Add your feedback on energy supplier Extra Energy

ianG

Well,I am so glad I check in here about EE. Some time back I checked my on-line acct and saw that the elec reading was miles out (in their favour - natch!), so I phoned them up and got the correct reading entered. Checked again some time later and the reading is different still wrong! Another call after I was sent a bill with DD increased from 77 to 126, they said (start of July this year) that I would get a new bill as I gave them my fresh reading (again!). That month they took the 77 and I then thought that was the end of the matter as my predicted usage would be covered by the 77 DD.

This month, guess what? Yes they took 126 all of a sudden, so my previous call and agreement was completely ignored. Called again and promises of a new bill and back down to 77 but no movement of the fact they took an extra 49 this month so I said send me the latest bill and we can sort it out.

Too complicated I know but having read these and other forums I cancelled my DD as I am in credit by a small amount. Until I get the new bill I will assume that that they can whistle for the next months as they already have some of my money.

lisa110rry

Onbudsman wrote: »

Seriously, people need to cancel their DD's to run up their accounts into debit and simply walk away from EE.
EE needs shutting down full stop, they have more than enough time to fix their teething minor issues so EE would say.

Cancel DD, run up a debit and promise EE the world when it comes to [paying the bill. Dont forget, every bill is wrong and ask for a re-calculation.

EE fully deserves your support and full attention.

Give it them.

Oh, you know me Onbudsman, I love the fight and if necessary can afford to fund it.

Catslovelycats

Just wondering:
Had anyone here switched from EE's DD tariff to their payment when billed one??
If so, have you yet received a bill?
And was it fairly easy to do?

molerat

And they have just brought out another market leading tariff so will probably be luring more [STRIKE]fools[/STRIKE] customers in.

Hern

molerat wrote: »

And they have just brought out another market leading tariff so will probably be luring more [STRIKE]fools[/STRIKE] customers in.

Hopefully, MSE will have enough sense -- and sensitivity -- NOT to mention that in its bulletins to members.

As to cancelling DDs: for some reason, some folks appear to be terrified that the instant they do this, They Have Broken The Law.

Rubbish.

To judge by the sheer volume of consumer complaints about this company, Extra Energy is so often in breach of contract with its customers / in breach of compliance with the regulatory authority about prompt and accurate billing / standard of customer service / quality of complaints handling that it's already in far, far deeper doo-dah than any cancelling customer will ever be.

When you cancel your DD, write to EE and say why. Place your reasons on record. You'll possibly need to have proof of postage of that at a later date, though then again, EE may not even know who you are anyway, so epic appears to be its mismanagement of customer accounts.

If only 10% of those who're complaining about their treatment cancelled their DDs tomorrow, that would still be a significant total. If 100% did so, well, The Consumer Strikes Back.

Extra Energy seems to have decamped from MSE and thus no longer wishes to attempt the recycling of its vacuous justifications / excuses / explanations / promises -- where art thou, Jo Robertson? Still with this "start-up" company?

A pity, as it'd be interesting to see Ms Robertson or anyone else of, er, authority posting on here about how the start-up intends to cope with disruption of its own income stream after apparently so long a period of disrupting the lives of so many of its customers.

But perhaps, instead, it'll try to draw yet more in. Ah . . . apparently, it's already started. No matter. Extra Energy is deserving of everything that's coming to it. But if you're one of those who has credible, demonstrable grounds for complaining about your treatment, then what's coming to Extra Energy definitely shouldn't be any more of your money.

lisa110rry

"As to cancelling DDs: for some reason, some folks appear to be terrified that the instant they do this, They Have Broken The Law."

Quite so, as long as you are in credit they wouldn't have a leg to stand on in law.

I did exactly as you suggested, I cancelled my direct debit and wrote to EE explaining why. The following day (so not in reaction to my letter) I got a call from EE asking me to re-start my DD. I explained that I was planning to switch and was considerably in credit and this is why I had cancelled my direct debit and also explained that I had put this in writing. The person I spoke with "put notes to this effect on my account". We'll see.

Today I did my 8 July to 8 August calculation and entered my readings on the website.

Out of curiosity, I estimated usage for 8 August to 30 September, and low and behold I have discovered that if EE had not twice increased my DD for one month (until I telephoned and explained that the increase was not sensible given the monthly readings and calculations I make and the DD was reduced again), we would have been within a fiver of perfection - equal payments for the amount of fuel used.

When will I find a supplier who will believe I can almost perfectly project our usage over a year?

edit: You know though, when I think about it, if they have a good tariff out there I may just switch to it. They will have a file on me a mile long and will know that I'm up for the fight and have even alleged breach (at which they crumbled). Maybe they'll think twice when they see how closely I cam project our usage.

Hern

Brilliant, Lisa. Just brilliant! You've obviously a strong grip on this and can manage your energy accounts as well as (and better than) any supplier. . . which means that yes, you're perfectly placed to exploit the, um, generosity of suppliers now fighting amongst themselves to make a profit.

Would that every consumer had a similar grip: it's surely not that difficult to make a monthly gas and a monthly electricity meter reading a couple of days before each monthly Direct Debit is taken? Sadly, for some, that appears impossible. And thus they unwittingly play into the hands of the energy companies . . .

hra_2

Hern wrote: »

To judge by the sheer volume of consumer complaints about this company, Extra Energy is so often in breach of contract with its customers / in breach of compliance with the regulatory authority about prompt and accurate billing / standard of customer service / quality of complaints handling that it's already in far, far deeper doo-dah than any cancelling customer will ever be.

When you cancel your DD, write to EE and say why. Place your reasons on record.

Are they still up to their little wheeze over inflated calorific values? (Haven't seen a bill since May when this was spotted).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4924424

Biggles

Hern wrote: »

As to cancelling DDs: for some reason, some folks appear to be terrified that the instant they do this, They Have Broken The Law.

Well, no, you won't have broken the law. But you have almost certainly broken the contract, as we only got the low tariff on condition that we paid by DD (try putting a different method of payment in on the switching website and see what you get).

I wonder if anyone has had their tariff increased after cancelling their DD?

youravinalarrrf

hra wrote: »

Are they still up to their little wheeze over inflated calorific values? (Haven't seen a bill since May when this was spotted).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4924424

It's a bit more than a little wheeze....it's a nice little earner for them if left unchallenged by customers! :mad:

After a long and drawn out complaint I finally got them to agree that they had used incorrect calorific values on their bills and had in fact been overcharging each and every customer. They finally agreed to cancel/credit my previous bills and re-invoice using the correct calorific value for the period concerned.

I think bills after May have been using correct calorific values but all previous bills have overcharged each and every gas customer.

Of course they should now do the same for every gas customer who have been billed prior to May but somehow I don't think this will happen and raising a formal complaint is probably the only way for gas customers to get this rectified.

One other major thing to note is that whatever formula they are using to recalculate monthly direct debits is a complete joke which produces both spurious increases and decreases in monthly direct debits. Extra Energy were unable to explain or justify the large variations (both up and down) shown on the bills I received eventually agreeing to manually adjust it to the figure I had previously calculated.

It's time Ofgem brought in system testing as part of the Operator's License application process to make sure prospective energy suppliers have fully functioning websites and financial systems in place before they are allowed to take on any customers.

My opinion of Extra Energy has changed little over time......sadly even now they still don't appear to know what is required or what they are doing. They have had more than enough time to put things right but have shown little interest in doing so and providing an appalling level of customer service has now become the accepted norm for them.

It will shortly be time to seek out the next bunch of muppets to replace Extra Energy and this detour to the cheaper end of the market will be a lesson learned the hard way.

Any bets on Extra Energy not informing customers that their contracts are coming to an end on 30th September? (If they are going to do it should happen between 12th and 19th August.)