Energy Misselling successes

missfroggy0

We moved to Southern Electric (SSE) in November 2011; their rep quoted us a good price which was better than what we were currently paying so we went ahead. The contract we signed highlighted a set monthly DD and what they thought our quarterly cost would be (£132). We received a threatening letter in June 2012 saying that our payments were too low and that they should be increase but at 3 times what we were paying each month. We immediately disputed this and firstly asked why they had taken so long. They said they had send emails but I changed our email in April 2012 so obviously they were getting failed messages and not bothering to do anything about it. They didnt send letters out. We went to the Ombudsman who actually said that SSE were correct! We have sent letters etc to SSE customer service whom I should say need to go back to school to learn how to treat their clients and we have had an independent meter reader check the meter (Jan 2014). His report came back saying that the meter was correct. If that is the case why did SSE remove that meter and install another one therefore not giving us the chance to get it checked ourselves. They (SSE) have put us into debt (£3500)are now demanding we pay £293 per month, £60 of which is to pay off the arrears and have changed our DD to now take that amount monthly; they have threatened to obtain a warrant to install a pre-payment meter if we cancel our DD. We cant seem to get it through to them that there is no way on this earth that we have £293 each month whether by DD or pre-payment meter. Our payments started at £48 per month, we increased to £60 per month and have told them we will increase again to £75 per month. We dont have any means of obtaining money, ie overdraft, credit cards, loans and only have our salaries each month. I am at my wits end and it is making us both ill but SSE dont want to know. Any help would be really appreciated.
Thank you:(

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Values in KWh as well would be more accurate, so some of my points about consumption are best guesses.

If your figures are accurate, you're using £233 a months worth of energy. That's enormous. Nobody is forcing you to use this much.

Meters are very, very unlikely to be inaccurate.

You were almost certainly missold, setting a low DD to induce people is the oldest trick in the book. However, compensation would be in the magnitude of the low £100's. It's very unfortunate the ombudsman has chosen not to award you this.

That said, you have to take some responsibility. First off, if you change your email address, tell people! SSE can't intuit you changing your email address. I'm sure if you changed your bank account, you'd tell whoever was paying your salary.

Secondly, I'm sure you know paying a monthly DD for energy is not a ticket to use as much as you like. If you are only paying £48 a month, you have a responsibility to see that you only use that amount of energy. The discrepancy in your case is enormous, and it is hard to believe it went unnoticed for two years.

To sum up, you've used the energy, now you have to pay for it. Being missold doesn't absolve you of this I'm afraid. I'm surprised the ombudsman awarded you no compensation, but this would have had little material difference to the size of the debt.

PPM's aren't the end of the world, and they will allow you to pay off the debt a lot slower than £60 a month, and it will stop SSE trashing your credit rating. However, you still need to address the fact you're consuming approximately double the UK average amount of energy.

gbro_2

Does anyone have experience with OFGEM regulations on backbilling? EDF energy billed me incorrectly for *four* years. They've backbilled me for the past 12 months only, as this is an OFGEM regulation, but I happened to have a credit on my account when they realised the error. So, they took the credit, and THEN billed me for the past 12 months.

Effectively, they've billed me for more than 12 months.

Is this legal?

The only guidance I can find is here:
www . ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64010/back-billing-leaflet-2012.pdf

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

gbro wrote: »

Does anyone have experience with OFGEM regulations on backbilling? EDF energy billed me incorrectly for *four* years. They've backbilled me for the past 12 months only, as this is an OFGEM regulation, but I happened to have a credit on my account when they realised the error. So, they took the credit, and THEN billed me for the past 12 months.

Effectively, they've billed me for more than 12 months.

Is this legal?

The only guidance I can find is here:
www . ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/64010/back-billing-leaflet-2012.pdf

Yes it's legal.

The backbilling code is an industry agreement that energy suppliers promise to abide to. It has no meaning in law.

The law in England and Wales allows debts to be collected for 6 years. You've still underpaid for 3 years, so I'd say you're still in a decent position.

mariadil

I contacted my old energy providers after reading here that they don't automatically repay credits outstanding when you change energy supplier, and just got a cheque for £111.00 from November 2012 . Thank you M.S.E Yippee!

Marufidi

Quote from advice given on this site:
When you sign up for a new energy tariff online, over the phone or at your doorstep, you must be given at least a seven-day cooling-off period, which means you can cancel within seven days. At the time you sign the contract, you must be given written notice of that cooling-off period. If they don't, the contract isn't enforceable

Does this apply to business too?

