Iresa Limited - New Energy Company?

phillw

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I received my first email from Iresa for a meter reading in the early hours today. I never got one asking for readings when I should of received one when the switch over took place. I suppose that I should be pleased that they remembered me this time. lol

I only got an email a few days earlier that confirmed the date the switch was going to happen. You have to set your own reminder.

System

phillw wrote: »

It's not a defence, but it's a reason to stick it out and keep at them.

Is there a thread about this particular issue with a detailed guide on how to find out what value they should use, what value they used and how to make a complaint?

Allow me to precis:

Iresa's policy was to use a fixed calorific value:

Suppliers are required to maintain a calorific value between a legal limit of 38MJ/m3 to 41MJ/m3. Our calorific value = 40.3841MJ/M3

- Conversion from M3 to KWH: Multiplier = 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 11.47177
- Conversion from FT3 to KWH: Multiplier = 2.83 * 40.3841 * 1.02264 /3.6 = 32

The actual Ofgem policy is:

The daily CV provided to gas suppliers by National Grid should be the basis for calculating the average CV for any gas period.

The CV used for consumer billing should be an average of the daily average values received from National Grid for the billing period. The use of a fixed CV, which some suppliers refer to as an ‘industry standard’, is not consistent with the Regulations.

Requirement to truncate

Regulation 3 (2) is clear that when calculating CV “any amount of less than 0.1 megajoules per cubic metre shall be ignored.”

This means that for a given gas billing period, suppliers should truncate the average CV to one decimal place. Rounding average CV is not consistent with the Regulations, nor is calculating to more than one decimal place.

Since I joined Iresa in early December last year, the daily calorific value for my gas has varied from 38.8 to 39.6. The period average is 39.4711 which under the rule to truncate equates to 39.4.

It follows that the volume to kWh conversion should be:

kWhs = C3Ms x 39.4 x 1.02264/3.6

Ofgem Regulations go on to say:

Compliance monitoring and enforcement

The Regulations provide important consumer protections by ensuring that all suppliers use the same methodology for calculating CV.

It is incumbent on all suppliers to take the necessary steps to ensure they meet the conditions of their licence, codes and other relevant legislation. Details of our approach to compliance and enforcement may be found on our website.

So What is the Problem?

My guess is that Iresa is having issues modifying its IT system (which looks to be a US sourced product - US dates etc) to accept Regional Daily CVs from the National Grid. Moreover, its conversion to kWhs is based on a multiplier which varies for each customer for each billing period. For example, my average truncated CV for, say, January might have been 39.3. In February, it might have been 39.5. The calculation is a simple add up all the daily CVs for the billing period and divide by the number of days that the bill covers.

If your bill is showing the use of an incorrect CV, then I suggest that you send a copy of your bill to consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk pointing out that you believe that Iresa is not following Ofgem Regulations on the use of CVs for billing purposes.

Al_Ross

I don't believe it. They have now charged for my last 3 months Gas.
It has appeared in the Gas Transactions and the meter readings have also been added. Not actually showing under the Gas Bill yet though, hopefully that should appear in the next few days.

They used 11.2 as the multiplier for the last 3 months. A bit higher than it should be I reckon..

brewerdave

I'm definitely "lucky" with my IRESA elec. account compared with others.
New DD showing as credited after 2 days, submitted meter reading also showing after 2 days and the credit balance showing, agrees with my spreadsheet to the p.
Now to see if they alter my DD downwards as I have a credit balance of about 7 weeks worth of leccy:)

System

brewerdave wrote: »

I'm definitely "lucky" with my IRESA elec. account compared with others.
New DD showing as credited after 2 days, submitted meter reading also showing after 2 days and the credit balance showing, agrees with my spreadsheet to the p.
Now to see if they alter my DD downwards as I have a credit balance of about 7 weeks worth of leccy:)

Electricity hasn't been an issue with Iresa - provided that the account was set up along with the correct start meter reading. After all it is nothing more than simple maths.

macman

Hengus wrote: »

Electricity hasn't been an issue with Iresa - provided that the account was set up along with the correct start meter reading. After all it is nothing more than simple maths.

