On 26/02/2021 13:38, Peter Burke wrote:
Steve Walker wrote in
:

Is there any risk for the customer though? My parents recently had
this happen, but prices cannot be increased during a fixed price deal
and if the company go bust, the customer is assigned to another
company, but can choose to move to another one if they prefer. I don't
know if that is universal, but it was certainly the case for my
parents.

I recall quite a few reports of the failed energy companies being slow to
reconcile credit balances causing problems with subsequent switches and
customers stuck with Ofgem's deemed equivalent tariff providers that were
actually less favourable until it was all resolved. (From recollection of
reliable news source reports but a search is failing to find examples right
now).






It's their business model. Offer cheap rates, but make you use DD's
which then allow them to collect more money per year than you need to
pay for usage. This means they have your money in their accounts before
they pay their wholesale suppliers and extra as a free loan. This means
the cheap rates that you thought you were getting are not quite such a
bargain.
Quarterly credit accounts mean you have their energy befre you pay for
what you used and no more.