Cheap Prices

EDF are hardly ever the cheapest but they are consistently in the top three. Their standing charges are a standard 25p per day.

Ethical Practices

EDF are good to their customers, with no contract rollovers. They don’t have crazy high out of contract prices and I haven’t experienced any issues in customers joining or leaving EDF.
One issue that I must highlight is their strong policies against the type of businesses they will accept. It’s their provocative but I dislike suppliers limiting the market, especially the large ones that could clearly manage ‘difficult’ customers with ease.

EDF won’t accept any new customers from within the hospitality sector.

They consistently proclaim that their electricity is ‘low carbon’, which sounds like renewable energy but it’s definitely not. EDF are a nuclear power company and that’s where they generate much of their energy. Make of that what you will.

Ease of Contact

EDF are great to contact. Customers can contact them with ease via telephone, email and webchat. I often contact EDF via webchat.

Problem Solving

I’ve had a fair few issues with EDF but they solve them generally very quickly and usually via webchat. I have no complaints about EDF’s complaint handling. All customer service agents are from the UK and speak fluent English which is nice.

SSE

SSE is the second largest supplier in the UK with over 9 million customers and has been awarded the top supplier for the year in Datamonitors overall supplier to SME users. SSE takes pride in being the largest generator of Renewable Resources. SSE have now been acquired by OVO Energy.

Since SSE sold its retail customers to OVO Energy (Jan 2020) technically OVO are part of the Big 6 now.

— Hamed Adefuwa – Energy Broker (@HamedAdefuwa) July 1, 2020

Cheap Prices

SSE prices are rarely the cheapest for the type of customer base I work with (small businesses.) On the flip side, when it comes to the larger corporate meters, SSE prices are consistently cheapest or at least top three.

Ethical Practices

SSE’s practices are at best, questionable. They don’t roll contracts over after they end which is nice. They don’t place limits on type of business they accept which is great. Contract acceptance is based on credit only, which is good.

SSE do not accept businesses who have domestic meters, which isn’t great. That excludes many thousands of businesses. They also do not accept Independent Gas Transporters (IGT) meters.

Probably the most controversial thing SSE does is they quote prices which exclude an additional Feed in Tariff (FiT). Almost all energy suppliers in the UK include this tariff in their rates. SSE however do not. The FiT is usually 0.6p per kwh.

They also have a £40 a year charge for customers with an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) meter. No other supplier charges this and most businesses don’t even know they an AMR meter. Even myself as a broker, I have no way of knowing until SSE says they do.

SSE do not accept non-direct debit payments which is also not great.

Ease of Contact

SSE are ok to contact, with phone lines and email available. Their social media team is not the easiest to deal with and no online webchat available.

Problem Solving

I’ve unfortunately had the unpleasant experience of dealing with SSE’s complaints team many times. They’re not great. They are all English speaking which is nice, but in my ten or so complaints I’ve dealt with, I’ve found SSE’s complaints staff to be very aggressive and undermining. The customer service agents, thankfully are much nicer.

British Gas

British Gas (Not Lite) is the largest and most recognisable suppliers of gas and electricity in the UK, with over 950,000 customers. British Gas is the UK leading energy Home Services provider.

British Gas no longer offer a non-standing charge product for both acquisition and renewal sales.

— Hamed Adefuwa – Energy Broker (@HamedAdefuwa) July 3, 2020

Cheap Prices

British Gas prior to the introduction of their Lite product, were consistently the cheapest. Since Lite was introduced, British Gas standard prices have increased a lot. Very rarely are British Gas in the top 5 cheapest suppliers. Their prices are expensive now.

Ethical Practices

British Gas often get a bad rep since they are so large that most people have had some sort of interaction with them. I can only speak of them post 2014, which is my experience with them. They generally speaking have many practices that most suppliers don’t.

They offer a 30 day backdate for customers who end up on out of contract prices. This used to be an unlimited backdate, but they’ve now limited it. They accept domestic meters as long as the customer can provide proof they are a business. British Gas also accept related meters and also offer customers with multiple meters can have their termination dates aligned together (known as co-terminus end dates).

In terms of unethical practices, British Gas are well known to undercut their brokers and treat them badly. They will often call a brokers clients and offer them an expensive contract many months before the contract was due to end. Not great.

They do not accept cash & cheque options anymore, which is terrible for many customers. I never understand why large suppliers would refuse cash/cheque/bacs payments. Many businesses prefer to pay on receipt of bill and not via direct debit, especially those with multiple sites. They’ve also rolled back their renewable energy offer and now only offer it to select businesses.

