{"id":637,"date":"2017-01-24T20:43:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T20:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidwithington.com\/blog\/?p=637"},"modified":"2017-01-24T21:24:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T21:24:05","slug":"cheaper-energy-no-thank-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidwithington.com\/cheaper-energy-no-thank-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheaper Energy? No Thank You!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Saving<\/a><\/p>\n

“You can save a fortune if you switch gas and electricity providers.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to be pleasant in my reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Don’t be daft,” I told him.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They’re all the same.”<\/span><\/p>\n

And that was the end of the conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Checked<\/a>
Bad news. He was right!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But curiosity got the better of me.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I popped over to the Money Saving Expert’s Cheap Energy Club<\/em> to do a quick comparison.<\/span><\/p>\n

And guess what…<\/span><\/p>\n

He was right!<\/span><\/p>\n

“Ah, but…”<\/span><\/p>\n

(We can always find an “Ah But”<\/em> if we look carefully)<\/span><\/p>\n

“Ah, but we’ve stayed with our current energy company all these years because of the great customer service.”<\/span><\/p>\n

As I said that, I realised two things:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There was a terrible pun in the sentence.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. How could I know other companies didn’t offer good customer service?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"Good<\/a>
    Good customer service was important to me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    I’M NOT PAYING THAT MUCH FOR GAS!<\/span><\/h2>\n

    You see…<\/span><\/p>\n

    Years ago we’d switched energy providers for one reason:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Every 6 months, the previous company doubled their standing-order charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So every 6 months, I picked up the telephone, rang them, waited in a queue, and asked them how they could justify the price increase…<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Frustrated\"<\/a>
    “Please don’t make me call them again”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Especially as our account was in credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Every time I heard the same answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “But on your next review, we’ll lower it if it’s necessary.”<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    NO MORE BEGGING<\/span><\/h2>\n

    I didn’t like to keep begging every 6 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So eventually we decided it was time to move.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We found a quality company with a competitive price.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It ticked all the boxes. So we signed up.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    YOU’VE MADE A BAD MOVE!<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Of course, the previous company didn’t want to lose a customer.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"telephone<\/a>
    We received a telephone call from the old energy company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    So they rang us. <\/span>And asked why.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “How can you move from us when we’re the cheapest?” asked the customer service representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If we hadn’t already made up our minds, that question would have sealed the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Price is important to us,” I told the lady.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “But good customer service is just as important.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “If your company hadn’t doubled the price every 6 months, we’d still be getting our energy from yourselves.”<\/span><\/p>\n

    Hopefully, she would have fed that into the customer-services-ideas-tank – or whatever gobbledygook word they have for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Feedback\"<\/a>
    What do companies do with valuable customer feedback?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    HAPPY CUSTOMERS<\/span><\/h2>\n

    We were now happy customers of our new gas and electricity supply company.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Happy<\/a>
    Happy customers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    And for many years we paid them – via a regular and steady monthly direct debit.<\/span><\/p>\n

    No messing about.<\/span><\/p>\n

    No silly price increases.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And occasionally a nice price-reduction.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Picture the happy family, and you won’t be far wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    “I BET WE CAN’T SAVE MONEY ON GAS AND ELECTRICITY”<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Anyway…<\/span><\/p>\n

    Back to a few weeks ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

    After my surprise at how much money we could save…<\/span><\/p>\n

    And we’re talking, like, a 25 percent cost reduction…<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"25<\/a>
    25 percent saving on our energy bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    I did some a bit of research on the top-rated companies for price.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Then I picked the one with the best reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We joined via the Money Saving Expert’s Cheap Energy Club<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

    That was a win-win situation…<\/span><\/p>\n

    ‘Cos they would get some commission for the referral (after all, they’d done the hard work).<\/span><\/p>\n

    And we would get \u00a330 cashback.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Happy days!<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    DOUBTING THOMAS<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Doubter that I was, though, I decided to ring the new company during the “cooling-off” period.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"I<\/a>
    I rang the new energy company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    I wanted to see what the customer experience was like.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Would I have to listen to long announcements?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Would I have to press 1, then 4, then 2, then 1 again…?<\/span><\/p>\n

    Would I be in a queue for ages?<\/span><\/p>\n

    But I was pleasantly surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Just a few buttons to press before I spoke to a helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable lady who answered my question.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Hmm… Looks like they’re OK after all,” I concluded, with a sigh of relief at the end of the call.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"I<\/a>
    I breathed a sigh of relief<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    <\/h2>\n

    THEY CAN’T CHANGE US ON THAT<\/em> DATE!<\/span><\/h2>\n

    But when we received news of the changeover date, my heart sank.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “We’ll be away on holiday on changeover day<\/em>,” I said to Christine.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Let’s hope they don’t need any meter readings from us on the exact day.”<\/span><\/p>\n

    Well, my fears were unfounded.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Meter readings when we arrived home would be sufficient.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The changeover itself was near-perfection.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Apart from the email updates, we didn’t know it had happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The new energy company sorted everything out, including all the arrangements with the previous supplier.<\/span><\/p>\n

    They told us how much the direct debit would be, and when.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And that’s gone to plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

    After the former energy company had taken their final payment, we were around \u00a375 in credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But within a couple of weeks, they sent us a final bill and refunded our overpayment.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Happy days!<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Refunded<\/a>
    They sent us a final bill and refunded our overpayment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    <\/h2>\n

    BIG ENERGY SAVINGS<\/span><\/h2>\n

    So now we’re paying about 25 percent less for our gas and electricity.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Both the unit costs and the daily standing charges are cheaper.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And as far as customer-service goes:\u00a0so far, so good.<\/span><\/p>\n

    So if you’ve been with the same provider for many years, let me encourage you to compare prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Surely a 25 percent reduction in your energy costs is worth a couple of evenings spent comparing, researching, and filling in an online form.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Oh… and a tempting \u00a330 cashback!<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Looking<\/a>
    Looking forward to \u00a330 cashback<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Have you made a similar decision recently? Please leave a comment in the box below. I’d love to know how you got on.<\/span><\/p>\n