Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph’s Guide To Energy Companies
This article in the Daily Telegraph entitled The Best Energy Companies You’ve Never Heard Of is a must read.
I swapped about fifteen months ago to OVO and don’t regret it one bit.
What nobody tells you is that to switch your energy supplier the first time, you probably spend an hour or so getting all the numbers of meters and other things you need to swap. Let’s say my big energy supplier didn’t cooperate.
But now in my profile on OVO all of those numbers are clearly displayed. So a second swap should be a piece of cake, if I needed to do it.
There are lots of these new small energy supplies out there, so when you swap choose one that suits your needs. Or perhaps one that is local to your residence or business!
Do You Have A Community Energy Partnership?
We all pay too much for our energy, because whatever the politicians do, the Big Six just use their muscle and highly-paid lawyers to get around every attempt that is made to force prices down.
They also can rely on our natural inertia to stop us changing.
So I was particularly pleased to see OVO has setup a community energy partnership in Sussex with Community Energy South.
Everyone should check out their local community energy partnership.
We’re only small consumers but we must give the Big Six as tough a time as possible.
Do you think large consumers of electricity like Network Rail, Transport for London, just roll over and pay what the Big Six think they will charge?
My Crazy Electricity Meter
My electricity meter is baffling me.
These are my dates and readings.
20-Oct – 37108
14-Oct – 37049
18-Sep – 38777
08-Sep – 38843
15-Aug – 38331
16-Jul – 36764
17-Jun – 35353
I can explain all of the figures until September the 8th, when because of the heat in July and August, I was using the air-conditioning a lot.
But the last few readings indicate to me, that something has gone wrong.
I have phoned my supplier; OVO, and they seem to be worried too. After my previous billing experience with nPower, I’m glad I’ve changed.
Ovo Signs A Breakthrough Deal
It has been announced in This is Money, that Ovo has joined with Plymouth Council, so the council can be a low energy supplier.
Ovo Energy is set to unveil a ground-breaking deal that could pave the way for local councils across the country to become energy suppliers.
A tie-up with Plymouth council will be endorsed today by Energy Secretary Ed Davey when it is announced at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of these deals, as councils get more proactive in helping hard-pressed consumers. Come to think of it, the average council, like my one of Hackney, must be quite large purchasers of energy. So they could be getting a good deal too!
Does this deal also mean that councils are thinking more intelligently about energy issues?
After all my next-door council; Islington, has built the innovative Bunhill Energy Centre to provide district heating and electricity.
So some may well be!
But are we? So many people I talk to haven’t moved away from their large energy supplier.
They’re going to change at some time, so it is best to get the pain over now, as probably like my old supplier, they’ll muck up the change.
But once you have changed, you’ll have a piece of paper with all the relevant details of your supplies and meters, so a second change will be a lot easier.
Al Gore Invests In OVO Energy
This article in the Telegraph talks about OVO Energy and how Al Gore’s interests have taken a stake in the company in particular. Here’s the first bit.
OVO Energy has raised £8m in growth capital from former US vice president Al Gore as it prepares to ramp up its battle against the incumbent energy giants.
It’s all a very interesting article.
I’ve been with them for since December 2013 and I can’t say that I’m in the least bit unhappy. There have only been minor web site problems and if I want to change suppliers again, I now have a single sheet of A4 paper with all my details on it.
The only problem with the change was nPower, who took nearly nine months to pay me, what was still in my account. I would never use them again!
Is OFGEM On Our Side?
According to this article on Uswitch, OVO Energy’s very customer-friendly policy of paying interest on overpayments is to be banned.
Obviously, OVO have not been sucking up to the regulator enough!
14-Jun-2014 – There has been update on USwitch. It includes this statement from OVO.
Our OVO 3% Interest Reward is a central part of our offer and something our customers tell us is really important to them. OFGEM shares our ambitions to make the energy market a fairer, more open, more honest place and on this occasion we’re happy to be working with them to try and help make that happen.
