Add your feedback on energy supplier Iresa

Raxiel

youravinalarrrf wrote: »

You might want to recheck your own gas CV calculations as Iresa are still not doing the calculation correctly and in accordance with Ofgem's required method. I agree that Iresa's electricity bills have always been correct and present no problem to existing customers.

After raising a complaint via the Ombudsman regarding Iresa's lack of response to my original complaint as if by magic I received my final bills and credit refund on Tuesday this week and although the calculation on the new replacement gas bill is a lot nearer than it was in the earlier bills it replaces it is still not correct as they continue round up instead of truncate within the calculation and are still using a 'Multiplier' in place of the prescribed formula.

I have had to raise yet another complaint with Iresa to try to get this issue resolved which is ongoing and I am currently waiting for the proposal for resolution from the Ombudsman re the original complaint.

Alongside this I have also raised a formal complaint with Ofgem re Ofgem's own failure to take appropriate action to ensure compliance by Iresa and their failure to protect the consumer and I am currently waiting for their reply regarding the outcome of their investigation.

I will update this thread with any relevant news as these complaints progress.

As I said, it could be by accident or design, but the total is correct, or at least, if there is an error its less than 1p. I'm confident my own figures are correct.

SnowMan

Raxiel wrote: »

As I said, it could be by accident or design, but the total is correct, or at least, if there is an error its less than 1p. I'm confident my own figures are correct.

Interestingly I've just had a gas reading accepted for the first time in a while.

The transaction screen figure is using, I deduce, a calorific value of 39.7 (all previous transaction screen figures and actual bill figures have been based on 40.0).

I think it should actually be 39.6 based on the truncated rounding, but I can't be certain I'm right here. But regardless some progress if they are not using a blanket 40.0 any longer.

No adjustments for the older consumption figures yet.

I think I'll wait until the next bill comes out to see if the transaction screen figure follows through onto the bill.

youravinalarrrf

SnowMan wrote: »

Interestingly I've just had a gas reading accepted for the first time in a while.

The transaction screen figure is using, I deduce, a calorific value of 39.7 (all previous transaction screen figures and actual bill figures have been based on 40.0).

I think it should actually be 39.6 based on the truncated rounding, but I can't be certain I'm right here. But regardless some progress if they are not using a blanket 40.0 any longer.

No adjustments for the older consumption figures yet.

I think I'll wait until the next bill comes out to see if the transaction screen figure follows through onto the bill.

In my case after converting the 'Multiplier' used back into English money which all customers understand they have used a CV value of 39.7795 instead of the correctly truncated 39.7 that it should be for the period. This error in their calculation still causes a slight increase in the number that kWh they overcharge each gas customer for. It's closer than the blanket 40 they used on my previous gas bills but not close enough to comply!

I'm not sure they are taking the 'Multiplier' they are using to enough decimal places in their calculation and it looks to me like they are rounding up at some point instead of truncating.

Only Iresa knows what they are doing as the customer has absolutely no way of telling. This is the main reason that Iresa should be using the methodology prescribed by Ofgem like all other suppliers are forced to do to comply.

To follow up on your earlier post once any complaint made to an energy supplier is 8 weeks old and remains unresolved for any reason the only way forward for a customer is via a complaint to the Ombudsman. If it still remains unresolved after the Ombudsman's intervention this will be fed back to Ofgem by them.

If you haven't done so already my advice would be for you to raise a complaint with the Ombudsman as soon as possible. It may take some considerable time as I believe Iresa are also ignoring the Ombudsman in the same way they are ignoring their customers complaints but it's the only way customers have left to get outstanding issues resolved.

I get the impression that Ofgem are just not interested and have been sweeping all the evidence provided to them by customers under the carpet hoping that this issue will just go away. This may be due to a lack of funds or personnel or investigations of this nature not being in their planned workload but either way it's irrelevant as Ofgem's primary reasons for existing are to ensure compliance by energy suppliers (and to punish them when they don't comply), to protect the consumer and to investigate all breaches of the rules and regulations reported to them by consumers.

In my view if Ofgem aren't capable of doing this automatically without having to be forced to by consumers using their own complaints procedure against them and that certainly looks to be the case here then Ofgem are unfit for purpose.

Raxiel

SnowMan wrote: »

Interestingly I've just had a gas reading accepted for the first time in a while.

The transaction screen figure is using, I deduce, a calorific value of 39.7 (all previous transaction screen figures and actual bill figures have been based on 40.0).

