Peoples Energy: any experiences and/or knowledge of this supplier please?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Dale Vince as the Bezos, or maybe the Mike Ashley, of renewable energy. I know someone who works for Good Energy (they're based in Chippenham), I'll inquire.

[Polar Bear]

I happened to be googling something to do with Ecotricity today and I stumbled across the fact that Ecotricity have put in a hostile bid to take over Good Energy. The Good Energy man has said to reject the bid because he reckons £3.40 per share that Ecotricity are offering is way below the true value.

https://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/7213497/Good-Energy-urges-shareholders-to-reject-340p-per-share-takeover-offer-from-Ecotricity.html

It's an ongoing saga with Ecotricity waging public war with Good Energy.  I don't really understand it but I do think that Vincent is being a persistent CBE.  His natural enemy is the fossil industry but he wages war with businesses in the same growth sector as his own enterprise.  It makes absolutely no sense to me.

[felstedrider]

I happened to be googling something to do with Ecotricity today and I stumbled across the fact that Ecotricity have put in a hostile bid to take over Good Energy. The Good Energy man has said to reject the bid because he reckons £3.40 per share that Ecotricity are offering is way below the true value.

https://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/7213497/Good-Energy-urges-shareholders-to-reject-340p-per-share-takeover-offer-from-Ecotricity.html

It's an ongoing saga with Ecotricity waging public war with Good Energy.  I don't really understand it but I do think that Vincent is being a persistent CBE.  His natural enemy is the fossil industry but he wages war with businesses in the same growth sector as his own enterprise.  It makes absolutely no sense to me.

We had a similar discussion in the office.   Dale has built a decent business but it's not as big as it could have been and his focus has never really been in the right place.   The info is all available publicly but he did take a lot of money out of the business some years ago that could maybe have been used better.   It's not a profitable business but no energy retail really is.

[felstedrider]

Record wholesale energy prices at the moment.

2 Suppliers have shut up shop this week.   There are more to come.

[Jaded]

Quite a lot of money goes into Forest Green Rovers…

[Polar Bear]

Quite a lot of money goes into Forest Green Rovers…

Terrible waste.   

[robgul]

Mr Vince mentioned up-thread has a profile in The Sunday Times Business News section today - looks like total cobblers to me.

[felstedrider]

Mr Vince mentioned up-thread has a profile in The Sunday Times Business News section today - looks like total cobblers to me.

I had a bit of a rant at the paper some years ago where he stated he was paying himself a salary of £60k a year in line with the MD of a company in the SW.   The accounts showed that significantly more than that was taken out of the business.

[felstedrider]

Did you switch ?   They've just failed :-


Two energy suppliers, Utility Point and People’s Energy, have announced today that they are ceasing to trade. Utility Point supplies gas and electricity to around 220,000 domestic customers. People’s Energy supplies gas and electricity to around 350,000 domestic customers and around 1,000 non-domestic customers.

Under Ofgem’s safety net, the energy supply of Utility Point and People’s Energy customers will continue and outstanding credit balances of domestic customers will be protected.

Customers of Utility Point and People’s Energy will be contacted by their new supplier, which will be chosen by Ofgem.

[Jaded]

Quite a lot of money goes into Forest Green Rovers…

Terrible waste.   

 

Mr Vince mentioned up-thread has a profile in The Sunday Times Business News section today - looks like total cobblers to me.

I had a bit of a rant at the paper some years ago where he stated he was paying himself a salary of £60k a year in line with the MD of a company in the SW.   The accounts showed that significantly more than that was taken out of the business.

I read the Sunday Times profile too...

robgul seems to have read it correctly...

[fruitcake]

It used to be that a 100% renewables tariff was a reason to choose a supplier, but now most seem to offer this. So now the differentiator is the quality of customer service, which for me means the ability to make changes to my account via the website and without having to wait on the phone.

Currently with Octopus and can report that their site allows a great deal of control over the account, including the amount of the monthly direct debit. I'm on a tracker tariff which charges the wholesale unit rate plus a percentage plus a moderate standing charge. My bills are cheap enough but the tariff effectively ensures the company will remain solvent. Happy to share a discount code if anyone wants an introductory £x to switch. Drop me a PM.

[felstedrider]

It used to be that a 100% renewables tariff was a reason to choose a supplier, but now most seem to offer this. So now the differentiator is the quality of customer service, which for me means the ability to make changes to my account via the website and without having to wait on the phone.

Currently with Octopus and can report that their site allows a great deal of control over the account, including the amount of the monthly direct debit. I'm on a tracker tariff which charges the wholesale unit rate plus a percentage plus a moderate standing charge. My bills are cheap enough but the tariff effectively ensures the company will remain solvent. Happy to share a discount code if anyone wants an introductory £x to switch. Drop me a PM.

In the last few months forward wholesale prices have gone from 5p/kWh to 15p/kWh.   One day this week traded at 50p/kWh.   You might be in for an expensive few months.

I wouldn't worry about Octopus's ability to stay solvent.   They are very well backed.

[ian]

I'm founding my own energy supply company and calling it ianWATT. Completely renewable power generated by my febrile mind.

[Mrs Pingu]

It used to be that a 100% renewables tariff was a reason to choose a supplier, but now most seem to offer this. So now the differentiator is the quality of customer service, which for me means the ability to make changes to my account via the website and without having to wait on the phone.

Currently with Octopus and can report that their site allows a great deal of control over the account, including the amount of the monthly direct debit. I'm on a tracker tariff which charges the wholesale unit rate plus a percentage plus a moderate standing charge. My bills are cheap enough but the tariff effectively ensures the company will remain solvent. Happy to share a discount code if anyone wants an introductory £x to switch. Drop me a PM.

