Great North Energy: compare tariff prices & switch

Great North Energy supplies gas and electricity to residents in northern England through a partnership with Robin Hood Energy. Read on to discover more about provider’s tariff rates, reviews and services.

Great North Energy customers have been transferred to British Gas. Great North Energy was supplied by Robin Hood Energy under a ‘white-label’ agreement. In September 2020, Robin Hood sold its customer base (Great North Energy customers) to British Gas.

About Great North Energy

Great North Energy (GNE) is a not-for-profit energy supplier that was founded in 2017. The supplier is owned by Doncaster Council.

Great North Energy provides gas and electricity to a few thousand residents in Doncaster, Barnsley and surrounding areas in northern England through what’s called a ‘white label’ agreement with Robin Hood Energy. In this type of partnership, the latter actually supplies the energy that is then sold under the Great North Energy brand name.

In addition to Great North Energy, Robin Hood supplies energy for various other companies as well, such as Ebico and White Rose Energy. It's through Robin Hood (which supplies energy to around 200,000 properties) that Great North Energy customers are able to receive the Warm Home Discount.

The energy supplier said it aimed to help reduce fuel poverty by ensuring “that the people in the North are getting a fair deal on gas and electricity.” Read on to find out how Great North Energy’s prices really compare.

Latest tariffs and prices

Great North Energy offered a selection of tariffs with multiple payment methods, including direct debit, on receipt of a bill and prepayment. The supplier also provided tariffs for customers with Economy 7 meters.

Let’s have a look at the supplier’s most popular tariffs.

Variable tariffs

With Great North Energy’s variable tariff, energy rates are not guaranteed because they depend on the wholesale price of energy. The supplier’s variable tariff does not include exit fees, so customers are free to leave whenever they want without having to pay a fee.

Great North Energy offered a few different fixed-rate tariffs. With these tariffs, the rates were fixed (meaning they will not change) for the duration of the contract, and customers generally had to pay an exit fee if they decided to terminate the contract early.

These tariffs are no longer offered For up-to-date pricing information, please contact the new supplier.

What were the prices for prepayment customers?

Great North Energy offered only one prepayment tariff: the Great For Pay-As-You-Go PAYG tariff. This was a variable-rate tariff, meaning that its rates were not guaranteed to stay the same.

On its website, Great North Energy stated that it “work[s] especially hard to support prepayment customers, who are often not on the most competitive tariffs elsewhere, by helping them to find a better deal.” This one “deal” actually cost several hundred pounds more than the cheapest tariff for customers who paid via a direct debit.

These tariffs are no longer offered For up-to-date pricing information, please contact the new supplier.

What did the reviews say?

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.

Great North Energy claimed its focus was on people, not profits. We did some digging through customer reviews to see what people had to say about the energy supplier. It is important to remember that customers are more likely to leave a review when they are upset, rather than when they are satisfied.

Customers have left only around 10 reviews on Trustpilot, Google Reviews and Facebook combined. In a way, this extremely low number of reviews is understandable since the supplier had such few customers.

On review site Trustpilot, which had just five reviews at the time of writing, customers gave Great North Energy an overall rating of 2.5 out of five stars. On Google Reviews, customers awarded the supplier an average rating of 3.7 out of five, and on Facebook, Great North Energy received just one star from three customers.

Praise for the company generally alluded to the energy supplier’s relationship with local councils.

“Have decided to renew my contract with Great North Energy. It's a good price, a good service and I like what they do to support local communities.”

A common theme among complaints was poor customer service.

“Very bad company. I Dont know who works there but the people on customer Service are not very clever and Dont listen at All. In three months i had to call them 6 times. Waiting to give my money back! And cant wait to leave them !!!”

Because of its small size, Great North Energy was not included in the Citizens Advice quarterly ranking of UK energy suppliers. However, when it came to customer service, Robin Hood Energy (GNE’s partner company-- now defunct) came in at just 31st place out of 39 suppliers.

If you want to read more information about the now-defunct Robin Hood Energy, you can read or guide on Robin Hood Energy reviews for a more in-depth assessment.

