My Utility Point Account​ FAQs

If you’ve chosen a fixed rate tariff with Utility Point, we’ll take your first Direct Debit payment on or around the date that you come on supply with us (your Supply Start date). Payments after this will be taken on the monthly anniversary of this date. Please be aware that payment may come out of your bank account a couple of days after this date if it falls on a weekend or a bank holiday.

At the end of each month, we’ll produce an energy statement for you to show in detail your usage for that month. We only charge you for the energy you use, so the more meter readings you submit, the more accurate your statement will be.

How your Direct Debit is calculated will depend on the energy tariff that you selected when you joined Utility Point and whether or not you found us using a comparison website.

Your monthly Direct Debit amount may differ over the duration of the contract and you may find it is higher at the beginning of your contract.

This is because we buy energy in advance and in bulk. Buying energy in this way means we can offer you unit rates at the most competitive prices on the market. That doesn’t mean that you pay more than you should, however. It’s still the lowest price on the market but adjusted in such a way that helps us deliver you the energy at the lowest costs.

At Utility Point, we review how much you’re paying every 6 months. This is so we can ensure your payments reflect your energy usage and that there isn’t an unexpectedly large credit or debit on your account.

If your usage is higher or lower than expected, we may alter your Direct Debit payments accordingly, but we will confirm with you before making any such changes. Even if your account is in credit, we may still need to increase your payment amount to allow for higher usage during the winter months, which will help you avoid a surprising bill.

Direct Debit Example 1

If you use less energy than initially anticipated, we’ll reduce your monthly payments so that you don’t end up paying more than you need to.

Direct Debit Example 2

If you end up using more energy, we’ll need to increase your monthly Direct Debit so that your payments stay in line with your usage. In this scenario, your account will be in credit when the adjustment is made. If the payment amount stayed the same, there would be a large debt at the end of the contract because you’d used more energy during the winter months.

Remember, you only pay for the energy you use. Any remaining account balance will be settled at the end of your contract.

If you are thinking about cancelling your Direct Debit, please get in touch with us before you do so. If any payments are missed due to us not being able to claim them, you may be subject to a missed payment fee (set out in the Terms and Conditions).

It also means that you may be in danger of falling behind on your payments and that subsequent Direct Debit payments will need to be higher than previously quoted to cover any missed period.

We also initiate any refunds via Direct Debit, so if it has been cancelled it will take us longer to get your money back to you.

If you are no longer a Utility Point customer and have settled your final bill, then please do cancel your Direct Debit Mandate.

Your energy usage won’t be the same all year round which means you’re likely to see your account balance in debt over winter and in credit in summer (if you’re paying via a fixed Direct Debit this should even out across the year). This means that even though your account balance may be in credit, you may not be entitled to a refund.

To make sure there isn’t any large and unexpected credit or debit on your account, we review how much you are paying every 6 months. If your usage is higher or lower than expected, we may revise your Direct Debit payment accordingly. Don’t worry, we’ll confirm this with you before doing so.

If you have used more or less energy than forecast at the end of your contract, we will take a further payment or offer a refund so your balance finishes at £0.00. We will only charge you for the energy you use.

If you believe that you’re entitled to a refund, please see our Refund Policy.

We understand that sometimes unforeseen events may happen, and you might have trouble paying for your energy. If this is the case, please get in touch with us as soon as possible and we’ll see what we can do to help. The sooner you let us know, the sooner we can talk through your options and find a solution.

Remember, one way to make sure your bill is accurate and that you aren’t overpaying for your energy is by providing us with regular meter readings.

For further impartial advice, please visit the below websites:

www.citizensadvice.org.uk
www.moneyadvicetrust.org
www.nationaldebtline.org
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
www.ageuk.org.uk

Yes, we can provide additional support for those customers who need a little extra help. If you have special requirements, you can add your details to Utility Point’s Priority Services Register (PSR), a free service designed to give our vulnerable customers the support they need.

For example, if you have trouble reading your bill or rely on our energy to run essential medical equipment at home, registering with our Priority Services Register will provide you with peace of mind. Whether your needs are relatively simple or more complex, we want to help as much as possible.

You are automatically eligible to register on the PSR if you:

• Are of pensionable age
• Have a chronic illness
• Are blind or partially sighted
• Are deaf or hearing impaired

Find out more about Utility Point’s Priority Services Register here.

For certain customers we can offer free annual gas safety checks carried out by a fully qualified person who has appropriate expertise. This will include checks on the safety of your gas appliances and any other gas fittings on your side of the gas meter.

For each gas appliance, an examination will be carried out to determine the effectiveness of any flue, the supply of combustion air, its operating pressure or heat input (or, where necessary, both), and make sure it’s safe to operate.

