Green Star Energy Reviews
Green Star Energy reviews were import when valuing trustworthiness given its short experience in the UK market compared to its competitors. Although its parent company Just Energy Group was successful in the US, how did it fair on UK soil? Read on to read how customers rated them on review sites.
Green Star Energy is now closed! Green Network has ceased trading and is no longer operating. Energy regulator Ofgem has appointed a Shell Energy to take on its customers. Under Ofgem regulation, you will continue to receive your gas and electricity supply and any outstanding credit balances will be protected. Please contact Shell Energy for more information.
Green Star Energy’s fluctuating customer score
The following information was valid at the time of Green Star Energy’s closure and has been left un-edited to serve for reference purposes only. For more information for customers that were with this supplier, please contact Shell Energy.
Green Star Energy’s reviews were widely a mixed bad and had been up and down since they first launched into the UK residential market in 2013. When they took on 10,000 more customers from the defunt supplier Future Energy in January 2018, sharp fluctuations in customer reviews were noticeable. Green Star Energy reviews in 2017 differed greatly from those in 2016. Let’s look at the reasons for the changes and sudden decline in popularity of this green supplier. If you want a quick reminder on who Green Star Energy are and what they brought to the energy market, visit Selectra’sGreen Star Energy Guide.
What made Green Star Energy reviews go up?
- Newcomers welcome; Fresh faces among the hoard of energy suppliers were usually greeted well from the public. As customers became more disgruntled with their traditional suppliers, they looked further afield for cheaper and better alternatives. Green Star Energy reviews were scarce on the internet when they first launched in 2013 lending to the ides that fresh customers added to their positive review base.
- Green fingers; As the UK has become increasingly environmentally conscious, this supplier’s green credentials tapped into this trend. Green Star Energy’s website cited reforestation initiatives in the Amazon Rainforest, while that of the Just Energy Foundation expands on its “sustainable development” around the world. Homeowners loved this positive feature, resulting in many customers switching to Green Star.
- Low-cost energy efficiency; British households were also becoming more energy efficient in a bid to save electricity and reduce gas and electricity bills. This is in line with the government’s objectives to pull British households out of fuel poverty. Green Star Energy is one of the few suppliers that provided energy efficient gadgets to achieve this. While they were not free, they were offered with a discounted, which most homeowners found helpful.
- Competitive Pricing Claims; Since so-called “green” suppliers have traditionally been associated with higher prices, Green Star ¡tried to change this with their model of competitive pricing. Many budget conscious households were willing to pay a bit more for greener energy.
- Inaccurate billing; Many customers complained about their energy bills being far higher than their actual consumption. One such example was in October 2018 when a Green Star customer, Barbara, had seen her electricity bill go from £492 to a whopping £17,354. Around the same period, Citizens Advice had given Green Star Energy a 2.1 star rating, This added negative publicity to the green supplier which came as a bit of a surprise.
- Response times; Account management lay at the heart of many customer complaints we saw. Customers resported not being able to have small details changed on their accounts. In March 2019 reports escalated from customers claiming long response times which led to fears of debt collection.
- Prices; While most consumers would anticipate green suppliers to be a bit more expensive than their non-green competitors, many may not expect prices to exceed Ofgem’s price cap. In February 2019, Green Star announced that it would increase the price of its variable tariff to the maximum permitted under Ofgem’s price cap. This made some customers uneasy.
However, it is true that some green energy suppliers are exempt from the Ofgem price cap due to the expensive production costs associated with renewable energy systems.
What made Green Star Energy reviews go down?
Green Star Energy reviews (2018-2019)
The following information was valid at the time of Green Star Energy’s closure and has been left un-edited to serve for reference purposes only. For more information for customers that were with this supplier, please contact Shell Energy.
We compiled the scores from some of the leading customer review websites below valid at time of original publication. These are the results…
| Customer review website | Rating* |
|---|---|
| Trustpilot | ★★★ |
| Which? | ★★★ |
| ★ |
*The above ratings were accurate as from the date of original posting.
Breakdown of review scores
Let’s take a closer look at the Green Star Energy reviews published by Trustpilot, Which? and Google.
The following information was valid at the time of Green Star Energy’s closure and has been left un-edited to serve for reference purposes only. For more information for customers that were with this supplier, please contact Shell Energy.
Green Star Energy reviews on TrustPilot
Trustpilot reviews had 37% “excellent” reviews and 40% “bad” review scores. The inability to receive final bills to make payment was one complaint that we found cropped up frequently. Many reviews also mentioned inaccurate billing, as mentioned before. Customer service issues were another common thread running through the negative comments.
Reviews on Which?
Which? runs an annual “energy supplier satisfaction survey”. Based on their September 2018 survey of 72 Green Star Energy customers, Green Star Energy came 18th out of 30 energy companies. This translated into a customer score of 65% by Which? The breakdown of the result is as follows:
| Review criteria | Rating |
|---|---|
| Bill accuracy | ★★★ |
| Bill clarity | ★★★ |
| Phone customer service | ★★★ |
| Online customer service | ★★★ |
| Complaints handling | ★★★★ |
| Helping you understand and reduce energy use | ★★★ |
| Value for money | ★★★★ |
Complaints handling was generally regarded as 'good' or 'excellent' by 71% of respondents. However, inaccurate and unclear billing problems mentioned before tarnished their reputation, along with poor responses times from their customer service team.
The reviews on Google
The following information was valid at the time of Green Star Energy’s closure and has been left un-edited to serve for reference purposes only. For more information for customers that were with this supplier, please contact Shell Energy.
Google has the lowest rating given to Green Star Energy by the supplier’s customers compared to the other customer review websites we mentiobed. Among the 245 reviews published on Google on the date of publication, the average was 1.3 stars.
In addition to the echoes of similar complaints cited above regarding inaccurate billing and customer service, the reviews left on Google were also largely negative. One customer claimed that Green Star Energy got his address mixed up with his neighbour’s, while another stated that GSE’s engineer had made his smart meter lose its smart functionality. He mentioned that after seven months, no definitive solution had been proposed by Green Star to make it “smart” again.
While these reviews give some interesting insight into the company, we believe that the largely negative reviews gave an inditcation into why the energy supplier went bust. It is always best to take reviews into account with a grain of salt and do your own research.