Login and account

This company has closed and is no longer able to be contacted as described in this guide. For assistance, previous customers must contact British Gas regarding their queries. The following information has been preserved for historical and archival purposes-

With a Great North Energy online account, you could manage your energy account 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Once you logged in, you’d have access to the following services:

• Check account balance
• Make payments and view history
• Submit meter readings
• Manage your contact preferences

How do I access the Great North Energy login page?

It was easy to access the Great North Energy login page. You simply had to go to the supplier’s homepage and click on where it said My Account in the top right corner. You would then be directed to the login page. It said Log in to your account in pink letters.

How do I log in to my account?

Below, we explain how you could log in to your account in four easy steps.

Step 1: Access the Great North Energy login page using the steps from the previous section.

Step 2: In the box under where it said Username/E-mail Address, you would enter either the username or email address linked to the account. If you had forgotten your username or password, you could click on the link that said Forgot Your Username? You wouldl need to enter your nine-digit account number, postcode and surname in order to retrieve this information.

Step 3: In the box below where you had entered your username or email address, you entered the password that wass associated with the account. If you had forgotten your password, you would click on where it said Forgot Your Password? You then had to enter your email address and go to your email account. You would open the most recent message from Great North Energy Energy and click on the link to reset your password.

Step 4: Click on the pink button that says Log in.

What can I do with the App?

The Great North Energy app allowed customers to manage their energy accounts entirely through their smartphones. Unfortunately, the app is no longer available for prepayment customers.

Through the app, customers were able to perform the following actions:

• Submit meter readings.
• View your bills and statements.
• Track your energy consumption.
• Edit your personal account details.
• Chat with customer service.
• Request to have a smart meter installed.

In addition to the above features, customers with smart meters could also do the following:

• Track your consumption in near real-time.
• Set alerts for when you’re consuming more energy than normal.
• Compare your consumption to similar homes.

How do I contact Great North Energy?

This company has closed and is no longer able to be contacted as described in this guide. For assistance, previous customers must contact British Gas regarding their queries. The following information has been preserved for historical and archival purposes-

There were various different ways to get in touch with Great North Energy. We explain the best ways to contact the gas and electricity supplier depending on your query.

Great North Energy contact numbers: a quick reference table

Emergency contact information

If you need to report a power cut or an electrical emergency, you should call your electricity network operator on 105.

If you smell gas or need to report a gas emergency, you should call the National Gas Helpline on 0800 111 999 immediately. Both of these lines are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How can I speak to a representative?

This company has closed and is no longer able to be contacted as described in this guide. For assistance, previous customers must contact British Gas regarding their queries. The following information has been preserved for historical and archival purposes-

To speak to a customer service representative from Great North Energy, you had to call 0800 145 6699. This number wass free to call and representatives are available Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. If you were an existing customer, we recommend having your nine-digit account number on hand when you call.

You would listen to an automated voice message that would direct you to the right department depending on your enquiry.

1. If you’re moving home, press 1.
2. If you’re an existing customer, press 2.
3. If you want to join, press 3.

Customers could also send an email to [email protected] or fill out an online contact form on the Great North Energy website. To submit an online form, go to the homepage and click on the pink button that says Contact Us in the upper right corner. Then scroll down to the form, fill it in and click Send.

If you prefer to write a letter to the supplier, you could address it to the following mailing address: Great North Energy, PO Box 10461, Nottingham, NG1 9JS.

Customers could also reach out through Facebook Messenger. Someone typically responds within a day.

How do I make a complaint?

To make a complaint, you could contact the customer service department using the information from the previous section. A representative would aim to provide you with a solution as soon as possible.

If you were not satisfied with how the complaint was handled, you could contact the supplier and ask for it to be reviewed. If you were still not happy with the response, you could request a deadlock letter. This letter would confirm that a mutually acceptable solution had not been found.

You were then able to escalate the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman by either calling 0330 440 1624 or sending an email to [email protected]. If you did not have a deadlock letter, you could still take the issue to the Energy Ombudsman if eight weeks had passed since you first raised the complaint.

What makes up its fuel mix?

All energy suppliers throughout the UK are required to submit details about their fuel mix. Through Robin Hood, Great North Energy gets its electricity from 100% renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.