SSE's Customer Service Guarantee

In my job I spend quite a bit of time on the phone to energy companies with my clients, trying to help them sort out their bills, repayments, house moves, supplier changes, you name it.  It can be a frustrating task, and I've heard certain pieces of hold music more than any person really should.  The quality of customer service varies enormously, and it can be a real problem when we can't get the answers we need to sort things out.

Let me tell you about my own experiences recently.  When we moved house, we kept our old energy supplier.  Somewhere along the line, a different energy company ended up supplying us gas for a month, and my new/old company tried to tell me about this online.  Unfortunately, my online account wouldn't log in to my new address, because I used the same email for my old address.  Eventually we found out what had been going on, and got the gas transferred, and the online billing sorted out for the new address, which involved shutting down the online account for the old address.  Then I got a letter about my old address, telling me they had been trying to contact me, I owed them large amounts of money, and they wanted to take me to court.  It took me a few phone calls, being told a whole selection of rubbish, before we finally sorted out that a) I didn't owe them anything, b) they owed me, and c) they'd been trying to contact me through my online account for the old address - the one that doesn't work any more.  We sorted out a new bill, and the customer service advisor promised me it would be sent by post, because I can't get into the online account.  Guess what? I got an email, and no letter.  Great stuff there.

Right now, I'm wishing I hadn't changed energy suppliers.  Partly because I've not got any confidence in them any more, and partly because if I'd been supplied by one of the SSE group (SSE, Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric, Swalec & Atlantic), I'd be a little bit better off now.  SSE have launched a new Customer Service Guarantee, and if they fail to meet their promises, they'll give you £20 off your next bill.  I can't argue with that, £20 is a nice bit of cash, and very welcome.

Their promises are simple.  They're committed to:

• Finding ways to save you money.  If they have a deal that will save you money, they'll let you know.
• Making life easier for you.  If they say they'll call you back, they will.  Which also saves you hanging on the phone while they look into the ins & outs of your account.
• Helping when you need them most.  If you're having difficulty paying, they'll work out a payment plan with you that meets your needs.

I phoned SSE a few weeks back, with one of my clients, and I can honestly say that they met every one of those commitments.  They checked she was on the best tariff for her needs, they worked out a short term payment plan, and made longer term suggestions for how to manage her bills, and they called me back after checking things out, rather than leaving me listening to endless repeats of Damien Rice's Cannonball.  In fact, I'd say they went one step further, as they made sure both me & my client understood everything, how the bills were calculated, what she needed to do, and what her options were in the future.  We all went away from that call a lot clearer and happier about the situation.

If you want to know more about SSE's Customer Service Guarantee, they've put together a video to explain it in a bit more detail.

I'm hoping other utility companies follow SSE's lead, it would certainly make my working life a bit easier.  There's no big secret to good customer service, you just have to remember that customers are people, and treat them how you'd want to be treated.  Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.  I was not told what to write, all opinions are my own, and the experiences detailed above are genuine.

LED Hut LED Lighting Review

Sometimes a review opportunity comes along that speaks to you so much, you just can't help but get a little bit excited about it.  It may not be the most glamorous product, but you know, sometimes it's genuinely an item you really need and can get behind.  This is one such time.  I was, and still am, honestly excited by the chance to review LED Hut's LED lighting range.

Five! Count them!

Let me explain.  The people who built my house thought it would be a great idea to fit spotlights in the kitchen.  Yeah, they look great.  But really.  Who needs five 60watt bulbs in a room that is only 3m x 4m?  Honestly?  It's like walking out on stage at the London Palladium, only without Bruce Forsyth.  And the cost?  Well, you don't want to know.  Seriously, it's been costing me a fortune.  So when the opportunity arose to try out some LED lights, I knew which room I wanted to concentrate on.