Ease of Contact

British Gas used to be easy to contact but now even their main standard service have scaled back communication. They don’t support email communication anymore. They are easily contactable on twitter and their twitter team is fantastic. Contacting them by phone is doable but painful, many of their customer service agents are foreign based and English can be a challenge.

Problem Solving

British Gas are slow to deal with issues but they do always deal with them. I very rarely have to get the Ombudsman involved. Getting to their complaints team is difficult and painful but once you’re with them, they are great. The Complaints Mangers know what they are doing.

Cheap Prices

Npower are not cheap. In fact they’re often very expensive. I don’t think anyone thinks of Npower and thinks cheap prices. Broken clocks are right twice a day and sometimes Npower do come up cheap and when they do, I recommend them – for reasons below.

Ethical Practices

Npower have a terrible reputations. I can understand why it is justified but I have a slightly different take. Npower allow all business types and their credit policy is very lenient and transparent. They allow all businesses with a credit score of 35+. They will supply Independent Gas Transport (IGT) meters. They also accept Cash/Cheque payments, however they do charge a 5% premium for that. I’m just glad all of the above are options. Businesses need options.

There is no automatic rollover, they accept termination on time and don’t play any tactics in that regard.

Probably the best thing I really like about them is that Churches and Charities are not credit checked, neither are renewal contracts. This is a game changer and very contrary to the rest of the industry.

My one major criticism of Npower, and its a big one, is their debt handling. They have literally thousands of businesses on their books in thousands of pounds worth of debt. The customers debt levels means that they will need payment plans to pay them off. Those customers then are put onto high tariffs with Npower, which are way above market prices. The higher tariff leads to more debt.

Ease of Contact

Npower are super easy to contact. They pick up the phone quickly and they respond to emails in likewise a speed fashion. Npower’s social media team is fantastic and always active online.

Problem Solving

Npowers customer service might be hated by most, but I love their ability to deal with issues. I’ve had A LOT of issues with Npower over the years. I would estimate over 30 complaints, with probably 90% of them being resolved easily and quickly.

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.

Problem Solving

I’ve had many issues with EON over the years and I’ve had to go to the Energy Ombudsman on numerous occasions. Things rarely go wrong with EON, they run a tight ship, however when they do, you can expect customer service agents and complaints managers to remind you that they are the experts and you are mistaken in your understanding on everything. Once the Ombudsman have gotten involved, problems are solved quickly so I can’t fault them on that. I’d just rather not take every small issue to the Ombudsman.

Established in 2009, Dual Energy is one of very few UK owned electricity supply companies. Having passed the new, more stringent Ofgem requirements for entry to the market, Dual Energy also has warranties and guarantees in place to ensure customers have certainty of supply. Dual Energy were recently acquired by SmartestEnergy.

Dual Energy have a 3 Year SmartTracker Product I wouldn’t recommend at all. I’m yet to see another supplier with anything like it.

— Hamed Adefuwa – Energy Broker (@HamedAdefuwa) July 20, 2020

Opus Energy Limited supplies gas and electricity to businesses across the United Kingdom. It purchases electricity from wind, solar, hydro, and anaerobic digestion generators, and provides support to develop energy-generating sites. Opus Energy were recently bought out by Drax Power.

Opus Energy aren’t as cheap as they used to be.

— Hamed Adefuwa – Energy Broker (@HamedAdefuwa) July 21, 2020

Haven Power launched in 2006, Haven Power only supplies electricity to SMEs. It was acquired by Drax Power Ltd in 2009. Haven Power and Opus Energy are now both part of the Drax Group.

Cheap Prices

Total GP do have good prices when dealing with large usage sites. However, for standard businesses, their prices are very expensive. As most of my customers are average users, I very rarely do contracts with Total GP.

Ethical Practices

Total GP have possibly the worse policy I’ve ever experienced with any supplier – ever.

Customers who switch to Total Gas & Power and then during the transfer process, for what ever reason, the transfer fails, then the customer/business will be billed a ‘termination charge’.

This is beyond ridiculous since that customer or business was never a customer of Total GP. Likewise businesses fail to switch to new suppliers for a huge range of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with the business. Likewise honest mistakes occur.

Breakdown of Charges

Domestic Meters (profile class 01 & 02): £300
Small Business Meters (profile class 03 & 04): £750
Large Business Meters (profile class 05 – 00): £1875-£3000+

Total GP will apply for the transfer twice, if not successful, send a letter with the fee amount. Then apply for a third time, if unsuccessful they will invoice the business.

