Glowpower has increased prices by 50% but I am stuck in a contract with them!

Could you guys explain what attracted you to Glowpower?

Was it their advertising?

Was it as a result of a price comparison website?

Had you any concerns?

Brendan
 
I was with GlowPower for the last 12 months. They were one of the cheapest with night rate at the time I switched. I've had no issue submitting meter readings on their site. I've never had estimated bills accurate with any supplier. I've received the emails about price increases. My 12 months were up last week so I've switched again. While looking at other suppliers, all of there prices are increasing. Electric Ireland will increase in August I think.

Attached is from the General Terms and Conditions about notification of changes (https://glowpower.ie/data/Terms and Conditions.pdf)

09. Changing Pricing and this Agreement
Unless you are on a fixed price contract, we are entitled to change the price of electricity. If we do so, you will be given 30 days notice in advance of the date the variations are due to take effect and notified in two ways from the following methods:
• In writing on or with your bill,
• By email, SMS text message or by letter
• Mass Media (TV, radio, newspaper advertisement)
• Website
 
So mass media,and on their website .No communication with customers and terms and conditions are complied with.
 
Hi losttheplot

Great to see an alternative view.

I know all providers have increased their costs, but the OP says that their rate increased 50%.

By how much did yours increase over the period?

Brendan
 
I signed up in June 2020 through Bonkers.ie. I think it was one of the lowest standing charges at the time and the unit rates weren't much different to the others. All prices below are excluding VAT. The unit increase is about 20% over the year. The biggest increase is the standing charge, more than doubled. They could tidy the user interface on the website a bit, some of the usage graphs could be improved.

ItemInitial (June 2020)1st Increase2nd IncreaseAug 2021
Day Rate0.15260.15990.1650.1873
Night Rate0.07950.0830.0850.0965
Standing Charge0.250.250.520.5902
 
I was attracted to them through the Bonkers comparison website. Their unit price on that website was showing as the lowest price available. I did not realise that in less than 6 months they were going to increase their prices by 50%.

I know that all prices are increasing but it would be great to know, percentage wise, what increases the other providers have had in the same period.

This is their response to me when I advised them that I had not been notified of their price increase in June 2021.

********

"thanks for coming back to us, we do understand customer frustration when it comes to price rises. No one likes them but we’re in a position where we have had to change our pricing.



We sent our affected customers an email 30 days prior to price changes (we’ve included a copy of the email we sent in May) In addition to the thousands of emails we’ve had to send, we’ve done a couple of other things, because we do like to think we’re as transparent as possible.



We update on our bill emails so that any and all customers can see if prices change and we copy a link to the price changes page on our website.

We also update our website for all price changes so that people can look at any time what is changing and when. We do this in an open and honest way."
 
I also found them cheapest on Bonkers.ie. Funnily enough when I looked on Bonkers this week it didn't mention the reduction that Bord Gais Energy were offering on their website so I'd advise anyone to check individual websites as well when shopping around. I didn't have any concerns at the time but tbh the monthly billing would have put me off if I had noticed it, depending on the price difference too of course.

I have sent them an email pointing out their terms and conditions below and asking whether they have a proposal to get out of their contract and I will report back here.
6. Your rates as outlined in your agreement will be applied from the date that Glowpower is
registered as your supplier and will continue for a period of one (1) calendar year from that date
 
Don't fret about the notice. If they are entitled to raise your prices, then failure to give notice is only a minor issue and it's very easy for them to comply with it by advertising it and changing their website.

The key issue is whether they are entitled to raise your prices if you have a fixed price contract for a fixed period.

Was it marketed as a fixed price contract or as a discount on their normal prices?

What did the Bonkers material say?

The next issue is whether you have a right to exit the deal without penalty if they put up prices. If you have, then the failure to give notice would be important. But they probably did comply with this.

And, of course, all suppliers have increased their prices. Did Glowpower do it by more than the others?

Brendan
 
I got my latest estimated bill from GlowPower this week. It is identical to the penny as last months estimated bill. What are the chances of this happening?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Was it marketed as a fixed price contract or as a discount on their normal prices?

