Iresa Limited - New Energy Company?

footyguy

brewerdave wrote: »

As per Hengus ,I received an email this morning announcing that my bill is ready - but can't get logged on again, presumably because every other customer is trying .
Why they don't stagger bill dates (and DD dates etc) is beyond me.

No issue for me to log on.

brewerdave

footyguy wrote: »

Sorry, but only yourself to blame for finding youself in that situation.

If you are allowing for seasonal variations in your usage, then the only other explanation is that you way overestimated your anticipated annual consumption when you joined them, so you may not have got the best deal for you in the first place. :cool:

Nevertheless, you should ressess that situation now. At least with
Iresa there are no earaly exit fees, so if you are not on the best tariff for you there is no penalty for switching.

Partly my fault ,in that I used a previous year's leccy usage rather than last year as I felt that last year consumption was abnormally low.
IRESA then appear to have jacked up the monthly amount a bit as well, so that I'm paying ~£9 per month too much.
Still the best deal even for modified usage - It'll be interesting to see if they do review at 6 months and drop the DD for the remaining time.
I can now complete log in and download my bill :T

icharus

Same here. I received an e-mail saying my bill was ready, but the only calculation was that they have added interest to the account. Iresa still have not taken payment for either of my last and final gas and electric meter readings. I left them over a month ago!

footyguy

brewerdave wrote: »

Partly my fault ,in that I used a previous year's leccy usage rather than last year as I felt that last year consumption was abnormally low.
IRESA then appear to have jacked up the monthly amount a bit as well, so that I'm paying ~£9 per month too much.
Still the best deal even for modified usage - It'll be interesting to see if they do review at 6 months and drop the DD for the remaining time.
I can now complete log in and download my bill :T

Iresa have not jacked my monthly amounts
Not sure if that was becasue I gave them correct usage figures in the first place, or that they only appaer to have started billing for any consumption (as they only have recently appear to have had any meter readings validated - not just me but lots have posted similar about meter reading validation issues)

Anyway, if they do increase monthly payments, MSE have a very informative article to fight back
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits
- applies to any supplier

(Only difference is that Iresa does not allow you to go into debt at any time - but if you are in credit due in part to providing erroneously high annual consumption figures from the outset, I suspect your account was never in debt)

I don't think they will automatically revise downwards within the year - the 6 months I believe refers to a request from you. The terms do allow them to change the DD at any time (subject to appropraite advance notice), not just after 6 months (see the above link if you have any issues).

GinCo

As its for leccy only then it should be set at my expected monthly bill as my electricity consumption doesn't vary during the year,

Ah, my mistake... I'm used to thinking of 'electricity-only' as meaning 'no gas' rather than a case of separate suppliers for each. Using gas for heating/cooking/hot water will obviously make anyone's summer/winter variation in consumption much less dramatic.

my DD initially was set at about £10 more pm than is needed.

But to be fair to Iresa, you agreed to that fixed DD amount as being roughly 1/12th of the cost of your expected year's electricity consumption... and they're adding interest on the overpayment that's resulted.

I'm starting to wonder if they're weeding-out 'high maintenance and/or risk' customers as a matter of policy. Preventing accounts moving into debit will reduce their exposure to bad debts (your 7 week buffer of credit with them being an example?) And having others discontent with their low level of customer-service switch away seems not a million miles away from the Ryanair/budget airline model being applied to this business-sector. Or at least as close as the airport advertised as being your destination is from it.

It's already normal to get better tariffs for being a fixed DD customer and/or operating your account online. Perhaps Iresa is 'pushing the envelope' not just by making customers be continuously in credit (with high-interest being paid on credits because defaulting debtors aren't being carried by other customers to such an extent), but also cutting prices by cutting into the 'frills' of responsive person-to-person customer-service. Possibly too much, at least for some.

For me, their cheap electricity is being supplied without problems... but I know that I'm an easy customer for them to have, and I appreciate the 'heads up' warnings from some others, especially about switching away.

Presumably the 'Resolver' website is common knowledge hereabouts (I can't post a link as a new user here). If I encounter difficulties I'll use that immediately, rather than bother 'hanging on the telephone' at all.