I am sole trader and have been informed by EDF that there is no cooling off period, once agreed over the phone the contract is binding. I wasn't informed during the telephone conversation that there was no cooling off period or right to cancel.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Marufidi wrote: »

Quote from advice given on this site:
When you sign up for a new energy tariff online, over the phone or at your doorstep, you must be given at least a seven-day cooling-off period, which means you can cancel within seven days. At the time you sign the contract, you must be given written notice of that cooling-off period. If they don't, the contract isn't enforceable

Does this apply to business too?

I am sole trader and have been informed by EDF that there is no cooling off period, once agreed over the phone the contract is binding. I wasn't informed during the telephone conversation that there was no cooling off period or right to cancel.

No. Business contracts have no cooling off period whatsoever.

footyguy

Marufidi wrote: »

Quote from advice given on this site:
When you sign up for a new energy tariff online, over the phone or at your doorstep, you must be given at least a seven-day cooling-off period, which means you can cancel within seven days. At the time you sign the contract, you must be given written notice of that cooling-off period. If they don't, the contract isn't enforceable

Does this apply to business too?

I am sole trader and have been informed by EDF that there is no cooling off period, once agreed over the phone the contract is binding. I wasn't informed during the telephone conversation that there was no cooling off period or right to cancel.

As a business buyer, you do not get any statutory protection of a cooling off period.

Were you, during the initial phone call, informed that the price did not automatically reduce every month by 50% either? :cool:

sazi-666

Hi, I have recently left NPower due to stupid charges and would like to know whether I can claim back money I have paid due to mis-selling.
In Aug 2012 we moved into our property and I contacted our current provider Eon to switch our contract over to this property. I did this straight away only to be told that they could not switch us over and would have to cancel the contract due to another provider already providing energy to the property! So the process to cancel my contract with Eon started and I waited to hear from them. In the meantime, I received a letter from NPower stating we must make contact with them within 7 days otherwise our gas and electric would be cut off immediately as they had not received any money from us! Being 5 months pregnant and scared to be without energy I rang them and asked why I had received the letter when I hadn't signed up to any contract yet as I was in the process of looking into this. They explained that because the previous occupants was with NPower, they was now our provider and we must provide direct debit details straight away if we wanted to continue to have energy! I reluctantly gave my direct debit details so that we would not be cut off. I then received several letters stating we had been signed up to a contract as a 'deemed customer' and we was now on a contract locked in until Nov 2013. I have no experience of energy and switching/moving house so just thought this was normal but was suprised I couldn't shop around!

We then was told we had not been paying enough for our energy and we owed them £500!! I was so angry as by this point I was on maternity leave and had a newborn baby. They agreed to set up a payment plan. However, by the looks of it they never upped my direct debit to cover the shortfall. So now I have been told I now owe them another £700 as I have not paid enough! I am mortified as I can not afford this. I am now pregnant with my second child and have now switched to CO-OP as my contract with NPower ended in Nov 13.
Am i entitled to claim? I feel so disgusted and angry that not only was I tied into the most expensive provider in the first place when we moved, but now they are demanding another £700 on top of the £500 and the monthly payments I have been paying! I can not believe that I am that much in debt as we are so good with eletric and gas! We never leave anything on standby. All plugs are switched off when not in use (apart from the sky box). Any advise or help would be appreciated and if anyone else has experienced the same? Thanks

baldmosher

My only mis-selling tale goes back to 2000 when I was a student.... it's a good un

n-Power rep turns up at my doorstep, knock knock

NP: "Hello I'm from nPower, we supply the electricity and gas to your property"
Me: "Erm, no you don't, it's Yorkshire and British Gas"
NP: "No, they're your contracted supplier, we physically supply it."
Me: "Oh right, well that makes sense if you used to be Manweb. How can I help"
NP: "We're just updating our records and need some details from you as the resident for the property."
Me: "Sure"

Guy fills in details on a form for me

NP: "Sign here please"

I sign

I then walk back into the house, flip over what I've signed the back of, "Contract of change of supplier to electricity and gas", notice the bit at the bottom saying "cooling off period", laugh at how silly I was to sign something on the doorstep like that, fill in the cancellation form, and send it off

1 week later I get a letter from Yorkshire Electricity saying "sorry that you're leaving us"

2 weeks later I get a letter from n-Power confirming cancellation of the switch

12 months later I move out of the house, having never received any electricity bills from any supplier. I told the new tenants the story, and I can only assume that they passed it forward, and that, to this day, nobody has paid electricity there ever since.

I think they're a little bit tighter with admin these days....