In the last few months forward wholesale prices have gone from 5p/kWh to 15p/kWh.   One day this week traded at 50p/kWh.   You might be in for an expensive few months.

I wouldn't worry about Octopus's ability to stay solvent.   They are very well backed.

So get a fix now then? Octopus just emailed me today..

[felstedrider]

It used to be that a 100% renewables tariff was a reason to choose a supplier, but now most seem to offer this. So now the differentiator is the quality of customer service, which for me means the ability to make changes to my account via the website and without having to wait on the phone.

Currently with Octopus and can report that their site allows a great deal of control over the account, including the amount of the monthly direct debit. I'm on a tracker tariff which charges the wholesale unit rate plus a percentage plus a moderate standing charge. My bills are cheap enough but the tariff effectively ensures the company will remain solvent. Happy to share a discount code if anyone wants an introductory £x to switch. Drop me a PM.

In the last few months forward wholesale prices have gone from 5p/kWh to 15p/kWh.   One day this week traded at 50p/kWh.   You might be in for an expensive few months.

I wouldn't worry about Octopus's ability to stay solvent.   They are very well backed.

So get a fix now then? Octopus just emailed me today..

This is where I could get myself into trouble.   The wholesale market is the highest I have seen it in 20 years.  We have a shortage of gas inflows, carbon pricing has tripled and the power market struggles to balance on low wind days.  There’s a chance it could go higher and there’s a chance of a sell off but I don’t think it would be big.

I’m locked in until Jan and I was considering seeing if my supplier would let me extend for a year after that.

[Polar Bear]

I understand that People's Energy is now out of the frame.

Octopus seems to be the preferred choice as it stands anyway.

[rogerzilla]

Another four smaller suppliers are expected to go bust imminently as they can't afford to supply gas at the prices customers have paid.  It really is a shitshow.  I blame Thatcher.  Tell Sid he's a grifting capitalist bastard.

[robgul]

Another four smaller suppliers are expected to go bust imminently as they can't afford to supply gas at the prices customers have paid.  It really is a shitshow.  I blame Thatcher.  Tell Sid he's a grifting capitalist bastard.

I'm hoping that one the candidates is AVRO after our experience with them . . .  it seems that reviews are now almost all 1star with dire customer service and potential illegal witholding of funds to be returned etc (the older reviews looked as if they cam from the same hand . . . ? AVRO themsleves?)

[robgul]

Energy prices are the hot (!) topic in the papers . . .  but something that confuses me is the "price cap" - which I think is that an energy supplier is not permitted to charge in a 12 month period more than a fixed amount to a consumer on a "standard variable tariff" - I think it's about £1,200.

Our supply is with British Gas for both fuels on a fixed rate until February 2022 - with the likely annual amount being close to what I think is the cap value.

Looking sideways at the cap limit etc - if a consumer has a massive mansion and is consuming a vast amout of gas and electricity but opts for a "standard variable tariff" they would have a cap on their annual cost?

I'm sure I'm missing something here - but I would like enlightenment.

--
Widening this slightly I really find it hard to understand that there can be any benefits in "utility competition" as against them being state-run - for energy, water, phone, railways . . .  with duplicaton, waste and the fat-cat director factors.    I'm old enough to remember when there were just regional gas, electricity, water providers, GPO for phones and British Railways - seemed to work OK?

[Jaded]

You forgot about all those happy shareholders. Is Sid still about?

[Polar Bear]

It proves unequivocally that capitalism is a badly flawed model.  The whole boom and bust, growth and recession, bonanza times and depression are based purely on the greed imperative.  I recall from my childhood days the corner shops, independent butchers, greengrocers, etc. who weren't there making huge profits but were making a living and putting a little aside for their holidays and their retirement.  These days the profit motive has overwhelmed everything and greed is seen in some quarters (tory quarters for instance) as good.   

It also strikes me that right wingers tend to also claim to be of a religious persuasion and yet greed is not a pillar of religion.  Seems to me that religion is a convenience for these people.

I suspect that it will be difficult to switch once we are placed as all energy providers will be reluctant to take on more potential debt.

[rogerzilla]

To be fair, GPO telephones were awful.  You waited 3 months to have a line installed, it cost a small fortune to use and the phone choice was wall-hung or table in a range of muted Bakelite colours.

The other utilities were just fine, and vertical integration made them potentially more efficient.

[rogerzilla]

The Ofgem "safety net" is nothing of the sort.  You get tossed to one of the Big Five who will not honour your current tariff.

[rogerzilla]

You forgot about all those happy shareholders. Is Sid still about?

He's called Sigmund now, and lives in Germany.

[Polar Bear]

You forgot about all those happy shareholders. Is Sid still about?

I seem to recall reading that the reality was that most small shareholders sold up fairly quickly to make their back ad leavened once public utilities primarily in the hands of the wealthy.

To be fair, GPO telephones were awful.  You waited 3 months to have a line installed, it cost a small fortune to use and the phone choice was wall-hung or table in a range of muted Bakelite colours.

The other utilities were just fine, and vertical integration made them potentially more efficient.

It was odd though that BT were forced to allow others cheap access to the network allowing them to make a profit out of the public investment.  The same essentially happens with the gas and electricity networks.   Water is slightly different still but the same model could in theory be applied.

All privatisation has done is add a layer or two of spivonomics and taken a slice away from the unility and the public purse and shoved into the pockets of overpaid fat cats and shareholders instead.