**Have you taken, or are you taking, court action against your energy supplier?**

Hern

The question is asked in hope other MSErs would be willing to share information here on the specific issue of civil Court claims against an energy supplier.

The reason it is asked is because the obvious weakness in consumer protection where the UK energy supply sector is concerned confirms that consumers themselves are still the best defenders of their own interests. . . providing they know how to go about it.

That protective weakness has never been more apparent in the Regulator's shamefully delayed, and shamefully inadequate, verdict on serial offender NPower, a company to whom £26million means a great deal less than the penalty which should've been meted out: immediate suspension of its UK operating licence for the egregious breach of terms and conditions.

The inadequacy of that regulatory response -- in a market which, at the time of privatization, the public was promised would be effectively policed -- is matched by the feebleness of the so-called Ombudsman: Energy service, whose speed of complaints processing makes a snail look athletic and whose findings represent nothing more than a kiss on the energy companies' corporate backside when there should instead be a thorough caning.

I'm grateful to MSEr regular Cardew for flagging up -- on another thread -- the heroic efforts made by MSEr DirectDebacle in confronting NPower several years ago and bringing a court action the effect of which was to expose the company's loathsome misconduct and, as a result, to achieve a verdict which financially benefited countless customers. (And not merely of NPower alone: other energy companies that may've been tempted to emulate NPower were effectively warned off.)

But that was then, and this is now, and nothing, or so it seems, has changed very much. MSE is still full of threads of reported abuses: grotesque misbilling; arrogant indifference; studied incompetence; obstructiveness in refunding customer monies to those in credit at the time of supplier switch; and venality bordering on the downright vicious.

(Where this last is concerned, I myself have only just finished contending with my supplier's Debt Collection Agency over a claim so ludicrously false that neither the DCA nor the supplier have ever at any time been able to produce a single shred of supporting documentation . . . But hey: they've still been happy to threaten me with the wrecking of my perfect credit record / a Court hearing with costs awarded against me.)

This post, then, is about court actions. . . but not by energy companies against abused customers, rather by abused customers against those abusive companies.

Though there are innumerable posts on MSE about the distress, frustration, and sheer strain of being the unfortunate customer of a rogue energy supplier, I've yet to find -- in one place, in one thread -- a simple and quickly accessible repository of information relating to the consumer's own right of legal sanction.

Though yes, it's understandable that many on here and in the wider world would dearly love to see their energy supplier in Court because they're-a-bunch-of-shysters-who-should-all-be-locked-up, that isn't now nor ever will be legal grounds for claim. What needs to be made clear are the actual grounds upon which a Court action was brought, or is being brought.

Accordingly, then, information would be greatly appreciated from any MSErs who have either:

(a) already taken their energy supplier to the small claims (under £10,000) court and have won their action; or:
(b) have instituted a claim which is due to be heard by the Court.

NOTE: If a Court action has already been concluded with a successful outcome, then the poster can decide whether or not to identify the supplier concerned. If an action is still underway, then the name of the energy company should *not* be mentioned here.

Many thanks.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4881018

Here's one. The litigant, and the judge, were entirely incorrect in my opinion, and the opinion of quite a few others IIRC.

lisa110rry

Hern, I commend you for this thread. I was certainly prepared to take my supplier to court, after a dispute had crystallised, but they settled with a notional 50% additional payment on the day I decided to start action, but I assure you I was prepared. My job involves dealing with CCBC MCOL (for others, this is 'Money Claim On Line" the way one starts an action in County Court), so it holds no fears for me. You know who my supplier was, of course.

I've always been of the opinion that Energy Suppliers' logarithms to calculate direct debits are fraudulently flawed.

I shall definitely be watching this thread, but I could not take my supplier to Court because they paid up.

[Deleted User]

Personally I would dearly love the suppliers, Npower included, to drag hundreds of thousands of "customers " to a criminal court and prosecute them for wholesale theft of energy, criminal damage and theft by fraud. They won t. The courts would be full every week if only they would,and we the honest paying customers would be better off if they did.
Hern is making me think of "Operation Yewtree " with his florid language of "abused customers,grotesque, arrogant etc when the "customer " who most of the time is the cause of its own downfall with billing problems. I d advise him to tone it down a peg or two.

backfoot

I have experience of the Small Claims Court with resounding success but never in relation to energy billing. The process is procedural but relatively easy to conduct.

I can see it being used for cases where clearly incorrect invoices have been presented and the Supplier has made fundamental mistakes and fails to respond to the complaint. More often than not, it would be an overbilling situation whereby the customer is effectively claiming back an overpaid amount (by Direct Debit).
Would I use the SCC rather than the normal complaint processes? Even though, I believe those processes are weak, I believe they are still the best route for overall speed of resolution and relevant arbiters. Generally, I don’t think energy disputes are about matters of law but usually administrative or processing errors. If I were a Judge, I would initially be asking if the normal energy complaint processes had been followed to try and arrive at an agreement.
I guess some of the motivation is to teach the Supplier a lesson? I take the view that the Ombudsman/Regulator does that already and there are costs to the supplier in so doing, albeit slow. The Court process has more risk involving a small amount of fees and a fear that the Judge may not get the issues.

I also fear that despite the case quoted above; back billing rules would not have any standing in law.


Overall, given the right situation, legal redress may be appropriate but I think it would be a rare set of circumstances when I would contemplate it.

Cardew

Hern wrote: »

The question is asked in hope other MSErs would be willing to share information here on the specific issue of civil Court claims against an energy supplier.

Excellent thread.

I thought the case referred to in the links below would set a precedent. Sadly I was wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/7914426/British-Gas-customer-wins-2000-payment-for-wasted-time.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/7914426/British-Gas-customer-wins-2000-payment-for-wasted-time.html

Without detracting from the thrust of the OP’s post, unless the legislation under which the Utility companies operate is changed, in most cases a customer’s court action is a waste of time; regardless of the merits of their case.

Let us consider court action under the Small Claims track. Firstly you have to go to mediation – that I am afraid means the dreaded Ombudsman!

The Ombudsman is a complete waste of time – huge amounts of time in providing evidence to operatives who have no interest other than to ‘tick off’ another case. They will simply get you £50 or £100 compensation for weeks of work.

Before going to court you have to be able to quantify your losses. This is far from easy, even for us ‘anoraks’. Take the Scottish Power thread started by backfoot:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5357927

He, and several others, have had bills for previous years recalculated and the old on-line bills have disappeared off the system. It is almost impossible to work out the true position on losses.

If you do get a figure you can go to court – a long winded process – to claim that amount. If your case has any merit the energy company will simply settle out of court – as Lisa in post#3 found out.

The great merit of DirectDebacle’s campaign on the ‘sculpting’ scandal was that 1.8 million Npower gas customers had overpaid. He wasn’t prepared to accept a generous settlement of his own case, but got the Sunday Times involved and eventually they had to compensate every one of those customers at a cost of £70 million.