To qualify for an annual gas safety check, you will be:

• Of pensionable age, disabled or chronically sick; and
• Live alone; or
• Live with others who are all pensionable age, disabled, chronically sick or under 18 years old; or
• Live with others, at least one of whom is under five years old.

Please note that you must:

• Not occupy premises where a landlord is responsible for arranging a gas safety check under regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• Be in receipt of a means-tested benefit
• Not have had a gas safety check carried out at the premises in the last 12 months

Yes, you can nominate someone else to manage your energy account with us but you will need to give us permission to do so first.

We can send your bills and relevant correspondence to a relative, friend, or carer’s address. Before you let us know, you’ll need permission from your nominated person as they’ll have to sign the relevant section of our Priority Services Registration form.

If you have a lasting power of attorney (LPA) in place, the person or persons you nominate can help make decisions on your behalf. These decisions fall into two categories: Health and Welfare and Property and Financial Affairs. If you already have an LPA and wish them to act for you when dealing with us, we’ll need to see evidence of this and we will then update your account.

If you’d like more information or about Power of Attorney’s, please visit the government’s website.

Currently, we do not support FiT (Feed-in-tariff) payments. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t switch your energy supply to Utility Point.

All this would mean is that you would have separate arrangements in place with two different energy suppliers; one with Utility Point for your own consumption and another for the energy your solar panels generate.

View our tariffs.

All energy companies are required to inform their customers about the mix of fuels they use to generate electricity and the impact this has on the environment.

Visit our ​Fuel Mix Disclosure page to learn more about the mix of fuels Utility Point uses.

Problems with your energy can be frustrating which is why we’re here to help in any way we can. If you aren’t happy with the service that we have provided, please see our complaint’s procedure for details on how you can let us know.

Read on to learn more about how we deal with complaints.

Our complaints procedure

Your feedback is important to us as it helps us improve as a business and deliver the best possible customer service.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service or processes, please let us know so we can investigate and take the relevant steps to solve your problem and improve our company.

Making a suggestion

If you’d like to make a suggestion about an improvement rather than a formal complaint, please contact our Membership Relationship Specialists on * or email .

*Our lines are open Monday to Friday 09:00am – 6:30pm

Who can complain?

Anyone affected by the way Utility Point provides their services can make a complaint.

Making a complaint

We take all complaints seriously and use valuable information from investigating to help us improve the service we provide. We treat all complaints in confidence and aim to handle complaints quickly, effectively and in a fair and honest way.

You can get in touch to make a complaint by:

• Emailing us
• Writing to us at Utility Point, Floor 7 Merck House, Seldown Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1TW
• Calling between 9am-6.30pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays)

Please note we don’t have the facility for customers to attend our business premises in person.

Anonymous complaints

We deal with anonymous complaints in the same way as named complaints. However, we ask that wherever possible you provide contact details so we can tell you about the outcome of our investigation.

How we handle complaints

We will always aim to resolve a complaint as quickly as possible. However, some complaints may take longer to investigate and for us to reach a satisfactory resolution.

If we can’t resolve your complaint on your first point of contact with our Members Relationships Specialists, your complaint will be passed to our dedicated complaints team.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and give you the name and contact details of the person looking into it for you and keep you up to date with the progress of our investigation. We aim to have all complaints resolved within 28 working days unless we agree on a different time scale with you.

When we have finished the investigation, we will provide you with a full resolution including details of the findings, any action we have taken, and our proposals to resolve your complaint.

Further steps

If we can’t resolve your complaint within 8 weeks, or you are not happy with our resolution, you can contact the Energy Ombudsman for help by:

• Calling
• Emailing
• Visiting ombudsman-services.org
• Writing to Ombudsman Services: Energy, PO Box 966, Warrington WA4 9DF

Please note, the Energy Ombudsman won’t normally investigate a complaint until we have had an opportunity to respond and resolve matters within the 8-week timeframe provided.

Impartial Advice

Citizens Advice can provide free impartial advice at any stage during a complaints process.

Their powers include the right to investigate any consumer complaint about actual or threatened disconnection and to investigate complaints from vulnerable or potentially vulnerable consumers.

They can also refer your case to their Extra Help Unit or other consumer bodies better able to assist if needed. You can contact Citizens Advice by:

• Visiting their website – www.citizensadvice.org.uk
• Calling their free helpline on , Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Utility Point is registered with and regulated by Ofgem. Please note that Ofgem cannot get involved in individual complaints about providers but is happy to receive information about services at any time.

You can contact Ofgem by:

• Calling
• Emailing
• Visiting ofgem.gov.uk

To learn more about how to reduce your energy use at home, visit the Energy Saving Trust 

Whether you need help finding a better energy deal, making a complaint, paying your bills or you just need general advice, we’ve compiled a list of websites you may find useful:

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

www.energy-uk.org.uk

www.moneyadvicetrust.org

www.nationaldebtline.org

www.stepchange.org

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk

www.ageuk.org.uk