Flow Gas - Electricity Price increase without warning

Had this problem myself with Energia, a bill just arrived and 55 of the 60 days use was charged at a new higher rate when I didnt know they had put their rates up.

I checked it out on the Energy Regulator website. Basically an energy company can increase their prices and they have to use two different methods out of six possible methods to inform their customers. In Energias case they put a notice up on their website and an advertisement in a national newspaper and that was their obligation covered. I asked why they dont just email customers like they do for everything else and was told that a newspaper ad and website notification is company policy and thats that. Its a pretty shoddy system IMO and the regulator is asleep at the wheel allowing them to notify customers of an increase but to do it in such a way that a majority of their customers wont know about it until the bill arrives.

Regarding early termination as it is a variable priced contract you cannot do that without penalty (typically a 50 euro early exit fee) . It is not like a phone or broadband company where you sign up for a fixed price. Depending on your use and the increase it might still be worth shopping around, Energia have a 35 euro cashback offer as do some other companies so most of the early exit fee is covered. But no matter where you go the new company can still jack up their rates just a few months into the 12 month contract.

I know and thats exactly what I said to the CS agent, nobody has time to be checking a website every day and most people no longer buy newspapers. But those methods are what the Energy Regulator are allowing them to use so of course they are going to use them to ensure their customers dont know about a price increase until it has already happened. If they told customers by email of an upcoming increase it would prompt some people to switch provider.

Its the regulators fault but as often with regulators in this country they are next to useless and only there becasue EU directives say they have to be.

Absolutely... the regulator has a lot to answer for. Another of my peeve points is the difficulty you can have trying to find your start and and end contract date. It could be weeks after you 'sign up' that your account is actually transferred to a new provider and I have yet to receive a bill that states the date my contract actually started ... and the date it expires. It has to be a deliberate ploy to keep the info to themselves unless you call them to find out. Why is this allowed?

If the regulator, and various government spokespersons, expect you to shop around for energy provision.. they at least need to give you a clear way of knowing when you should start the process. We have regulators in name only in this country... toothless and clueless for the most part.

That depends on your usage. They have a lower standing charge but higher unit charge. You need to check your usage over the year to work out which is cheaper. Energia should be ~ 100 cheaper for me based on the last years usage.

Thats a good point, with electricity rates gone so high the 50 euro early termination fee is less of a disincentive not to switch as you can make it back on savings in the first couple of months. Also Energia gave me 35 euro cashback when switching back in August, not sure if that offer is still on but it absorbed most of the 50 euro termination fee of a previous contract that jacked prices twice in eight weeks.