If nothing else the reports have been good free publicity for OVO.
Are Small Energy Companies Struggling?
I’ve just read this article on Blue and Green Tomorrow entitle ‘Unprecedented’ growth forces small energy suppliers to battle customer service issues. The first paragraph summarises the article well.
While dissatisfied energy customers are turning their back on the ‘big six’ suppliers, smaller firms are increasing their number of customers, but their exponential growth is also leading to higher complaints.
I have no current customer services issues with Ovo, who I switched to in December. Although earlier, I did have some issues with their login system.
I would expect that just like any new industry, these small energy companies will have customer service issues in their infancy, as more customers join before the staff are recruited and trained to deal with any problems.
Our Energy Future According To Ovo’s Founder
This article in the Guardian, lays out the future of our energy supplies according to the founder of Ovo Energy.
I agree with all that he said and I’d like to see more schemes like the Bunhill Energy Centre I saw last Open House.
The great thing about small energy schemes, is they are not capital-intensive and often can be hidden away in the most surprising places. They can also take heat from any source like Bunhill is going to do in the near future.
Adjusting My Energy Direct Debit
I’ve now been with Ovo Energy for three months or so now and I’m beginning to see what my usage is going to be. It’s all a bit complicated as in that period, I’ve changed the boiler for a new and hopefully more efficient one.
So every so often, I take a look at my Direct Debit and see if I should change the amount, I pay.
This morning, I found this article about energy prices on This Is Money, so as they are saying this.
Small energy companies are trouncing their giant rivals, with two suppliers now offering average households cheaper gas and electricity bills for less than £1,000 a year.
First Utility has nudged Ovo Energy off the top spot by launching a one-year, fixed-rate deal for combined gas and electricity at £994 a year. It is called the iSave Fixed July 2015 and is based on medium energy users – typically a family of three or four sharing a three-bedroom house. Ovo’s dual fuel Cheaper Energy Fixed tariff is only marginally higher at £998 a year.
So I did drop my Direct Debit a bit, but I suspect it can go a bit lower.
I’ll have to work out a proper Control Engineering based philosophy so that I minimise my payments and never go into the red so to speak.
Changing From A Large To A Small Energy Supplier
I recently changed from a large energy supplier; NPower, to a small one; OVO.
So how has the experience been and would I change now, knowing what I now know?
1. Costs
If I compare my actual costs for 2013, when I was with NPower to the estimated costs for 2014 on OVO, they are about the same at £143-145 a month for both gas and electricity. I suspect that for a modern three-bedroomed house, where I cook by electricity, do one load of washing a week and have a deep bath every day, that these figures could be a bit low.
But it is surprising how close the two suppliers are in terms of costs. Partly, this is because OVO set the level of the standing order based on what I was paying NPower
2. Account Management
I am just getting to grips with managing my account to my benefit.
In the previous section, I said that OVO set my initial payments based on my NPower usage.
I have now adjusted my standing order to my usage , as OVO allow you to do. I estimate that when I get this adjusted correctly, my bill could reduce to about £120 a month.
One thing that happens with OVO, is that if you are in credit, they give you a small interest payment. It may only be pence, but it’s more than a big supplier would give. You can also request that the balance be withdrawn to your bank account.
3. The OVO Web Site
Like all new web sites, the OVO web site has a few problems and could be better. In their case, things like remembering your login ID and the general handling of passwords are areas I would improve.
As to the login, they could do a lot worse than look at how Zopa has created a secure login. Zopa’s is certainly one of the best!
I would also recommend that you login once a month and give it a good look around.
4. Customer Support
I don’t think I have any complaint in this area.
You phone them on an 0800 number.
5. Would I Change Again?
Not at the moment, but if I did want to change, I’ve got a single A4 piece of paper with all of my details and relevant numbers on it, so change would be easy.
So for that reason alone, I would advise anybody to change at least once to an energy supplier with good paperwork and web site.
The Anonymous Widower 