Login

Start Free Trial Are you a business?? Click Here

Are you a business?

Terms & Conditions

User Privacy Policy

Business User Privacy Policy

Data Protection

First Utility Reviews

1.2 Rating 127 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend First Utility

Company Reviews

1.2

Based on 127 reviews


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Live Chat, Email
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5

Visit Website

Write Your review

Tell us how First Utility made you happy

Help future customers by talking about customer service, price, delivery, returns & refunds.

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

First Utility 1 star review on 30th September 2022

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Shell Energy are thieves! Upped my DD £40 to £152 without my permission, which I can’t afford. It’s just me, one. Advised them of this, called and amended the DD. I have £235 in credit on my Shell account which they used to cover the bill of £152 from and then, decided to reverse it & keep attempting the direct debit! They don’t care about you as a customer, just want to take as much money from you as they can. Amassing your money in the credit which they don’t even want you to use. So hard to lower your direct debit or use your credit or even get it refunded to you! I have about 3 complaints on my file, worse customer service each month. I would use another company. My customer service agent today heavily insisted that I close my complaints because they helped and advised me sufficiently (in their opinion), despite me being clearly upset that my previous issues hadn’t been resolved nor had the issues today. I literally cannot afford to pay the £152 and begged them to use the credit & stop taking the DD from my account as the bank charges £10 for insufficient funds. Shell do not care.”

Posted 4 months ago

“Absolutely terrible customer service. On the phone 2and half hours .. over 2 on hold or shunted around queuing systems Eventually a clerk told me I was rude & was going to cut me off. Couldn’t help me & said I’d get a call back. 6 days on, no call back. Wrote an email to complain that evening & still no reply. Charging me for broadband I cancelled a while back. They just don’t give a toss & will quite easily cut you off for no good reason.”

First Utility 1 star review on 30th September 2022

Posted 1 year ago

“Several months ago a man came to my house and asked to have a fire hydrant placed on my property. I said no because my property is heavily wooded and I didn’t want my trees cut down. There are places just several feet from my place that have no trees but they both belong to a business so I guess they were not about to ruin their yards. On June 14 of this year they came here while I was gone and cut a very large section out of my property. They completely removed at least 2 dozen trees. The space is large enough for 2 cars to park. My trees are gone and it is so ugly. They put their hydrant in. It will soon turn into a dump when people just pull into that spot and leave trash and brush. I am almost 80 years old and fell in my yard recently breaking my hip. If it turns into a dump I could get a fine unless it is cleaned. I can’t see it from my house so I can’t stop it. I will have to clean it in days the hip pain is not real bad or pay to have it done out of my social security. I have lived here over 30 years and that company has ruined my property.”

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

First Utility 1 star review on 16th July 2022

Posted 1 year ago

“Was moved to shell energy phone and broadband from post office , wished I had looked at reviews as broadband so slow if anything at all, put on hold while waiting then transferred to another person after two and half hours waiting only to be transfered yet again told them download speed but was accused of fibbing so stuck in18 month contract avoid, avoid, avoid.”

Posted 1 year ago

“So this is now the 3rd company I have an issue with. Transferred to them via switchd in October 2021. A £700 credit was transferred to them. I finally spoke to someone via their live chat today. They're now trying to tell me I'm due them £700. In summary they're trying to tell me in a 6 month period, I've wracked up £1,400 in utilities. I appreciate this is totally chaotic times however £1,400 in six months? Any comments/advice appreciated.”

Posted 1 year ago

“Very very poor. I had no bills or communication from shell after they took over previous post office broadband I tried logging into my post office account to pay my monthly fee. I could not log in as this was no longer available, clearly they had changed to shell , I had no notification. I was then sent a text message some months later saying I owed 3 months broadband payments. I couldn't pay the three months in one payment so I phoned up. It was impossible to be put through to a human when phoning up multiple times. I sent an email to customer service on 22/4/22 I am yet to have any response to date 24/5/22. Very very poor !!”

