Gas & Electricity Suppliers

[flango]

Has anyone any experience of using a company called First Utility for electricity and gas supplies?

I'm currently with N Power & British Gas but N Power have made a mess of my billing by continually using estimates, even though I have supplied the meter reading by phone.

So time for a change, the attraction to First Utility is that they fit smart meters which automatically send data back one per day for billing, therefore no meter reading. Also the data is made available on line so you can track consumpion, trend etc + a home display that shows your useage and history.

First Utility website HERE

Any thoughts, experiences etc would be most welcome.

 

[verytalldave]

I would read this first.............
http://www.first-utility.com/downloads/Resi_EnergyTermsConditions_0107.pdf

Clause 5.3 could be interesting.

If you later want to change to another alternative energy supplier, you are responsible for paying to have your meter changed back and are liable to reimburse First Utility.

Clause 5.5 is worth pondering also..........

I would look into it quite deeply if I was you.

Or maybe I am just being a bit paranoid..........



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[flango]

I would read this first.............
http://www.first-utility.com/downloads/Resi_EnergyTermsConditions_0107.pdf

Clause 5.3 could be interesting.

If you later want to change to another alternative energy supplier, you are responsible for paying to have your meter changed back and are liable to reimburse First Utility.

Clause 5.5 is worth pondering also..........

I would look into it quite deeply if I was you.

Or maybe I am just being a bit paranoid..........



.

Yes I had seen these its £200 if you cancel or swap within the 24 month contract period, thats fair enough and they are up front about it. They are making the investment by supplying the 2 meters so only fair I stay contracted to them for them to recover the investment.

5.5 Is a fairly standard clause too and is in both my current N Power and British Gas Contracts, it's about having the meter repositioned if you do building work to your home and getting it working again. When I asked them what happens if they lose signal from a meter and an engineer has to come out, they said that is down to them and covered under the supply conditions.

 

[Dryce]

Has anyone any experience of using a company called First Utility for electricity and gas supplies?

I looked at them as we switched earlier in the month.

They want to tie you in for 2 years. It wasn't clear just how good their national coverage is. The Ts & Cs didn't quite match up with the other information (eg. exactly how much you'd get charged for leaving them).

I got the impression they were very immature and that the idea of the smart meter was attractive but it's early days and other suppliers may well offer this option (and also the option to take it over at no penalty) in the near to medium future. So with First Utility you're taking on the burden of being an early adopter.

If you're just interested in monitoring your usage then you can buy the energy meters on the web or from Maplin from around £30 and up with a similar wireless display. This might be worth doing before going with them to analyse your usage before committing to them if you're not sure what benefits you might get from their two and three level tariffs.