Cheap Prices

For many years Crown Gas & Power were my go-to supplier for gas prices. They always have cheap prices but now other suppliers like CNG have come and beaten them in prices. I do still put my customers with Crown GP occasionally but they are not as competitive as they once were.

Ethical Practices

Crown will install a free gas AMR meter if the customer wants one, which is nice. They do accept BACS and Direct Debits, which I really respect. I hate the fact that large suppliers, 10x the size of Crown GP, refuse BACS payments. They do also outline their minimum credit score requirements which is 30 with Experian. I like when suppliers are transparent.

Crown however, do not backdate contracts for customers who are on out of contract rates, which isn’t great. They also don’t accept pubs, clubs or takeaways – just like many other suppliers these days. (They will accept all businesses via bespoke pricing.)

I haven’t had any success getting IGT meters with Crown Gas & Power, however I have had it confirmed to me that they do accept IGT meters.

All of the above is fairly trivial and I can live with. However one of the main reasons that Crown Gas & Power is so low on my list of energy suppliers in the UK is their archaic system of automatically rolling over businesses at the end of their contracts. 

Crown Gas & Power State;

If the Customer does not wish to enter into a Renewal Contract, the Customer must give Crown Gas & Power the Relevant Notice to Terminate the contract at the end of the Supply Period. Where the Customer does not serve the Relevant Notice the Contract will automatically renew for a period of 12 months.

I did have someone from Crown reach out to me regarding the rollovers, who said;

We appreciate your feedback on the automatic rolling over of contracts, however we do this so that customers are not left on out of contract rates for months (sometimes years) on end. It also means we can accurately purchase the gas for the customer’s usage therefore securing more competitive wholesale prices for everybody, and it means we can continue to pay broker commissions without risk of clawbacks.

I did respond back to this stating that I completely understand it from a short term business perspective but from a long term branding perspective, customers want freedom. Many other suppliers will place customers onto fixed 12 month prices that are 30% higher than in contract rates but the customer is free to switch whenever they want. 

Alongside this, they require non-micro businesses to terminate 60 days before end date, instead of the typical 30 days. Many suppliers do this and I find it strange.

The above rollover policy is virtually unheard of nowadays and in my opinion, has no place in the Energy industry.

Ease of Contact

I haven’t contacted them via phone in a long time but their google reviews are full of praise about their speed at handling phone calls. Social media I haven’t tried so I can’t comment. Contacting them via email is good, they respond usually in a day or two and their staff are helpful.

Problem Solving

I haven’t had any problems with Crown Gas & Power – so make of that what you will. Probably a good thing.

Extra

I completely respect and appreciate the fact that one of their staff wrote to me to explain some things and also challenge some of my opinions about them. I’m going to make an active effort to do some more business with them and hopefully I can update this review with some more experiences.

Crown Gas & Power Head Office

Address: Crown House, Bury New Rd, Heap Bridge, Heywood, Bury BL9 7JR, United Kingdom