Add your feedback on energy supplier Iresa

13567234

Comments

  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Organisation Representative
    Thanks Malc.

    I spoke with Iresa and they said that they haven't actually sent my readings over to Eon yet, no explanation as to why yet, they just emailed me to confirm this after I spoke with them on the phone. No mention of it going to a third party or not. Is it normal for it to take this long? They aren't under faster switching, so maybe that's why?

    My DD goes out on the 7th of the month, and this was taken in October, even though my switch over date was the 3rd, and I'm already in quite a lot of credit.

    Hello firsttimemover and sorry for the late reply.

    If they've not signed up for faster switching then, yes, it will take longer. Although, having started this on 5 October, I'd have expected more progress by now.

    To achieve a quicker switch, registration runs parallel with the 14 day cooling off period plus an extra 3 working days to finish things off. Previously, registration didn't start until the cooling off period had ended. It sounds like this has happened here.

    Definitely confirm, meter readings go via a third party. A Data Management company check they're in line with past readings held for the property. This happens with every switch regardless of the suppliers involved but shouldn't hold up the actual switch date when the new company start to supply. It may, though, have an impact on when accounts are fully live (new supplier) or closed down (old supplier).

    As above, given the dates posted, I'd have expected the switch to be further on by now. Might be an idea to ask your new supplier what's the hold up with the meter readings. We'll issue our final bill once we receive these readings. The timing of payments and refunds are also linked to when we receive certain pieces of information like meter details and readings

    If you let me know what they say, I can advise a bit more.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Just to update those thinking of switching to Iresa. I applied to switch on the 7th November. Sixteen days later, I got confirmation that my electricity will transfer on the 4th December. Nothing from Iresa on gas but my online account is showing a transfer date of the 27th December.

    Technically, the gas transfer delay is in breach of the Supply Licence Condition of 35 days from application to switch to the transfer. Not a big deal, as my present gas contract price is a few £s less per year: I only switched to get another 12 month contract. Iresa will claim 2 DDs ahead of my gas transfer: I will be monitoring my credit closely in light of recent events at GB.
  • Ok, so I have just logged into my Eon account and my final bill from Eon was generated yesterday. Using estimated readings!

    I figure they got bored waiting for Iresa to send them over...

    The estimates are quite a lot lower than my actual readings (the little graph on the bill even shows my usage compared to this time last year as about half the usage, so I'm not sure where they make up the estimate from, I'd have thought it would be over if anything!)

    Good news is that it says my credit balance will be back in my bank within 10 days, but as the Iresa unit price is slightly higher, I'll be a slightly out of pocket for those additional units charged at the higher rate. Probably not enough to bother querying, though.

    So Iresa haven't overwhelmed me with their customer service so far as they clearly told me on the phone and email that they hadn't sent the readings to Eon yet.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Ok, so I have just logged into my Eon account and my final bill from Eon was generated yesterday. Using estimated readings!

    I figure they got bored waiting for Iresa to send them over...

    The estimates are quite a lot lower than my actual readings (the little graph on the bill even shows my usage compared to this time last year as about half the usage, so I'm not sure where they make up the estimate from, I'd have thought it would be over if anything!)

    Good news is that it says my credit balance will be back in my bank within 10 days, but as the Iresa unit price is slightly higher, I'll be a slightly out of pocket for those additional units charged at the higher rate. Probably not enough to bother querying, though.

    So Iresa haven't overwhelmed me with their customer service so far as they clearly told me on the phone and email that they hadn't sent the readings to Eon yet.

    Estimated doesn't necessarily mean that your meter reading has just been ignored. All meter readings are validated by a third party. They have the right to adjust the reading based on previous meter readings etc as some people have been known to try to fiddle the system. The adjusted reading will be shown as an E on your final bill. Provided the opening and closing readings on your statements are the same then the difference to you will be in pence.
  • Yes, like I said, I'm probably not out of pocket enough to be worth kicking up a fuss over, I calculate the difference it makes to me being just over a pound. The battle I fear I may have with Iresa is that I'm obviously going to owe them more money, my first month's usage will be heavily inflated, and I imagine they will up my direct debit to cover it, which will lead to an increased credit moving forward and something I want to avoid happening with the uncertainty of GB Energy etc.

    If that is what's happened then fair enough, can't blame Iresa (I was going on the fact they told me they hadn't submitted the readings last week) but if it is the third party, it would be interesting to know what they base their estimates on - clearly on the final bill it says daily usage on this bill is half what it was for the same period last year. My usage has increased slightly, probably as I'm now working from home, which they weren't to know about, but I would have thought that the usage at the same point last year would have been a good starting point on which to base their calculations!!
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Yes, like I said, I'm probably not out of pocket enough to be worth kicking up a fuss over, I calculate the difference it makes to me being just over a pound. The battle I fear I may have with Iresa is that I'm obviously going to owe them more money, my first month's usage will be heavily inflated, and I imagine they will up my direct debit to cover it, which will lead to an increased credit moving forward and something I want to avoid happening with the uncertainty of GB Energy etc.

    If that is what's happened then fair enough, can't blame Iresa (I was going on the fact they told me they hadn't submitted the readings last week) but if it is the third party, it would be interesting to know what they base their estimates on - clearly on the final bill it says daily usage on this bill is half what it was for the same period last year. My usage has increased slightly, probably as I'm now working from home, which they weren't to know about, but I would have thought that the usage at the same point last year would have been a good starting point on which to base their calculations!!

