It’s been two months since we switched to a new energy provider, so it’s a good time to discuss our first impressions and write our GOTO.energy review.
When we moved into our house, we inherited the previous owner’s provider – E.ON.
I was astounded by E.ON’s high unit tariff and after some comparative research switched us to OVO Energy during which time we were pleased with the rate and service.
After our one year agreement was up, OVO tried to increase our tariff by nearly 20% on renewal and they refused to budge, prompting us to switch again. I’ve gone into more detail about utility providers and their poor attempts at customer retention in this post.
Electricity unit rates
After a lot of comparison hunting we came across a start up called GOTO.energy. They ticked most of the boxes that we were looking for in an energy provider: competitive unit tariff of 13.835p/kWh, standing rate of 22.45p/day and their electricity is from green, sustainable sources.
As a household, we get through about 15,000kW of electricity per year because we have an air source heat pump driving the central heating and hot water demand in our property. It’s therefore of paramount importance that we get the best price per kW unit. Based on our consumption every penny counts – 1p less on our tariff means a saving of £150/year.
When we did our comparisons, the usual suspects like British Gas, Scottish Power and E.ON have tariffs that are up to 25p/kWh. If we selected a tariff like that, we’d be paying an incredible £1,500 more per year for our electricity with no obvious additional benefits.
It’s madness, but something needs to pay for the penguin ads on TV, I suppose.
Service
The customer service from GOTO to this point has been excellent. Their staff have all been very helpful and courteous both on the phone and email. Having said, they are a startup and we received correspondence from them earlier this week to say they now have over 1,000 customers.
Despite the low number of customers, they have started out being customer service orientated which is a positive, after all, you start how you intend to continue.
At the moment, they promote that they pick up the phone within six seconds. It’ll be interesting to see if they can maintain that customer support standard as they grow.
Their customer website and app are now also available so you can monitor your account online and also submit your meter readings. They’re not flashy, but they are functional and do the job.
For customers like us that have joined them at the outset of their journey it’s a no brainer to switch to them as we get to experience great customer service and good tariffs.
The downside
There isn’t one that I can see right now. If, for whatever reason, they don’t work out as a business, we will get absorbed by another provider and if their rates and customer service don’t work for us we’ll simply switch again.
Verdict
Great customer service, low tariff and green, sustainable energy. So far, they have been extremely transparent in their dealings and the switch was seamless enough.
Given the way things have progressed, I would certainly recommend them, and that concludes our GOTO.energy review.