What did the Bonkers material say?
Click to expand...
Most or all tariffs available from Bonkers or directly are variable and the provider is perfectly entitled to change prices mid contract. A glance at your terms and conditions will clarify.
Brendan Burgess said:
The next issue is whether you have a right to exit the deal without penalty if they put up prices. If you have, then the failure to give notice would be important. But they probably did comply with this.
Click to expand...
I'm not aware of any fixed price tariff from Glow Power so almost certainly they are not obliged to waive the early termination penalty if you leave mid contract.
Brendan Burgess said:
And, of course, all suppliers have increased their prices. Did Glowpower do it by more than the others?
Click to expand...
I'm with them and even with the hefty recent price increase they are competitive. There have been many price increases in the electricity market over the past year and I'm not sure that we're done yet.

Generally what I do is check Bonkers and if there's a significant saving to be made - allowing for the €50 early termination fee if applicable - I'll consider switching. But it's impossible to tell if the new provider might jack up the prices soon after switching. Especially these days.

For now I'll ride it out with Glow Power as any potential savings are marginal in my case.

Glow Power did one big increase lately. Others did two or three smaller increases over a similar period that amounted to the same sort of total increase.
 

Same here, 18 months of excellent service and I've had no complaints.

They issue an inflated estimated bill every month probably to incentivise customers to send in their own reading, then as soon as the revised reading is sent in (via their website) the estimated bill is cancelled and replaced by the accurate one. That suited me fine, but maybe not everyone can be bothered to track their own consumption!

When I notified them after 12 months that I was leaving they offered me an extremely competitive rate to stay ...... so I did.
 
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Some of the practices seem in clear breach of consumer protection laws, eg unfair contract term laws dealing with price.
 
DeeKie said:
Some of the practices seem in clear breach of consumer protection laws, eg unfair contract term laws dealing with price.
Click to expand...
What specifically do you consider unfair in their contact terms and conditions and practices? I never noticed anything in these areas that all other electricity providers don't do. And I can't see how the likes of the energy regulator would allow any provider to get away with such things.
 
Just received my latest bill.

Their estimated readings
Day: 41745
Night: 32691

Actual readings
Day: 41646
Night: 32631

Marginally high but not outrageously so.
I don't see any evidence here of them deliberately over inflating the estimated readings to nudge me to submit an actual meter reading as alleged earlier.
 
I'd assumed the estimate was based on the national average, as they get more data about your usage it would change to reflect that. So the longer your with them, the better the estimate. With Covid and metres not being read as much, the estimates could be off, unless you supply readings.
 
Going against the grain of the thread a bit but I've actually found Glow fairly good to deal with.

With them for 18 months and they were easily the best rate (for my usage) in that time. However with the increasing rates, our bill was going to increase substantially because we are all electric with a heat pump so no fuel.

I made a complaint by email pointing out a few things in their marketing and that my bill would increase by ~€500. They replied by phone the next day and agreed to waive the termination fee based on my comments. I have since switched to Electric Ireland so while more expensive than what I was on, it's not as bad as a €500 increase
 
_OkGo_ said:
Going against the grain of the thread a bit but I've actually found Glow fairly good to deal with.
Click to expand...
Me too. Maybe I didn't make that clear.
I will double check if another provider will be cheaper now that the latest increases have come into effect but I suspect that it's much of a muchness for my needs at the moment.
 
ClubMan said:
Me too. Maybe I didn't make that clear.
I will double check if another provider will be cheaper now that the latest increases have come into effect but I suspect that it's much of a muchness for my needs at the moment.
Click to expand...
Ah - looks like I was wrong - with my Glow Power charges (ex VAT) as follows it looks like I can easily beat that by switching even after paying the €50 early exit fee - the only concern would be that the destination provider would hike charges after I join but even then there's a lot of headroom!

Day: 19.47c (up from 13.00c)
Night: 10.03c (up from 7.15c)
Standing charge (per day): 61.36 (up from 45)
 
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