The Lemon Fool

I was on a fixed price contract with Utillity point until Juy 2021, however I got an e-mail the other day saying they were transfering me to a company called Neon Reef on a "competative tariff". The competative tariff is £20 a year dearer than the old tariff with utillity point. its fixed for a year with no leaving costs , but theres nothing as cheap as the new tariff out there , so looks like I'll have to accept their transfer . A strongly worded e-mail to utillity point suggeting as that they have broken the contract they should be paying me £30 for terminating the contract early has recived no response ( not supprised)

Over the full year to Feb 2022 im proberbly no worse off , as yes I would save about £10 on the price to July , but them proberbly end up paying more July to Feb 2022

Main concern is as they just e-mailed me and said they were moving me to a new company with diffrent prices ( With 5 days notice) whats to stop any company doing this if they decide a fixed price contact is not in their interest?

BTW - Neon Reef & Utility point are diffrent companys, at diffrent adresses , but with the same directors

steelman99 wrote:I was on a fixed price contract with Utillity point until Juy 2021, however I got an e-mail the other day saying they were transfering me to a company called Neon Reef on a "competative tariff". The competative tariff is £20 a year dearer than the old tariff with utillity point. its fixed for a year with no leaving costs , but theres nothing as cheap as the new tariff out there , so looks like I'll have to accept their transfer . A strongly worded e-mail to utillity point suggeting as that they have broken the contract they should be paying me £30 for terminating the contract early has recived no response ( not supprised)

Over the full year to Feb 2022 im proberbly no worse off , as yes I would save about £10 on the price to July , but them proberbly end up paying more July to Feb 2022

Main concern is as they just e-mailed me and said they were moving me to a new company with diffrent prices ( With 5 days notice) whats to stop any company doing this if they decide a fixed price contact is not in their interest?

BTW - Neon Reef & Utility point are diffrent companys, at diffrent adresses , but with the same directors

What's the contract say?

contract with U/P says nothing about it - just says if I leave I will be charged £30+vat

As I said for the first 6 months I will be down by about £10 , but as prices will proberbly go up , I may be better off for the 2nd 6 months

Main concern is whats to stop any company dumping you off a fixed price contract at any time they want to by transfering you to another company owned by the same people

steelman99 wrote:Main concern is whats to stop any company dumping you off a fixed price contract at any time they want to by transfering you to another company owned by the same people

They can't force you to sign a new contract, or change suppliers if you don't want to. If they haven't given any justification for why you're moving, I'd write back saying this is an unauthorised switch and you want to stay on your current contract. If they do switch you without permission, you should be able to complain to Ofgem.

steelman99 wrote:contract with U/P says nothing about it - just says if I leave I will be charged £30+vat

As I said for the first 6 months I will be down by about £10 , but as prices will proberbly go up , I may be better off for the 2nd 6 months

Main concern is whats to stop any company dumping you off a fixed price contract at any time they want to by transfering you to another company owned by the same people

I've just read through the UP T&Cs and the only thing I can find that might remotely allow them to switch you to Neon Reef (a separate legal entity with its own Ofgem supply licence despite its common directorship) is the following clause:

22 OTHER CONDITIONS
22.1 In the event of a company restructure, change of ownership or another event required as part of our general course of business, we may transfer any of our rights or obligations under this agreement and it may not be possible to notify you or seek your permission beforehand.

Most, if not all suppliers will have a similar clause which will essentially allow them to sell of their customer base.

Bulb for example: "18.2 - We can transfer any or all of our rights and responsibilities under the agreement (including the right to receive any payments due to us) to another person without your permission, as long as they have all the necessary licences and approvals from Ofgem or other industry bodies. We will tell you in writing if this happens."

Spare a thought for some in Texas who after the extreme cold spell saw $16,000 bills dropping through their door. Apparently those on fixed term contracts were fine, but where those on floating contracts have seen the private energy suppliers ramping up charges to exorbitant levels.

1nvest wrote:Spare a thought for some in Texas who after the extreme cold spell saw $16,000 bills dropping through their door. Apparently those on fixed term contracts were fine, but where those on floating contracts have seen the private energy suppliers ramping up charges to exorbitant levels.

There is a supplier in Texas who offers an uncapped wholesale tariff where you pay $10 a month plus the wholesale cost of the electricity you use. Those exorbitant prices were the going market rate for electricity.

The saga of my forced change from Utillity Point to Neon Reef gos on and on

I took a meter reading on 15th Feb - the day of the supposed changeover , and sent it to both Utillity Point & Neon reef.

Utillity point then sent me bill dated the 19th Feb showing they had taken a direct debit out of my bank on the 17th Feb and they billed me to the 19th Feb. I contacted both groups about this and got some random e-mail from Neon Reef , and no reply from Utillity point , just when I looked at the utillity point account a few days later the old bill had dissapeared and a new one to the 15th Feb but without the credit from the Direct debit on it

The £86 Credit that was in my account with Utillity point has now disapeared from their online display , but the £19.80 direct debit they took on the 17th Feb has appeared on my neon reef account . God knows where the other £86 pounds of mine is

Between them they are making a right balls of it

Im not sure if the bill dated the 15th on the Utillity point account is the final bill or not - Im assuming so , but it dosent say its the final bill or anything and its still showing £86 credit

Im quite able to keep track on whats happening , but I wonder how many people who have been moved are baffled by this

For what it's worth, I see from Twitter that many customers of UP find it hard to contact them or get them to do as they have promised.

A tweet seems to get their attention and a request to DM (direct message) them.

Of course there is no guarantee that they'll be ny better once you DM them and therefore "take it private", but it might be worth a try if things get really messy.