Recent Economy Energy reviews & complaints info

Updated on 04/08/2021

min reading

Economy energy has shut its doors. We break down Economy Energy reviews to understand what went wrong. Do customer reviews give insight into Economy Energy's closure or were customers generally happy with Economy Energy as their provider?

Economy Energy reviews

Since the closure of this supplier, information in this guide is no longer frequently updated. All information presented here was correct at time of original publication and is for reference purposes only. For more up to date information please contact the new supplier directly.

As of January 8th 2019, Economy Energy is no longer trading, but some customers are still dealing with the fallout of the energy supplier’s questionable business tactics and slow-response rate to complaints.

For more insight on why the company failed, we take a look at Economy Energy reviews, Trustpilot ratings and how customers can pursue ongoing Economy Energy complaints now the provider has closed.

1. Customer service

One of the key factors we bear in mind when looking at Economy Energy customer reviews iscustomer service, including how the company interacted with its customers and helped them resolve any problems, issues or questions.

Reviews on Economy Energy left online show the supplier’s treatment of its customers may have had a hand in leading to an investigation into improper conduct. That is to say, Economy Energy reviews on its customer service have been generally quite negative.

Below we’ve examined some of the recurring themes that plagued Economy Energy’s customer service.

Money owed to customers

Most would likely agree that one of the worst possible thing for any energy company to do to its customers is to agree to reimburse a client and then never do so. Unfortunately, Economy Energy reviews show that an alarmingly high number of customers experienced this. Many report a customer service agent assuring them they would be refunded, only to have the company never deliver on the promise and break the trust that positive customer service is built on.

The good news if you were a customer affected by this is that even though Economy Energy has now ceased trading, you will still receive the money owed to you. Ofgem has declared Ovo Energy as the new energy supplier, meaning Ovo has inherited both Economy Energy’s customers and its fiscal responsibilities. Luckily for everyone involved, Ovo customer service ranks a cut above when compared to Economy Energy.

Service for prepayment customers

The former supplier' motto was to ‘level the playing field for prepayment customers’. So, were Economy Energy UK reviews left by prepayment customers positive?

Unfortunately, it seems like much of the unpaid money mentioned above was actually owed to prepayment customers. Many customers complained that their prepayment meters mysteriously shifted from having credit to owing money with no explanation, and efforts to find out why were met with endless waiting times, transfers and overall poor service.

When your prepayment costs rise to more than double within a month... despite not using more gas or electricity than normal [it] is very suspect. Last time I change supplier from some guy on a doorstep. Very suspicious company in my experience.

Prepaid customer reviews of Economy Energy also mention dramatic unexplained price changes. Efforts to find out why these increases occurred were also met with the same poor service and unanswered questions.

If you were an Economy Energy customer with a prepayment tariff, you will be transferred to Boost Energy, not Ovo Energy (Boost is Ovo’s dedicated prepayment brand). This means Boost Energy will be in charge of repaying any owed credit.

2. Value for money

In addition to customer service, generally one of the most important factors that affects customers’ perception of a company is the perceived value for money: Are the services it provides worth the price?

While everyone's perception of value is different, Economy Energy UK reviews reveal most customers were less than thrilled with the company’s prices and overall value for money. As we noted above, the company struggled with customer service issues, which likely meant customers were not getting a good service for the prices they were paying.

Moreover, the provider's prices weren’t particularly competitive versus other suppliers, being only a tad cheaper than the official price cap set by Ofgem. So, in general, customers were paying high prices for a relatively negative service. We believe this is why many reviews on Economy Energy are mainly negative.

3. Bills and account management

Managing and communicating accurate bills is crucial to the success of any energy company. Unfortunately, this appears to be another weak point for Economy Energy expressed in UK reviews.

Customer after customer has complained about receiving confusing and surprising bills. According to Citizen Advice’s Economy Energy review in 2017, numerous customers reported problems with inaccurate bills and billing errors.

To make matters worse, this was often accompanied by an inability to contact the supplier to resolve the issue. In one Economy Energy review we saw, a customer reported trying to get in touch with the company for 5 months (with no success) to try and get an accurate bill.

Worst company ever! Just make bills up and no procedures to solve complaints.

Economy Energy’s login and online account system has been taken over by Ovo too. After customers have been transferred over, they will receive new Ovo login details.

Economy Energy complaints

With poor customer service and billing practices, it shouldn’t be a shock to learn that Economy Energy complaints were commonplace. Moreover, reviews and complaints data suggest that it was not efficient at dealing with them. Complaint handling procedures were nearly non-existent which meant complaints were rarely satisfactory resolved.

Discrepancies in the company’s complaint handling was one of the primary motives for Ofgem’s investigations. The energy regulator described the provider’s process for dealing with complaints as ‘unacceptable’, before banning the supplier from accepting new customers for three months and eventually shutting it down.

You can longer contact Economy Energy to pursue complaints. While Ovo Energy has taken over all of Economy Energy’s financial responsibilities, it is under no obligation to resolve any ongoing customer complaints. If you have an ongoing complaint, you should still contact Ovo to discuss the issue as the provider may be able to help you resolve it. If not, you should get in touch with the Energy Ombudsman.

UK review rankings: Trustpilot, Which? & Citizens Advice

For previous customer reviews on Economy Energy, including some from 2016, 2017 and 2018, let’s take a look at the Economy Energy reviews we can find on Google.

Trustpilot

Customer reviews of Economy Energy on Trustpilot are quite mixed. The supplier had an overall rating of 2.7 out of 5, with 49% of customer reviews rating it as ‘excellent’ and 30% rating it is ‘bad’.

Given the poor customer service, billing and complaints handling we have mentioned above, the number of positive reviews comes as a surprise, however there are a number of explanations for this:

Most of these positive reviews are Economy Energy reviews from 2016 and 2017, so it may just be that these comments were left before the supplier started to develop problems.

Economy Energy’s referral scheme. Economy Energy offered its customers a referral scheme - customers that successfully recommended their friends to the supplier were rewarded with £20. These schemes are generally quite successful and create positive publicity for the company. This may mean that a number of positive Economy Energy reviews were simply down to customers hoping to benefit from convincing others to join and receive their reward.

Since the announcement that the energy supplier is no longer trading, several Economy Energy customer reviews are five-stars, not because customers were happy with the service, but because they were so happy about the company's closure.

5 stars why? Because this awful company has got its just desserts and gone bust. Worst customer service ever.

Which?

As Economy Energy is no longer trading, Which? has removed the supplier’s customer review and score from its annual rankings. However, with a bit of research, we’ve recovered the Economy Energy review from 2017/2018.

Unfortunately, Economy Energy ranked near the very bottom of the list. In fact, only Spark and Solarplicity scored lower with customers.

Which? also breaks down the supplier’s scores by category in order to see strongest and weakest points (value for money, bill clarity, bill accuracy, customer service). Economy Energy did poorly across the board.

Citizens Advice

The Citizens Advice Economy Energy review of July to September 2017 (the latest one we could find), saw the provider finish bottom of the table. With the extremely low score of 1.8 out of 5, the signs were already placed that the supplier was not performing well and customers were not happy.