Thanks to all.

footyguy

GinCo wrote: »

...
Presumably the 'Resolver' website is common knowledge hereabouts (I can't post a link as a new user here). If I encounter difficulties I'll use that immediately, rather than bother 'hanging on the telephone' at all.

Thanks to all.

Yes, it's often posted about on this site,
Indeed MSE had an official report on it too
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/resolver

However, I'm not tempted to involve a third party in an energy complaint as it seems they will only simply follow the suppliers complaint procedure on your behalf - I can see that only is a cause for further delay and possible confusion.

I would simply follow the suppliers complaint procedure myself (in the case of Iresa, you can file your complaint using your online account with them, so no need to use a phone at all )

8 weeks thereafter, if no satisfactory resolution has been made available, I would file directly with the ombudsman who, unlike resolver, do have the powers to force a supplier to act to resolve the matter (assuming you first agree to such proposed resolution)

GinCo

Call me a slacker.

I'll happily complain in a person-to-person context immediately in front of me, but always prefer to escalate quickly to "I'd like to speak to your manager/supervisor" rather than be made angry/stressed by a member of the front-line staff going through the 'fobbing-off' procedure dictated to them by their lack of room for manoeuver.*

What many people here seem to be complaining about is that Iresa doesn't give them that opportunity in the first place, and they become frustrated by not having anyone to 'talk' to, above and beyond their initial problem.

I prefer not 'not go there' ...if Resolver 'merely' plugs into the OfGem procedure, I'm fine with that. I'm not expecting a bouquet of flowers or M&S voucher, or anyone personally grovelling because it's taken months to sort out an issue over an amount that I wouldn't consider taking to County Court as a 'small claim'.

* I may be more relaxed than some because I've been on the other side of the counter of complaint resolution... as an NHS nurse, in mental health. The right to formal, written appeal against/complaint about being sectioned is guaranteed by law - if I had £1 for every time I've diffused anger and distress by sitting down and taking dictation of a patient's reason for objection to their detention on to their appeal form/s (let alone letters to the Queen, PM and/or Archbishop of Canterbury on the same issue - which lack the same legal force, but usually get polite replies, on headed notepaper) I'd have a quite a few quid to offset the cap on public-sector pay being below the rate of inflation.

Mistermeaner

So the absoute shambles that is IRESA ocntinues

They have sent me emails today advising that all my accounts and billing issues have been resolved

unfortunately this is a lie - they have done nothing

I've now emailed them advising that I am amending my contract such that they pay me £100 for each email I send to them and then a further £100 for each day that goes by without a reply

poppellerant

My opening reading in March still does not show on Iresa's system. One of my regular readings, at the end of the month, does. Also my most recent reading shows. However the opening reading and the rest of the readings I have submitted are still missing.

It also seems as though Iresa are having major issues with their phones today. The IVR and queue system keeps cutting out for a few seconds every 10 seconds or so.

The vibes are not good as I speak to somebody whose first language doesn't seem to be English. That's not to mention an extremely laid back and relaxed mannerism.

Mistermeaner

sent iresa an email telling them I'll charge them £100 for each day that goes past without a response; bizarely they respond quickly to this:

Good morning,





I apologise for the time it has taken to resolve your request.


It seems some of the issues with not being able to see electricity reads lies with an incorrect opening read from the national database. This is now being sent to be disputed with your previous proved. Once completed the subsequent reads can be validated and will then appear on your account.





I can confirm that we are no longer supplying you with Gas.





Regarding being unable to ransfer electricity, this is due to the fact that the direct debit was cancelled on your account. This has lead to both of your accounts being in debit, meaning you cannot transfer until the balance has been cleared. This balance is likely to increase once the electricity readings are validated and the total consumption is calculated. Currently, the owed amount is £103.98. You can clear this debit by setting up a new direct debit, or via one off payment.





Unfortunately we cannot change your tariff to the one you suggested at £0 with £0/KWH. We currently only have one tariff (IRESA Flex 4) which is the contract you signed for when you registered to switch.





Regarding the compensation of £100 each email for each day, unfortunately we are unable to offer compensation based on your request.





I hope the above information explains the situation and explains what we are doing to resolve your issue.





Kind regards


Luke