Hellooo

The time had come to review my energy supplier.  Just over a year ago I left E.On – who had chosen to raise their prices when most suppliers were cutting theirs – and sign up with First Utility.

First Utility are a relatively new player in the field and the largest outside the "Big Six", so it clearly payed them to be competitive as they fought to attract customers. Consequently, I expected to stay with them for several years.  It wasn't to be.

I was soon put on my guard with persistent offers of long-term deals if I switched from my relatively inexpensive tariff to a more expensive "inflation proof" one for 18 months. These culminated in an unsolicited and very pushy phone call for a never to be repeated Black Friday offer. I said that I couldn't possibly make a decision without looking carefully at the tariff, and rang off.  Surprise, surprise; it was still significantly higher than my existing deal. By now, I was definitely smelling a rat! Then, as the contract neared its end, this email arrived —

Hello Angela.
Good news, we’re pleased to confirm you’ve updated your tariff to First Fixed November 2017 V9. This guarantees you’ll be protected from energy price rises until 30 November 2017. There’s no need to do anything, your tariff has been automatically updated from 04 December 2016.

I immediately emailed them, stating that I had NOT authorised this update and requesting to be returned to my original tariff. I would, I explained, review my energy supply arrangements before the end of January, but doubted that I would continue with First Utility. Back came this reply —

Hello Angela.
Thank you for your email. I have cancelled the request as this was not made by yourself. Your current tariff has now reverted to the original iSave Fixed January 2017. I hope this information helped. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.

So now the search was on. Deals change from week to week.  Early in December the comparisons on MoneySupermarket.com for my lowish fuel consumption had looked like this:

I'd no idea who Flow were. Co-operative Energy had, I knew, recently gained an accolade for having more complaints per 1000 customers than any other supplier.  Anyway, it was actually too early to consider a change as I would have incurred cancellation charges.

This week the comparison looked like this:

Scottish Power also have a somewhat tarnished reputation, having been fined £18million by Ofgen for "failing to treat customers fairly." Well they've had a few months to get their act together and (who would have believed it?) they were cheaper than my existing deal ... and a lot cheaper than the ones with which First Utility had tried so hard to tempt me.  Yes, it was a rat I'd smelled!

Rather than make the transfer on the Internet, I chose to phone Scottish Power and discuss my misgivings about their past misdemeanors — evidence of this girl's new-found confidence to confront the baddies.  I dialed their number...

"Hellooo," said a cheery Scottish voice. I liked that. I liked it a lot. And I know I'm far too easily impressed!  I also know that, for all their Scottish credentials, they're owned by the Spanish. But yes, the deal was as described on their website and on MoneySupermarket.com, and yes, they could have me swapped over on the very day that my First Utility tariff expired.

So that's that sorted... until 30th June 2018. By which time Scottish Power, buoyed up by their growing customer base, will probably be raising their prices to match.  Time will tell.

Life was so much simpler when I had a choice of just one supplier (SWEB) and paid them every quarter.