Help, I have been switched supplier without my knowledge

expertlinguist

Hello folk,

On the 22nd of August I received an email from extra energy sending me my "final" electricity bill, which included a £25 fee for exiting the tariff before it expired.

I called Extra Energy and they told me that my supply had been taken over by British Gas and that I should speak to them about it. The operator at Extra Energy wasn't very helpful although I did tell him that I did not want to change supplier.

Reality is I would not be a BG customer even if they were the cheapest in the market, I had a very bad experience with them in the 90s and there is no way I would ever consider them again.

Since I did not ask to be supplied by British gas, not even knowing what tariff I am on, as I have not yet received any correspondence form them, would I be in my rights not to pay their bill if they sent me one?

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to have free electricity, in fact I have opened a separate savings account and instructed my bank to transfer £70.00 every month to it, just in case I get a nasty surprise.

With Extra Energy my tariff was Bright fixed price January 2017, which is less expensive than BG standard, so if I do get a bill from BG can I recalculate the figures using EE's rates?

Last but not least, can I sue BG for taking over the supply without my say so?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

magyar

This is all extremely unusual. I assume from the lack of contact that the email of 22 Aug is the first you'd heard about anything. Normally you'd have had emails/letters from both British Gas giving you details of your account and from Extra telling you that they were sorry you're leaving.

At this point you'd have had a 14-day cooling off period to correct the mistake. Since this has happened then you would have to formally switch back.

Have you actually spoken to British Gas? You will have to, in order to sort this out. You need to find out exactly what has happened and why. Then you need to switch yourself onto the best tariff you can. Then, when you've ascertained what happened you can approach whoever was at fault for relevant compensation. But there isn't enough information above to go on yet.

And yes, you will have to pay for your electricity eventually and I think putting £70 a month - assuming that was your regular DD - into a savings account is a very good idea.

dogshome

It seems that you are the victim of an 'Erroneous Transfer' - This happens when someone else transfers and an error is made in the system.

WRITE to EE heading the letter Complaint, setting out that you did not request a Switch to BG and want to remain with them.
I'm afraid that the process of unscrambling an Erroneous Transfer takes some time, but the rule is that the affected customer must not suffer any financial disadvantage

magyar

There is a good guide here on what to do

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/youve-been-switched-to-a-new-energy-supplier-without-your-agreement/

footyguy

expertlinguist wrote: »

Hello folk,

On the 22nd of August I received an email from extra energy sending me my "final" electricity bill, which included a £25 fee for exiting the tariff before it expired.

I called Extra Energy and they told me that my supply had been taken over by British Gas and that I should speak to them about it. The operator at Extra Energy wasn't very helpful although I did tell him that I did not want to change supplier.

Reality is I would not be a BG customer even if they were the cheapest in the market, I had a very bad experience with them in the 90s and there is no way I would ever consider them again.

Since I did not ask to be supplied by British gas, not even knowing what tariff I am on, as I have not yet received any correspondence form them, would I be in my rights not to pay their bill if they sent me one?

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to have free electricity, in fact I have opened a separate savings account and instructed my bank to transfer £70.00 every month to it, just in case I get a nasty surprise.

With Extra Energy my tariff was Bright fixed price January 2017, which is less expensive than BG standard, so if I do get a bill from BG can I recalculate the figures using EE's rates?

Last but not least, can I sue BG for taking over the supply without my say so?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

In this country you are free to sue who you want
(But you won't win this one)

If you have been switched supplier in error, you can request the switch is reversed. Google "Erroneous Transfer Customer Charter"

To do this, raise a complaint with either supplier following their complaint procedure.

The end result will be that you will be reverted back to the original supplier as though no switch had ever occurred.

expertlinguist

So far I have done the following:

Emailed both CEOs with the subject line: FORMAL COMPLAINT
Used the same content of the email to write letters to the Customer Service Department of both, which have been sent recorded delivery.

I expect to see a reaction by next week and then let you know what happened.

Thank you all for your advice so far.

SummerFun

expertlinguist wrote: »

So far I have done the following:

Emailed both CEOs with the subject line: FORMAL COMPLAINT
Used the same content of the email to write letters to the Customer Service Department of both, which have been sent recorded delivery.

I expect to see a reaction by next week and then let you know what happened.

Thank you all for your advice so far.

What email addresses did you use for the CEOs?

Wolf3

Hi expertlinguist

As others have described correctly, this scenario is known in the industry as an "Erroneous Transfer".

This should have a simple remedy, however, in practice this is not always the case.

The complaints process can be raised with either company, but I believe it is far more effective to raise the complaint with the supplier who have taken over the electricity supply. In this case that would be with British Gas.

The reason i say this is the all too common scenario where the losing supplier raise the Erroneous Transfer with the gaining supplier, however the Erroneous Transfer is rejected as the gaining supplier have taken over the wrong supply number for your neighbour as an example. As your name does not match with who British Gas have the contract with they often reject the requst as they have a valid contract for a different person.

In my experience it would be a lot faster and hassle free to speak to British Gas, armed in advance with details of your supply number and address, you can get this off any of the bills you received from EE. Confirm they have taken over the wrong supply, raise the complaint and tell them to return the supply to EE

The erroneous transfer process should then take approx 2 weeks to go through switch back, however British Gas are not allowed to charge you for this period and EE should set you back up on the original tariff you were on when you left.

expertlinguist

Hello folk,

Got a telephone call yesterday from Extra Energy saying tht they are in the process of getting me back from British Gas, it should be done and dusted within a couple of weeks, but, they said, it could take up to 12 weeks to get all the Is dotted and the Ts crossed.

The gentleman I spoke to confirmed that I do not have to pay British Gas for the electricity used in the transfer period.

Result!

Thank you all for your advice :beer: