FAQs
If you have any questions feel free to give us a call on 0845 456 1640.
Why does Good Energy charge a standing charge?
Why does the standing charge vary from region to region?
Why do your electricity prices vary region to region?
How are my electricity and gas Direct Debit payments calculated?
Why can’t you/when can you supply biogas?
Why don’t we have paperless billing?
What is Rota Load Disconnection?
What happens in a power cut?
There are numbers of things to do first that may fix the problem straight away; check your trip switch in your fuse box to see if any of your fuses have gone; Look outside or pop next door if you know your neighbour and see if its a localised problem. If your neighbours are out of power, it’s a network related problem and you need to call your local distribution company, but if not it’s just your house and you need to call an electrician.
Power cuts tend to be locally or regionally-based and are usually caused by a fault in the electricity wires supplying your region. Local distribution companies own the electricity network in your area and the emergency telephone number for your region is printed on the top right hand corner of your bill – you can also find it online here. Alternatively you can give us a call on 0845 601 1410 and we‘ll be happy to give you the number you need.
The local distributions companies will also be able to advise you on how long the power cut is expected to last.
How do you handle complaints?
We aim to provide our customers with the best service possible. 2009 saw us make a number of improvements, introducing a new customer management system and updating our guides for customers making them even more helpful with easy-to-follow, practical advice. We also launched the Good Energy Academy, designed specifically for our Customer Care advisors. It ensures they get the best training possible so that they can offer a service that is personal and professional with in-depth knowledge that spans all aspects of a brighter energy future, from generating your own electricity to top-notch energy efficiency advice.
Between 1st October 2010 and 30th September 2011, Good Energy received 98,718 contacts from our customers. Generally the feedback is really positive. In fact, there were just 177 complaints that we were unable to resolve within two days of receiving. That’s a mere 0.18% of our total customer contacts. This information is disclosed in line with the requirements of the Gas and Electricity (Customer Complaints Handling Standards) Regulations (2008).
We’re really proud of the service we provide, but we know that we don’t always get it right first time. If we have made a mistake, please tell us - we want things to be perfect and use every opportunity we can to learn how to do things better. If you have any complaints, compliments, ideas or just something you want to say, please let Anna Roberts, our Head of Customer Experience know by filling in our online feedback form. If you’d prefer a hard copy just give as a call on 0845 456 1640.
For information on how we deal with our complaints, please download our Complaints Code of Practice. If you’d prefer a hard copy, just give us a call on 0845 456 1640.
Why does Good Energy charge a standing charge?
All electricity suppliers charge their customers a standing charge. It accounts for fixed costs which include the Local Distribution Company’s charges for renting and maintaining the meters and wires.
Other suppliers either calculate it as a daily charge or incorporate it into the cost of the unit price; sometimes charging much more for the first few hundred units consumed – often around double the normal unit charge rate.
Good Energy aims to be transparent in all of our activities. That’s why we separate the standing charge from the unit charge. This way our customers can see exactly how their charges are calculated.
If you are currently with another supplier we'll happily do a like-for-like comparison of a recent bill to show you exactly what we would have charged you for the equivalent number of units over the same period. Please call us on 0845 456 1640 with a recent bill to hand and we can give you an idea of what you would be paying if you were to switch to Good Energy.
Why does the standing charge vary from region to region?
The standing charge accounts for our fixed costs, which include the Local Distribution Company’s charges for renting and maintaining the meters and wires. These charges vary from region to region depending on each local network company’s charges.
Why do your electricity prices vary region to region?
Good Energy’s prices reflect the cost of supplying 100% renewable electricity to homes and businesses across England, Wales and Scotland.
Our unit costs vary by region depending on the volume of power that we sell to our customers, the volume of power we buy from our generators, and the charges by the local distribution company for buying and selling that power across each local electricity network.
How are my electricity and gas Direct Debit payments calculated?
Overview
Our monthly Direct Debit payment plan is designed to spread the annual cost of your gas and electricity consumption over 12 equal monthly payments. We always try to ensure that the Direct Debit plan we agree means that your balance is as close to £0 as possible 12 months after your 1st payment. This means your account will accrue a credit during the summer months when usage tends to be lower, but the credit you build up will offset your payments in the winter when your consumption is higher.
For example, we find that most customers use 70% of their gas between November and March but would prefer to spread their costs so they pay the same amount each month.
How do you know how much I use?
To help us calculate the annual cost of your consumption we use an estimate of your annual gas and electricity usage. This is obtained from our industry partners.
When your supply is transferred to Good Energy we are provided with an annual estimate of your consumption, which is known as an Estimated Annual Consumption or EAC. The gas equivalent is an Annual Quantity or AQ. This estimate is maintained by an industry body known as a data administrator who records all the meter readings provided by customers from the day the meter was installed, as well as those obtained on site visits by your supplier’s meter readers. These readings are then fed into a central database and used to create a history of your consumption from which an EAC is calculated.
For electricity this information is updated regularly and is calculated using the most recent meter readings available, your historic readings and/or any estimated readings. For gas it is updated every August during the industry’s annual review.
How is my new Direct Debit amount calculated?
We take every effort to ensure that our Direct Debit customers are debited the correct amount based on their actual annual usage. We do this by requesting and taking meter readings as often as possible throughout the year, and by reviewing your installments on a regular basis.
To calculate your new Direct Debit we take into account the most up-to-date annual estimate of your consumption (your AQ), the current balance of your account with Good Energy and any unbilled period.
The unbilled period is the estimated charges between the date of your last bill and the date of your next payment. This is included in our calculations to ensure that you have a zero balance in 12 months time from the date of your last payment (avoiding any outstanding balance that would need to be made up next year).
We hope that the amount we’ve suggested is an accurate reflection of your usage, but if you have any concerns about your Direct Debit amount please call us on 0845 456 1640 with your latest gas or electricity meter reading and we’ll be happy to review it with you.
Can I get a refund if I’m in credit?
Our monthly payment plans are designed to spread the annual cost of your gas consumption over 12 equal monthly payments. However, if you have accrued a credit on your account we will be happy to review your payments and where appropriate refund some of the credit on the account.
When we review your monthly payments we take into consideration that on average, for example, 70% of gas usage occurs between November and March and that your account will accrue a credit during the summer months when usage tends to be lower, but the credit you build up will offset your payments in the winter when your consumption is higher.
If the credit on your account is there to cover your overall annual usage we will be unable to refund the credit on the account. Where an excess of this amount exists we will be happy to arrange a refund.
All you need to is contact our Customer Care team on 0845 601 1410 with an up to date meter reading and we will carry out a review of your consumption.
Why can’t you/when can you supply biogas?
‘Green’ Gas is also known as Biogas or biomethane, which is produced from either anaerobic digestion (which turns wet waste such as sewage and animal manure into biomethane), or gasification (which is better suited to drier wastes and energy crops such as miscanthus).
At the moment, however, whilst the gas grid operator, National Grid, has produced a report confirming that injecting the grid in the UK with green gas is technically feasible, it’s not yet cost effective to do on a wide scale. The current incentives for electricity generation (the Feed-in Tariff and Renewable Obligation) mean that it makes much more financial sense to burn this green gas and generate electricity instead.
If the government goes ahead with its plans to introduce the Renewable Heat Incentive in 2011, the economics will change and supplying biogas to the UK grid may become more financially viable.
Good Energy’s policy has always been to support homegrown energy which is produced in the UK and better for our energy security, so we are keeping a watching brief on this area, and as soon as supplying UK-based green gas becomes viable, we will try and make it available to customers.
Why don’t we have paperless billing?
Offering our customers the option of paperless billing is something we are really keen to do. It’s in line with our overall policy for sustainable use of resources, as well as our ethos as a company. The first stage of this is to replace our current billing system, which is occurring over the course of 2011. We hope this will enable us to roll out paperless billing in the future.
What is Rota Load Disconnection?
Rota Load Disconnection is the Government’s planned rota system to control the use of electricity in the unlikely event of a severe shortage of electricity production in the UK. It will only be introduced when authorised by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The purpose of Rota Load Disconnection is to reduce the demand for electricity to the level of available production. To achieve this, the country has been divided into 18 ‘blocks’ which would be switched off in turn for about three hours at a time, according to the rota.
If a national energy emergency occurs, the schedule of Rota Load Disconnections will be published through national and local TV and/or radio stations.
Good Energy has printed the block you are in on your bill to the right of your electricity supply number so that if an energy emergency occurs you can easily find out when you might be without electricity. Of course, we hope you will never need to refer to it!
