Tariff changed retrospectively to include standing charges.

Myshkin

I am a disabled person and so qualified for the Equipower scheme which provided my gas and electricity via Southern Electric. Because I cannot afford it, I have used virtually no gas at all in the last four years. (Less than one unit). Because of my usage I had chosen a tariff without a standing charge, (effectively paid for in the higher cost for the first units used), so therefore I had nothing to pay. Southern Electric have recently adopted a very aggressive stance, however, first implying that I was defrauding them and sending me letters saying that an under-reading meter is held as stealing. I told them that there was nothing wrong with the meter, and that had it shown any units consumed it would have been the sign of a fault. They appear to have accepted this finally, because I have just received a bill from them showing zero units consumed, but they have changed the tariff without notification or consent to "energy plus care general domestic", which includes a standing charge of 10.690p per day. This has been backdated for 84 days to give a total, on the back of the bill where the amount is broken down, of £8.88. On the other side, the Bank Giro Credit slip shows an amount of £39.49! Can a utility company change a customer's tariff without notice like this simply because it works in their favour? Bearing in mind that even that flimsiest of paper tigers, Ofgem, has stated that we are being overcharged to the tune of 15% I find this behaviour particularly outrageous. I shall not be paying this bill, but I'd appreciate any comments on the legal position.

Mynewt

Almost defiantely not. If you were on the equipower scheme before hand, then you should be after as well. I'm not to familiar with that tarriff (yet) but I assume there are no conditions for which the tarriff can be offered. If there are they may argue you have broken these terms and put you on their defaulted standard pricing since the date of breach -- but this is very weak.

Its possible this is just an oversight on their part have you contacted them to see if they cna justify this or indeed if they accept the error?

Cardew

Myshkin wrote: »

I am a disabled person and so qualified for the Equipower scheme which provided my gas and electricity via Southern Electric. Because I cannot afford it, I have used virtually no gas at all in the last four years. (Less than one unit). Because of my usage I had chosen a tariff without a standing charge, (effectively paid for in the higher cost for the first units used), so therefore I had nothing to pay. .

I don't think you could have been with Equipower.

Equipower is not a scheme, it is a company in its own right; just the accounting is handled by Souther Electricity.

To further support my reasoning, why you are not with Equipower, is that Equipower do not charge extra for the first units used or have a daily standing charge.

So I suspect that you are simply a Southern Electricity customer.

That said I don't think they can change you from a tier1/tier2 tariff to a Daily Standing Charge - unless there is something buried away in the small print.

I am with BG and have an annex that uses very little electricity or gas; in fact so little electricity that the Discounts applied to the account means I 'earn' more than I pay.

Myshkin

Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately this latest bill has arrived when I'm running a high temperature which seems to have affected my memory! I was with EquiPower, and because of the continued Southern Electric billing I'd forgotten the change over, ( in October last year), based on a consumer comparison site and calculation of bills. I've been on the phone to Southern Electric and spoken to a manager who, this time, has been pretty sympathetic and helpful. There seems to have been some kind of error, one way or the other, with the standing charge because no previous bills from Southern Electric have included this. She should be calling me back later.

Myshkin

Just had a call back; the standing charge tariff has been removed and the bill waived. A very pleasant and helpful manager by the name of Louise sorted it out. She had no idea where the £39.49 figure came from, either. It's just a shame that the people I'd spoken to before weren't so helpful or understanding.

Premier_2

I'm a little confused who you are with now.

Equipower is the electricity tariff supplied by Ebico. They have a partnership supply agreement with SSE and billing is handled by SSE.
However, Ebico only have the one electricity tariff and there is no standing charge on that tariff.

Because Ebico use SSE's supply licence, it is possible to switch between SSE and Ebico as a simple tariff change. SSE probably offer both standing charge & no standing charge option tariffs (I'm not certain on that), so you would need to be with SSE to be charged a standing charge.
Naturally no supplier should be changing the type of tariff you are on without your knowledge (and in most cases, agreement).

Ebico have no issue with a customer using very little / almost no energy. You only pay for what you actually use. If you use nothing, you pay nothing.

Whichever company is your supplier, glad you apprear to have got it all sorted now

BallandChain

Premier, I rang Southern Electric today and was told that I couldn't do a tariff change over the phone, I had to contact Ebico directly to switch.

OP, if you aren't with Ebico maybe you should think about switching to them so you don't get any more problems.

glider3560

Myshkin wrote: »

I am a disabled person and so qualified for the Equipower scheme which provided my gas and electricity via Southern Electric.

Everyone qualifies to be an EBICo/Equipower customer. There are no criteria. This statement makes me think you were on some other tariff provided by Southern Electric.

BallandChain

They appear to have accepted this finally, because I have just received a bill from them showing zero units consumed, but they have changed the tariff without notification or consent to "energy plus care general domestic", which includes a standing charge of 10.690p per day.

Energyplus care is the social tariff for Southern Electric, so OP is actually with Southern. As the person above mentioned you do not have to meet certain criteria to join Ebico.

Premier_2

BallandChain wrote: »

Premier, I rang Southern Electric today and was told that I couldn't do a tariff change over the phone, I had to contact Ebico directly to switch.

OP, if you aren't with Ebico maybe you should think about switching to them so you don't get any more problems.

I got the information from Gavioli UK here on MSE

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=14660473&postcount=102

I would suggest you try again, or better still ring ebico on 0800 458 7689 or 01993 608404. Chances are you might even be put through directly to SSE so listen carefully when they answer. If it's actually ebico, tell them you are an existing SSE customer and want to change to the ebico tariff(s)

I don't see how they can do it as a switch, it's the same supply licence that both companies use, hence why I believe it should be handled as a tariff change.

I can only assume that whoever you spoke to at SSE didn't realise this or perhaps they just made the excuse of not transferring you to an Ebico tariff as SSE didn't want to lose your custom.

BallandChain

I do get conflicting info when I ring Southern Electric over other matters. I've filled the online form in with Ebico and it asks who the current supplier is so hopefully it won't take too long to sort out. I even asked the lady if I could still view Ebico bills online through my Southern electric log in and she said yes. Not sure how that would work as Ebico don't do paperless billing as far as I know.