    Look at the reverse side of the coin. If the meter reading is in Iresa's favour then your final bill from your old supplier will be less. I had a meter reading on switch last year that was c.120 CM3s in E.oN's favour. It took me over 3 months to reach the opening reading. As it was within industry norms no dispute could be raised.
  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Organisation Representative
    Ok, so I have just logged into my Eon account and my final bill from Eon was generated yesterday. Using estimated readings!

    I figure they got bored waiting for Iresa to send them over...

    The estimates are quite a lot lower than my actual readings (the little graph on the bill even shows my usage compared to this time last year as about half the usage, so I'm not sure where they make up the estimate from, I'd have thought it would be over if anything!)

    Good news is that it says my credit balance will be back in my bank within 10 days, but as the Iresa unit price is slightly higher, I'll be a slightly out of pocket for those additional units charged at the higher rate. Probably not enough to bother querying, though.

    So Iresa haven't overwhelmed me with their customer service so far as they clearly told me on the phone and email that they hadn't sent the readings to Eon yet.
    Yes, like I said, I'm probably not out of pocket enough to be worth kicking up a fuss over, I calculate the difference it makes to me being just over a pound. The battle I fear I may have with Iresa is that I'm obviously going to owe them more money, my first month's usage will be heavily inflated, and I imagine they will up my direct debit to cover it, which will lead to an increased credit moving forward and something I want to avoid happening with the uncertainty of GB Energy etc.

    If that is what's happened then fair enough, can't blame Iresa (I was going on the fact they told me they hadn't submitted the readings last week) but if it is the third party, it would be interesting to know what they base their estimates on - clearly on the final bill it says daily usage on this bill is half what it was for the same period last year. My usage has increased slightly, probably as I'm now working from home, which they weren't to know about, but I would have thought that the usage at the same point last year would have been a good starting point on which to base their calculations!!

    Hello firsttimemover.

    I agree with Hengus. Looks like the third party I mentioned has amended the readings. They'll have sent them to both us and the new supplier so the same readings can be used to start their account and end ours. This stops energy from being charged twice. When amended readings are received this way, we show them as estimates as they're not yours or from a meter reader.

    There is an industry wide procedure known as an Agreed Reads Dispute (ARD) that can be used to challenge these changes. This is where the two suppliers re-agree opening/closing readings between them and, once approved, both bill to these. As Hengus says, the difference needs to be above set thresholds before an ARD can be used. These are 250 units for electricity and 45/125 units for a 4 dial imperial/5 dial metric gas meter.

    From what you've posted, it sounds like the difference is well short of these limits. In these cases, the readings we have from the third party will be used. Totally understand, this can mean paying one supplier more than expected but this is balanced out by paying the other less.

    Sorry to lose you firsttimemover[FONT=&quot]. Hope this explains.

    Malc
    [/FONT]
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • Switch to Iresa for electricity completed at the beginning of the month. A little longer than the 35 days it is supposed to take, but OK. Final bill from e.on already received, so meter readings had been passed on promptly.
    Iresa account showing as in Credit, as no bills created yet, but I will submit readings at least once a month. Found that meter readings show in the account a few days after submitting them. Strange, but 1st reading (on switchover) shown about 3 times for the same date. I assume this is because the independent checker company has confirmed it was correct.
    No exit fee to pay at e.on, as changed to one of their tariffs with no exit fee before the cooling off period expired at Iresa.
    So far, happy that I switched to Iresa for a new fixed tariff before our current fix with e.on ended, as now about 30% cheaper than what is on offer from e.on and elsewhere.
    Will see how I get on with the bills and future service and report back.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Hello firsttimemover.

    I agree with Hengus. Looks like the third party I mentioned has amended the readings. They'll have sent them to both us and the new supplier so the same readings can be used to start their account and end ours. This stops energy from being charged twice. When amended readings are received this way, we show them as estimates as they're not yours or from a meter reader.

    There is an industry wide procedure known as an Agreed Reads Dispute (ARD) that can be used to challenge these changes. This is where the two suppliers re-agree opening/closing readings between them and, once approved, both bill to these. As Hengus says, the difference needs to be above set thresholds before an ARD can be used. These are 250 units for electricity and 45/125 units for a 4 dial imperial/5 dial metric gas meter.

    From what you've posted, it sounds like the difference is well short of these limits. In these cases, the readings we have from the third party will be used. Totally understand, this can mean paying one supplier more than expected but this is balanced out by paying the other less.

    Sorry to lose you firsttimemover[FONT=&quot]. Hope this explains.

    Malc
    [/FONT]

    I do think that the above shows just how out dated industry procedures are and, more importantly, just how much out of touch suppliers are with respect to best serving their customers. It would cost the industry nothing to implement a very simple change. Rather than default to the data collector's estimate, why doesn't the industry say that if the customer's meter readings are not outwith industry norms ( as verified by the data collectors), we will always default to the reading that the customer has provided.
  • ivanleo
    ivanleo Posts: 192
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Both my parents and I have switched to Iresa, switching the gas took a bit longer than expected due to the Independent Gas Transporter being a bit slow, but overall we are very pleased.

    The tariffs are by far the cheapest on the market, both for the standing charge and the per unit price. The big 6 are basically a third more expensive and even the likes of Ovo Energy & First Utility can't match either the standing charge or the per KWh price.

    The only limitations are that you must be comfortable dealing with paperless billing and paying by direct debit. The online account is quite straightforward, it provides a rolling statement, rather like a bank statement, they also pay interest on your credit balance. They do generate actual bills, but they're less clear than the transaction history on the online transaction history so I find it easier to just look at the online account to see what I've been charged.

    If you're using anyone else, you're basically being over-charged.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards