On-line Energy Accounts - Statutory period for maintaning Bills and Statements

Fozzie_Bear

Most energy providers provide discounts for On-line Only accounts which don't provide a paper bill or statement. However on at least two occasions, I have not been able to access old bills as they are not available on line.
I can understand where paper bills are provided that the Energy supplier may archive older bills to save on server storage space but where the account is only On-Line surely they should have a responsibility to retain accounts going back several years. I am only trying to go back to April 2014 so only 18 months as I need my utility bills as supporting evidence for my 2014-15 Self assessment tax return. I work from home and use a lot of electricity.

Do Energy suppliers have a statutory duty to maintain bills available to customers for a certain period? If so does anyone know what that period is.

Fozzie

footyguy

Fozzie_Bear wrote: »

Most energy providers provide discounts for On-line Only accounts which don't provide a paper bill or statement. However on at least two occasions, I have not been able to access old bills as they are not available on line.
I can understand where paper bills are provided that the Energy supplier may archive older bills to save on server storage space but where the account is only On-Line surely they should have a responsibility to retain accounts going back several years. I am only trying to go back to April 2014 so only 18 months as I need my utility bills as supporting evidence for my 2014-15 Self assessment tax return. I work from home and use a lot of electricity.

Do Energy suppliers have a statutory duty to maintain bills available to customers for a certain period? If so does anyone know what that period is.

Fozzie

I'm sure all suppliers retain financial records for at least the last 6 years.
This may not necessarily be available online, even if you have an online account.

I would recommend you too keep financial records for at least 6 years, especially as you are running a business.

matelodave

The taxman & DWP expect you to keep records for six years so it's not unreasonable to expect utility companies to do the same.


However, that said, I download and save PDF copies of mine just in case they don't - saves no end of hassle.
I also make sure that I keep copies of previous suppliers bills as well, just as insurance against future !!!!-ups (not my exclamations)

spiro

Also remember with online billing lots of companies close your online account once your final bill has been paid. As has already been said dowload your bills every month and store them especially if you need them for tax purposes.

Fozzie_Bear

Thanks for the responses Guys. I do indeed keep records for 6 years and have not had a problem until I switched suppliers to Scottish Power.
We pay monthly by standing order but bills are quarterly so only 4 per year to store online.
With all my other accounts Broadband, Office Phone, Mobile etc etc I regularly download the statements but forgot to do the early part of 2014 which is the bit Im missing. Another lesson learnt for the future. However I want to make a formal complaint about the way I have been treated by Scottish Power and if necessary escalate it to the regulator so need to be sure of my facts. Unless anyone here knows for sure I may have to contact Ofgem for the answer to my original question.
Fozzie

modsandmockers

I have always assumed that the idea of paperless billing is that the customer accepts the responsibility of keeping their own records in whatever form they choose. My own preference is to keep bank statements etc on the computer but to print hard copies of bills. Before paperless billing, it was always the customer’s responsibility to retain their own records, and there was quite a hefty price to pay for duplicate copies of historic statements/bills etc. Unless the rules have changed, HMRC is entitled to request up to 7 years of financial records.

spiro

I have never seen anything from OFGEM that states how longer paperless bills should be available online so I suspect that route is pointless. Have you checked on their website to see if it says anything?

footyguy

Fozzie_Bear wrote: »

Thanks for the responses Guys. I do indeed keep records for 6 years and have not had a problem until I switched suppliers to Scottish Power.
We pay monthly by standing order but bills are quarterly so only 4 per year to store online.
With all my other accounts Broadband, Office Phone, Mobile etc etc I regularly download the statements but forgot to do the early part of 2014 which is the bit Im missing. Another lesson learnt for the future. However I want to make a formal complaint about the way I have been treated by Scottish Power and if necessary escalate it to the regulator so need to be sure of my facts. Unless anyone here knows for sure I may have to contact Ofgem for the answer to my original question.
Fozzie

I can tell you for sure that SP keep records of past billing for at least 6 years.

However there is no obligation on them making them available online to you for such a period (unless you can find a term in the agreed contract with them that states otherwise)

Depending on how they are stored, it may even be that an SAR may not provide you the missing documents. (But with todays electronic storage being so common, I suspect it would)

Before you get into the remits of the regulator, Ofgem, etc (who won't get involved in any individual customer's complaints), or even a formal complaint to the supplier, have you tried calling SP and seeing if they could provide you a copy of the bills you are missing?


Edit: As far as I can see from the SP website, they only commit to making bills available to you via an online account for 14 months. (so they will probably refer to that in any complaint you make in this regard)
However, no harm in asking if they could possibly provide a copy of an older bill as I suggested.

Fozzie_Bear

Thanks again for your replies. I had not seen the clause about keeping records for 14 months which differs from 12 months recently stated in a response from Customer Services.
I have asked for back copies but this keeps getting referred to the back office team and I go round and round in circles every time I contact them. The staff do not seem able to understand my request.
With regards to maintaining records yes I agree that its my responsibility. However previously I would have been sent a paper bill which I can file. With online billing one of the things you accept is not receiving a paper copy. As a result I think it is only reasonable for the company to provide access to bills going back at least 2 years otherwise how can you look at your energy usage trend. These could be archived and not directly available if necessary but I think 12 months is insufficient particularly when its quarterly billing and therefore only 8 statements to maintain.
Just my view. I will certainly look at what other companies do when renewing my contract.
Fozzie

footyguy

I'm not sure how a supplier cannot understand a request of "Please could you supply me copy/copies of historical bill(s) or bills for the period xx/xx/20xx to xx/xx/20xx" (insert the appropriate dates). :huh:
Perhaps you are not expressing it this way?

As I said, you need to be keeping financial records for at least 6 years. You don't need to store them in paper form as matelodave has already indicated.

But if you don't want to do that, and expect the supplier to make historical bills constantly available to you online (which needs to be for at 6 years, not just the 2 you indicate) then, well... it's your money.

Good hunting for a supplier that will do that. I'm not saying there isn't one, but that info will not be shown on a comparison site, and such a requirement will severely restrict your choice of supplier, and that could end up costing you a significant amount of money.

naedanger

Fozzie_Bear wrote: »

Thanks again for your replies. I had not seen the clause about keeping records for 14 months which differs from 12 months recently stated in a response from Customer Services.
I have asked for back copies but this keeps getting referred to the back office team and I go round and round in circles every time I contact them. The staff do not seem able to understand my request.
With regards to maintaining records yes I agree that its my responsibility. However previously I would have been sent a paper bill which I can file. With online billing one of the things you accept is not receiving a paper copy. As a result I think it is only reasonable for the company to provide access to bills going back at least 2 years otherwise how can you look at your energy usage trend. These could be archived and not directly available if necessary but I think 12 months is insufficient particularly when its quarterly billing and therefore only 8 statements to maintain.
Just my view. I will certainly look at what other companies do when renewing my contract.
Fozzie

As others have said, your supplier will hold records on your accounts going back at least 6 years (5 in Scotland). If you make a subject access request (cost £10) they will send you all this information. The information may not be in the form of bills but should be in a form sufficient to establish what you used and what you paid. Suppliers need to keep records for this length of time for their own purposes, e.g. to respond to any dispute going back this length of time.

Info on making a subject access request:

If you want to exercise those rights, the Data Protection Act 1998 sets out that we can verify your identity (to make sure we’re not supplying personal data to the wrong person) and charge a £10 fee. Once we’ve received this fee and confirmed your identity, we have 40 days in which to respond, although we’re usually quicker than that.

To speed things along, it’s helpful if you can tell us exactly what you require, remembering that personal data consists of any information we hold about you electronically (including emails and recordings of telephone calls), as well as very limited paper files. Asking for all the personal data we hold about you is likely to take longer.

To request personal information, please email dataprotection@scottishpower.com or write to: The Data Protection team, ScottishPower, Section 5, Cathcart Business Park, Spean Street, Glasgow G44 4BE.

https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/legal/privacy-policy