Posted 1 year ago

“1 star is far too much for this company, I was moved to them because of my supplier went bust in October and as my supplier had already increased my monthly charge from £66 to £99 for the winter months and I was in credit of £242 before they went bust I didn’t expect a problem, as we were suppose to be protected by Ofgem!. I never received a bill from shell energy but I supplied meter readings every time I was asked and continued to pay my direct debit like I was asked to the higher amount for the winter months! 5 months later shell send me a bill that says I am being charged £847!!! For the months they have taken over to now! Not taking into account the money I have been paying as asked £99 a month they have charged me £847 on top! I straight away emailed to asked what is going on and shells response is they charge more than my previous supplier and nothing I can do! At no point was I ever told shell were going to charge more than twice what my supplier who went bust was charging me! I do not use any more energy than previous years. So now she’ll want £380! A month! To cover the cost of what they want to charge and the amount they have now put me into debt! I have complained and they have tried to say it is my previous supplier problem they should have told me to put my payments up! How would they have known what shell were going to charge?? So I have complained and complained and got no where only other than they have offered me £50 good will for a short fall in their service!! I have refused this and asked for a deadlock letter so I can at least get some help from the ombudsman because I cannot take the stress anymore and they are just plain rude and not helpful, I feel I have been taken advantage off by being put with them and I cannot leave and now I am in debt to them. I have today raised the complaint to the ombudsman and gave them all the evidence and what a surprise I have had an email to say shell have been in contact with them! Within hours “to query the acceptance of your complaint””

Posted 1 year ago

“I don’t know why I’m being charged so much for.. according to the box attached to the gas and electric I should be paying around 30£ a month. I’m paying 86… on my account it says I’m using around 75£ but they recommend I up my payments to 106… you taking the P*ss!? We’re all struggling for money atm I’m suppose to be a fixed plan where the payments don’t change and then they up it and they are upping it again???”

Posted 2 years ago

“Everything from communication over 4-5 hours last ng cut off rearing same result, services didn't care just want money. Using dead dad (⁷+years) email no access, blaming post office for not delivered letters etc everyone apart them is at fault avoid, avoid, avoid go somewhere else. Would of giving zero if that was an option”

Posted 2 years ago

“Shell energy complaint. My issue has been on going from December 2022. It has now been over a week and no one has contacted me regarding my complaint and I have expressed many times for a manager to contact me. This is not the first complaint I have logged a complaint with Shell since they started providing energy to us. I am extremely disappointed and unsatisfied with the services so far and no one seems to take ownership and fully resolve the issue. Time and time again I get told you are sorry and will sort this and promise me a better outcome. I would now like to log this with ombudsman, however Shell have not compiled to the complaint procedure. I have tried to call and everytime I call I get told that someone was working on my case and you will get the person to call me back, this has not happened. You speak with some people who are incompetent and does not speak good English with poor quality telephone service. If it wasn't for the way the energy prices are I would of switched buy now, however I am strongly looking into this.”

Posted 2 years ago

“A company run by the most gormless budget of morons, billing me for an account I have never had; yet you cannot talk to anyone, any communication is never answered, and all you get is demands for money I do not owe, as I have never had an account! A company not to be touched under any circumstances, for anything for ever! How these idiots think they can run a company defies logic! Stay clear-does not rate any stars, and please read other reviews. I rest my case”

Posted 2 years ago

“SHELL BROADBAND IS THE WORST ISP I'VE EVER USED. The service tests quite well on a speed checker, but in the real world, it is sluggish and unresponsive and can take 10 to 20 seconds to load or refresh a web page. I always use a wire connection, but if I connect to my upstairs neighbour by wifi, on the same laptop, the service is much better. Every six months or so, the service begins to falter and has to be rebooted - sometimes three times a day. Typically, the correct lights are illuminated, but there is no connection to the internet. When I manage to get through to Shell, they go through the same questions and checks that they previously did and the service becomes useable again - for a while. This time, they said they needed to send an engineer around, but that they would charge me for their time, if they couldn't find a fault, I wasn't able to be at home, or in some undefined way the engineer decided that I was responsible for the problem. What did I do? I left. THE WORST ISP EVER.”

Posted 2 years ago

“Was moved to Shell from Green via SOLR process. Closed account at end of November with final reads due to the sale of the property. Once Green balance was credited, the final bill was deducted and the remaining credit refunded by cheque. Super smooth and a happy customer. A few months on they are now demanding the cheque amount back, hassling me with daily emails to make payments and set up direct debits for a closed account. When I speak to Customer Service they tell me I owe nothing, but their collections system keep hassling me. You can't get through to collections, the call volumes are always too high. No wonder if they're doing this to other customers, which they are as I can see from the reviews. To top that the emails are now threatening to damage my credit rating unless I pay an amount I do not owe. An absolute disgrace. Automation is no excuse for incompetence.”

Posted 2 years ago

“First Utility (FU) also go under the name of Shell. I was moved to shell by OFGEM following the failure of Green. In 2017/18 I was a customer of First Utility and left. They supplied a smart meter at that time but my new suppliers did not use these hence I sent in manual readings. Now they are telling me I have been reading this meter incorrectly and it is nearly 3500 units less than I have paid to my previous suppliers. Completely untrue!!!! I know and have been shown how to read a smart meter and both companies before shell have accepted these readings in fact my final reading with First Utility ties up with my current reading. However when I leave FU my meter will show an appx 3500 more units than FU are currently saying my meter reads. Hence I will have to fight to show the FU reading is wrong and I have paid other suppliers for these units and they changed my readings to suit what they say my meter is reading. Their reading is no where to be read on my smart meter. This company was bad 5 years ago and nothing has changed. Thanks a lot OFGEM!!!!”

Posted 2 years ago

“Hideous company ,take as much money out of your account as they want ....They have no idea why or they make up some useless excuse when you challenge them or the phone goes dead ..avoid 🤔”

Posted 2 years ago

“quoted £65 per month tarrif and then they contact saying we need to pay £155 a month to catch up, then i ring a couple months later saying this is outragous there is no way we use this much electricity and they say we owe them £280 more so even £155 a month is not enough, and they refused to send out an engineer to make sure something isnt going wrong and their own smart meter will not connect to their servers, this is outragous and tormenting and causing serious mental health and financial issues, avoid these parasites.”

Posted 2 years ago

“First Utility were a very good provider! Until they were acquired by Shell Energy. Since they were taken over the standard of service has dropped signficantly. Shell Energy use underhand tactics to prevent customers being able to access their online services by denying access (suggesting PW was wrong when it wasn't) and basically deceiving customers at renewal time by deceptively switching the rates on the tariff but you have to be sharp to notice. But, if you don't you'll find yourself paying over-the-odds on the basis of their 'adjusted' tariff without realising it! It is a clever scam and no doubt a lot of their customers do not spot it. I believe that First Utility were perfectly trustworthy and it is very disappointing they sold the business to Shell. So, the star rating applies to SHELL and not First Utility who I would have had no hesitation giving FIVE STARS.”

Posted 2 years ago

“really bad customer service! they promise the 3% fuel offer for energy customer and you come to find out that it was a lie! Disgusting supplier and I wish i never joined with shell.”

Posted 2 years ago

“The web site daily energy graph appears to work as and when it wishes, I attempted to get the Shell on-line help desk to help, but after many hours they blamed my equipment. They told me on-line that they had no record of my e-mail account, which is strange as they constantly message me on it by my first name. I don’t have any problems with anyone else, but looking at other users comments I have little to be concerned about.”

Posted 2 years ago

“AVOID SHELL AT ALL COSTS ! We were with Green Star Energy and then suddenly found ourselves with Shell. What a load of useless, incompetent rubbish. Having paid the quarterly energy bill we were hounded and threatened with litigation action. Instead of presenting the cheque for payment those muppets sat on the cheque and eventually presented it. No apology was received. Didn't really expect one from such a pathetic company. Needless to say, not staying with them. Rating: NO STAR.”

Posted 2 years ago

«
1
2
3
4
5
»

First Utility is rated 1.2 based on 127 reviews