Ebico bites the dust and British Gas bites my ...

[ToughButterCup]

'Twas Jezza of blessed memory  who told me to be quick and, ably backed up by that Scottish Sparkler (see what I did there ? Bonfire night and all that?) @ProDave I opened an account withEbico (who, when unmasked called himself Robin Hood Energy).

Well Ebico , just as Jezza predicted , blew its fuse. And along comes British Gas, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tell me that they have my best interests at heart. Yeah, right.....

 

Except that they say they're charging me a standing charge .... can they do that ? Don't they have to offer me exactly the same tarrif as I was on with Ebico? (16 p per kWh;  0 standing charge)

(Got the capitalisation right there didn' I  @SteamyTea ? )

 

[SteamyTea]

nO eXiT fEe.

So free to change.

 

If an offer is too good to be true, it probably is.

 

Why I avoid all this swapping nonsense in a mature marketplace.

[ToughButterCup]

I'm not sure how the Exit Fee relates to the question of whether I should be charged at a different rate than the one I was on... ?

Perhaps I didn't make it clear. British Gas took over from Ebico when that company failed.

 

Can British Gas, after taking over Ebico's customers,  charge me more than Ebico did? Can it charge me a standing charge when Ebico didn't?

Edited November 6, 2020 by ToughButterCup

[SteamyTea]

It will be in the wording if the deal somewhere I am sure. Their compliance lawyer will have checked.

So just change. There are plenty of others that are about to go pop.

 

Or, phone 0161 836 1346

You and yours likes this sort of thing. I think Tuesdays are 'energy day'.

[PeterW]

Yep they don’t have to honour the tariff and will transfer you to the nearest comparable tariff under OfGem rules. It is also why they are not allowed to charge an exit fee, nor are they allowed to block any transfer to a different supplier. 

[ProDave]

I think they were the last one offering no standing charge for electricity.

[dnb]

26 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I think they were the last one offering no standing charge for electricity.

I believe so. It was most convenient for a self-build site. Oh well, we did OK while it lasted.

[Dreadnaught]

I signed up for Ebico just before the British Gas transfer. Electricity only. On Ebico I was on the "Ebico Zero Green Fixed v5". 

 

Britsh Gas have offered me ""British Gas Zero Fixed Sep 2021", with no standing charge.

 

Furthremore, the transfer looks to be possibly slightly advantageous. Possibly. The ebico tariff had a "Minimum annual charge of minimum bill value of £52 a year including VAT". The British Gas tariff does not mention the minimum, even in the small print.

 

In September 2021, I would not be surprised if British Gas withdraw that tariff and I am then left paying a standing charge.

 

During the transfer, they did mess up my meter reading, but that's a different subject.

[bassanclan]

I opted to join the British Gas zero standing charge offer too, it looks like if you didn't opt in you ended up on the 22p a day tariff as shown