I think it should actually be 39.6 based on the truncated rounding, but I can't be certain I'm right here. But regardless some progress if they are not using a blanket 40.0 any longer.

No adjustments for the older consumption figures yet.

I think I'll wait until the next bill comes out to see if the transaction screen figure follows through onto the bill.

Going off the figures from National Grids Data Item Explorer my CV should be 39.4, moving it up or down by 0.1 changes my calculated total by +/-4p so they must be close.

I'm inclined to believe that Iresa are trying to bill correctly, they're just not very good at it. It doesn't take me all that long to extract the information from NG to enter into my spreadsheet along side the dates and meter reading, but multiply that by 20k customers and it's something that absolutely needs to be automated. Perhaps this is the first glimmer of them thrashing out the process, perhaps they've just picked a more appropriate 'default' (the East Midlands has been at 39.4 for the last quarter, starting the year at 39.5). Time will tell.

MothballsWallet

Iresa could automate getting the data from NG with some computer software. I've grabbed a copy of it for the year to 31/05/17 from the link provided earlier in the thread (apologies I've forgotten who posted it, but thank you!) and saved it to my computer.

Like you said, it didn't take long to do at all, less than 2 minutes at most, so they could automate.

I work in the IT field, and there are a number of tools that you could use to automate it, especially the NG part - I won't list them here to avoid derailing the thread any further (if someone asks me, I'll gladly name them).

System

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Iresa could automate getting the data from NG with some computer software. I've grabbed a copy of it for the year to 31/05/17 from the link provided earlier in the thread (apologies I've forgotten who posted it, but thank you!) and saved it to my computer.

Like you said, it didn't take long to do at all, less than 2 minutes at most, so they could automate.

I work in the IT field, and there are a number of tools that you could use to automate it, especially the NG part - I won't list them here to avoid derailing the thread any further (if someone asks me, I'll gladly name them).

Every other gas supplier that I have used in the past three years has managed to use a truncated and accurate CV. Statements also show the CV that has been used for billing purposes. My latest May bill resolves at a CV of 39.42. Close enough not to worry about the odd few pence; sadly, my download from the National Grid for the billing period gives an average CV of 39.38 which under Ofgem rules has to be truncated to 39.3.

I note that one of the Big 6 asked for a derogation in 2016 from SLC 31.4 arguing that most consumers were not interested in this level of detail. The Ofgem response said that they do not have the powers to agree a derogation to this SLC. So the Ofgem policy stands as one of full compliance and enforcement requiring the use of truncated CVs with a full explanation of the calorific value calculation each bill. Whether a simple Multiplier of ‘X’ and a general explanation meets the SLC requirement is a matter of opinion. I really shouldn’t have to get a calculator out to determine the CV used.

Raxiel

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Iresa could automate getting the data from NG with some computer software. I've grabbed a copy of it for the year to 31/05/17 from the link provided earlier in the thread (apologies I've forgotten who posted it, but thank you!) and saved it to my computer.

Like you said, it didn't take long to do at all, less than 2 minutes at most, so they could automate.

I work in the IT field, and there are a number of tools that you could use to automate it, especially the NG part - I won't list them here to avoid derailing the thread any further (if someone asks me, I'll gladly name them).

Oh yes. When doing it for the whole customer base you have to make sure that each customer gets the right CV value for their region and the right first and last dates for the average but no doubt a competent programmer would find it quite trivial. That assumes Iresa have any actual programmers rather than just admin staff, the fact it's taken so long suggests they don't.

Mistermeaner

So my complaint is underway with the energy ombudsman

Got an email over the weekend asking me to sign and return a letter along with supporting documents (all of which the ombudsman already has from when I first submitted my claim online)

The email asked me to login into the ombudsman portal to submit my info; eventually found the portal (no link in email) and have logged in (after clicking forgotten password that I never had in the first place)

Now I cannot for the life of me figure out how to submit documents or anything via the portal - any ideas?

NB: I'm aware I can email them but they do ask you to use the portal - all seems a bit haphazard.... plus I'm not sending them anything they don't already have.

Not overly optimistic this is going to get me anywhere

youravinalarrrf

@Mistmeaner See my post on the Refusing switch thread.

molerat

They get better

Latest Update:




Thanks for getting in touch.



Your meter point has not been set up because your meter technical details do not match those on the National Database, this is because your previous supplier failed to update it. This is what has caused the delay on your account.



I apologise for the inconvenience.

As a serial switcher I find that very hard to believe - let's blame someone else, obviously all the fault of E.On !