The good people at LED Hut have a bulb selector on their website, so even if like me, you know nothing, they can direct you towards the right bulb, just by matching the fitting of your existing bulb, and then choosing from the range.  And if you're really stuck, they've got a telephone helpline, and I'm sure they've been asked far dafter questions than "What bulbs do I need?"  I had to ask, because none really looked like the ones I was replacing.

Picture courtesy of LEDHut

With a bit of help, I selected these High power spotlight bulbs to screw in replacing my old incandescent bulbs, which I seem to have spent a lot of time replacing over the 8 months since we moved in here (I don't know how old they were when we got here, but I'm guessing they weren't new).  The new bulbs have a 5 year warranty, and should last around 25 times longer than my old bulbs, which means they should last me a good 20 years.  No more climbing on chairs for me!

More importantly, we've gone down from 60watts per bulb to 4.6 watts.  That's more than a 90% saving, which in reality means I'm looking to save around £80 a year, for changing the lights in one room.  Imagine if I changed the rest of the bulbs in the house!

Don't get me wrong, there is a very slight difference in the amount of light, but it's actually an improvement.  While it's not quite as bright as before, that's not at all a bad thing, it's less blinding, less migraine inducing and far more comfortable.  And a big, big thing I've noticed is that it's a lot cooler and more comfortable to work in the kitchen.  With incandescent bulbs, and spotlights in particular, an awful lot of the energy is converted into heat rather than light, which is wasted in most cases.  In my kitchen it felt a bit like being under a sunlamp.  Now none of the energy is wasted and it's all converted into light, which means I only get hot from the cooker, not from above as well.

Squeaky is quite amused by the spotty lights.  They do take a little bit of getting used to, but you don't really spend a lot of time looking up at lightbulbs when they're off.  Or I don't anyway, maybe I'm strange.  The new bulbs are a little bit smaller than my old incandescents, but that again is a good thing. The old bulbs were a very snug fit in the fittings, and extremely difficult to remove, whereas the LED bulbs have enough space for me to grip them to turn in & out without risking breaking the bulb.  There's much less risk of breaking a bulb with this particular one, as there's a lot less glass, the body of the bulb is metal.  There's also no toxic materials inside, so even if the bulb did somehow get damaged, there's no risk to your health like with other bulb types.

My brightly lit kitchen

LED Bulbs aren't a cheap option in the beginning.  The bulbs in my kitchen cost £11.62 each, meaning it would have cost me £58.10 to replace all the bulbs in the kitchen myself.  But looking at an £80 saving per year on my electricity bill, I'm in profit in 9 months.  And if they last twenty years, well, I'm laughing. No more bulbs to buy, cheaper bills, cooler kitchen.  It's just a case of balancing out the initial outlay with the saving.

The rest of my house is fairly awkward lighting-wise as well, they had some really strange ideas when they built this house.  Sadly, the bulbs that feature most heavily in the rest of the house are a fitting that LED Hut don't stock at present.  I'm keeping my eyes open for the future though, as I'd love to upgrade the rest of the house.  LED Hut have converted me to LED lighting.

Wondering whether LED is right for you?  Well, here's some facts that might help.

The average household lighting bill in the UK is around £300 per year.  Replacing existing halogen bulbs with LED bulbs can cut lighting costs by up to 90%, or an average of £270 a year!


LED light bulbs last 25-30 years, so no replacement costs.


LED bulbs use 90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.


A typical home switching all its halogen lights to LED could also save 6 tonnes of CO2.

Disclosure: I was provided with LED bulbs for one room free of charge for the purpose of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

Squeaky Goes Green

We're learning our colours, bit by bit, in Squeaky Mansions at the moment.  We can positively identify "red", find red things, and say "red" at the appropriate time.  We're not bad at "blue", though it tends to be said "bue". Yellow is a bit more tricky, and Squeaky's still getting that one a bit confused.

However, today, we're interested in "Green".  Ten Green Bottles, and all that.  I've put together ten hints and tips on how to save energy, money and the environment, with simple ideas from the mind of a simple mum (me), and a bit of help from La Squeak.