It has for me. Gas has been fine, except for the CV issue.
I persuaded an elderly neighbour to switch to Iresa shortly after I did, and, feeling rather guilty about this, offered to take a look at her account.this week-and you could have knocked me down with a feather: both meter points set up, opening reads correct, two monthly reads logged and correct. All fine. So, on the rare occasion, Iresa can get it right.

firsttimemover

Hengus wrote: »

Electricity hasn't been an issue with Iresa - provided that the account was set up along with the correct start meter reading. After all it is nothing more than simple maths.

There have definitely been issues with electric with Iresa - I've only got my electric with them and after switching to them at the end of October, only this month have they sent me a bill that actually has charges on it. All my previous meter readings had been ignored and bills sent for zero. I opened a case in my account mid-January when I received a bill with no charges, added a comment to this chasing mid-March and it is still sitting open, unacknowledged in my account.

Readings submitted today, so hopefully, this is sorted and they continue to bill me correctly moving forward, but I think there are issues with Iresa across the board, not just on gas although obviously, the CV issue is a bigger problem for them to sort.

System

macman wrote: »

It has for me. Gas has been fine, except for the CV issue.
I persuaded an elderly neighbour to switch to Iresa shortly after I did, and, feeling rather guilty about this, offered to take a look at her account.this week-and you could have knocked me down with a feather: both meter points set up, opening reads correct, two monthly reads logged and correct. All fine. So, on the rare occasion, Iresa can get it right.

I did caveat my response in the knowledge that some electricity meter points had not been set up.

youravinalarrrf

Hengus wrote: »

Electricity hasn't been an issue with Iresa - provided that the account was set up along with the correct start meter reading. After all it is nothing more than simple maths.

It would appear that there have also been issues with electricity for some customers who have been unable to enter electricity meter readings despite their account being set up correctly and available for use.

This was posted by Iresa on Facebook on 6th April.

We have noticed an issue with some of our customer putting in their electricity meter reading. This is a known issue and we are working on it with our agents and partners. We hope to resolve this issue within few days. Apologies for the inconvenience.

I'm not sure if this issue has been resolved or is still ongoing as I've not seen any update posted by Iresa.

nick_pike

Hengus wrote: »

I am pleased that you are happy with Iresa. If you cannot be bothered to read the previous posts then clearly you accept that every bill that comes from a supplier is correct. Sadly, this hasn't been the case. The 'multiplier' is what Iresa uses to convert the volume of gas that enters your property into kWhs. You are billed in kWhs so it is important that the multiplier is correct. The multiplier that Iresa has been using is incorrect. Ofgem banned the use of fixed multipliers in 2014 and instituted a system whereby all suppliers are required to use the AVERAGE daily calorific value for your supply region as recorded by the National Grid. During the past 5 months, my regional daily calorific value has been in the range 38.8 to 39.6 with an average of 39.4. Iresa has been using a higher fixed calorific value which leads to over charging. I have now been with Iresa for nearly 6 months and I have yet to get a correct gas bill, and I have only had one!

If that is 'moaning' then I plead 'Guilty - Mi Lud'. I can assure you that nobody is making anything up and Iresa has admitted on Social Media that it has problems complying with this aspect of Ofgem policy. If Iresa cannot comply will all its Supply Licence obligations, then Ofgem has a duty to revoke its Supply Licence. Other suppliers would expect nothing less.

I have read the previous comments. All of them. Most are about things that in my experience get sorted. Some are just exaggerated. You talk about the multiplier. I have the figures from E-ON, my previous supplier.
1.02264*39.3/3.6 = 11.16 IRESA use 11.4 EDIT, checked latest value is 11.2, the 11.4 was on my first bill for Feb.
Any variation in reality will make very little difference to your cost. And if I do comparisons, even with a recent MSE community switch, IRESA are still the cheapest. Why do you bother to go on about them? If you are not happy, switch away. I, and I'm sure a lot of others are happy. My figures are up to date, they take my readings and I get email notification and I check the bills on a spreadsheet.