We're on a key meter though (council house) and Ecotricity have a flat rate for everyone which is nice.
What is this OVO, didn't notice it as an option when I looked via the MSE website comparison
[url= https://www.ovoenergy.com/ ]here you go[/url]
thanks sadexpunk 🙂 :thumbs up:
All those praising OVO, when I was looking their standing charge per day was way higher than anyone else making them mid table on the comparisons.
Not the same for you guys then?
I'm with OVO and need to switch by April. First Utility are showing as £100 cheaper per year than my current OVO deal.
switched from SSE to the today with suggested £730/year saving - happy days
suggested £730/year saving
😯
That's a big house you've got 🙂