They’ve also stated that if you want to avoid the fee, you can renegotiate a new contract on the condition you can get the contract live within 6 months.

Total GP expect the customer to pay the invoice within 10 days.

Minimum annual usage accepted is 5,000 kWh.

01/02 Meters are not accepted.

All contracts are to be done as Direct Debit. BACS payment can be accepted, however £20.00 plus VAT per invoice will apply.

Total Gas and Power offer a unique product, specifically aimed at supporting new businesses (trading less than 2 years) called Activate.

Backdates are not available.

Ease of Contact

I haven’t had to contact Total GP for a long time now but I never really had any issues with them. Their customer service team and their broker team are mostly native English speakers.

Problem Solving

When dealing with issues with Total GP throughout the years, I’ve had many issues, all of which have been solved thankfully, although rather slowly. Total GP usually assign an account manager to each broker, which really allows the broker to get issues resolved quickly. My account manager was full of enthusiasm and really good at his job.

Cheap Prices

Engie are best suited for high usage meters, in particular ones that use over 100,000 kwhs per year. Prices for large meters are very competitive and I would gladly recommend them. They do offer quotes for less than 100,000 kwh meters but they are not competitive at all.

Ethical Practices

In terms of ethical practices I do not have any bad experiences with them although I have put very few contracts with them so my lack of bad experiences may be due to my lack of experience with them in general.

I know they do not accept domestic meters even if they are businesses, probably because they know they won’t be competitive on them at all. They do accept BACS payments but only via their bespoke channel.

I like that they post their credit requirements, which is currently set at an Experian Delphi score above 30.

There are however practices that I am aware of that I completely disagree with.

The one hugely unethical practice that Engie do, which drives me crazy, is that they will not offer renewal prices to the broker. This means that as a broker, if I put someone with Engie, then I MUST switch them away from Engie at the end of the contract, even if the customer is happy with Engie. They will also attempt to sign the customer up direct themselves, cutting out the broker.

ENGIE do not accept Pubs, Clubs, Takeaways or Care Homes, however they will be considered if part of a group. They also do not offer prices for Churches and Charities.

Ease of Contact

I can’t speak much on ease of contact, I don’t even remember the last time I contacted them.

Problem Solving

Likewise I haven’t had any customer issues with Engie and as such can’t comment on their problem solving.

Cheap Prices

I’ve tried to quote hundreds of meters with D-Energi and they’ve always come up expensive. I’ve tried a lot as they offered me a nice deal for working with them so I was hopeful they’d come up good. Sadly I’ve never been able to put a customer with them. I periodically check with them hoping they’re prices have come down.

Ethical Practices

D-Energi will offer backdates of up to 6 weeks, which is nice.

D-Energi have minimum gas and electric usage requirements, which means if a customer falls below those requirements, they won’t offer renewal rates. All payments are done via direct debit although their accounts team can sometimes accept BACS but only with a “good” reason.

D-Energi like many other suppliers are now preventing brokers and third parties from accessing their customers accounts unless they have an actual agreement with D-Energi. As I’ve stated many times above, this is unethical as many customers seek help from third parties and suppliers like D-Energi will refuse to entertain any communication from someone whom the customer has asked to step in and help.

They do not accept Hairdressers, Bar/Pubs/Social Clubs, Property Management, Takeaway’s (Pizza, Kebab, Fish & Chip shops etc.), Small shops (Hairdressers, Tanning Salons, Off Licences etc.)

Sadly D-Energi, do still automatically roll over customers, which is horrendous in 2020.

Ease of Contact

I find D-Energi very easy to contact via email and telephone – however they are non-existent on social media.

Problem Solving

I haven’t put any customers with D-Energi and as such can’t comment on their problem solving.

Cheap Prices

I haven’t used Yu Energy for prices since 2016 and as such I can’t comment on their prices currently. Back in 2016, they were very competitive.

Ethical Practices

Gas prices are fully fixed, however electric prices are not fully fixed. They automatic rollover customers when their contract ends. They don’t offer cash/cheque payment methods.

Ease of Contact

I’ve had lots of contact with Yu Energy and its slow and painful. Email response times are slow and social media is non-existent.

Problem Solving

I’ve had lots of problems in dealing with Yu Energy. I found their staff to be rude and unhelpful. I haven’t had great experiences with their customer service agents and their managers.