1. Close Doors.  I'm forever on at Daddy to shut the door behind him when he's leaving a room, even if he'll be back in a minute ("I'm only going out to the bin" is his usual reply)  Warm air from the house rushes out through an open door, to be replaced by cold air, which needs heating, and increases your heating bills.  Keeping doors closed means you keep the rooms you're in at a reasonable temperature, and you're not paying to heat the street.

2. Turn off the things you're not using.  Again, this is something I nag Daddy about all the time.  He'll put the radio on in the kitchen when he washes up, and then forget to turn it off when he comes back to the living room. No-one is listening to Radio 2, or whatever nonsense he's put on, and if no-one's listening, it's burning unnecessary power.  Flick the switch.

3. Dry outside.  Make the most of the wind and the sunshine (yes, I know), and put your clothes outside on the line to dry.  They'll get that lovely clean, crisp feeling, and you haven't paid a penny, just used what nature gave you.  And if the weather's a bit rubbish, get the clothes airer out & dry them on there.  Forget the tumble dryer.

4. Wear clothes that don't need ironing!  OK, I admit it. I'm lazy.  I hate ironing with a passion.  That's why, if you ever meet me, I'm likely to be wearing jeans & a slightly crumpled t-shirt.  But ironing takes more power, and that's what we're trying to avoid, right?  I know, there's times when you have to, and times when you want to, but think before you iron.  Do you need to iron teatowels & undies?

Doing very well on egg water, thank you!

5. Only boil as much water as you need.  And offer to make everyone else a cuppa when you go to the kettle.  There's nothing more wasteful than boiling a kettle, then someone adding a mugsworth of cold water to it and boiling it again 2 minutes later.  Make your family think you're kind & thoughtful, and save a few pennies.

6. Reuse water.  Yes, share a bath if you like, but that's not what I mean.  Boiled eggs for brekkie?  Let the water cool, and use the egg water to water your houseplants.  The tiny bits of eggshell & chicken poo are good plant food, and your plants will thank you for it.  Likewise with your washing up water - out on the veggies in the garden.

7. Get thrifty.  I'm sure you've seen some of my Magpie Monday posts, so you'll know I can't walk by a charity shop without a quick peek inside.  By breathing new life into someone else's unwanted items, you're reducing the number of new clothes made, stopping something going to landfill, saving yourself money (there's some real bargains to be had), and giving money to a good cause.  It's even better if you can donate some of your unwanted, outgrown, or otherwise unloved items too - makes space for something else.

*Click*

8. Buy refills & economy sizes.  They're usually better value for money (but watch for special offers), and particularly with things like coffee, they're more environmentally sound.  The cardboard tub of a catering size tin of coffee takes much less energy to make than the glass jar, it weighs less so uses less energy to transport to the store, and mug for mug costs less.  Everyone's a winner.  Heck, you can get milk in plastic bags now, if you shop in certain supermarkets!

9. Turn off the lights! (Not the Nelly Furtado song, but if it's a reminder, then yeah)  Much as with my earlier point, if it's not being used, it's wasting power.  Squeaky's added this simple tutorial if you're unsure of the process.

10. Keep an eye on what you're actually using.  We won an energy monitor last year, it clips onto the cable by the electric meter, and feeds back to a display you can put somewhere else in the house, and it's a great way to remind you to think about what you're doing, and where you could save.  The way the use rockets when you switch certain appliances on is scary!

Along the same lines, British Gas are introducing Smart Meters, which have a monitor so you can see what you're using, and make your own choices.  I use the phrase "informed choice" a lot in my day job, but this is one of those times where it applies to real life as well.  If you know you're burning cash, you can choose to do something about it, and decide what matters to you the most.  Maybe you can't wash up without the radio on, but you can stop ironing those socks!

This post is my entry to the BritMums & British Gas Watt Loss Challenge.