MSE News: GB Energy goes bust, 160,000 customers affected

Pegleg2001

More by luck than judgement, in early November I initiated a reclaim of £300 from a credit balance of £479. It was received to my bank on 21 Nov. So far so good.

After hearing of the demise of GBE on yesterday's BBC Breakfast, I cancelled my DD. Today contacted the bank (Santander/Cahoot) and invoked DD reclaims for the previous 5 X DDs that is more or less equivalent to the outstanding balance. Whether these will "stick" or not remains to be seen, but I'd rather them (Co-Op) be chasing me for money than the other way round.

An ATOL scheme, like another poster mentioned, is needed in this industry. What OFGEM do all day I don't know. But here's some advise for free - "Do your f-ing job!"

tg99

GB Energy Supply customers: Your questions on new supplier Co-operative Energy

Publication date
29th November 2016
Information types
Guidance
Policy areas
Business consumers
Domestic consumers
Electricity - retail markets
Gas - retail markets
Today we’ve appointed Co-operative Energy to take on GB Energy Supply’s customers after they ceased trading. This follows a competitive process we’ve run to get the best deal possible for GB Energy Supply customers.

This guide will answer some of your questions on what happens now.

Your supply

When will I be switched from GB Energy Supply to Co-operative Energy?
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You will be switched to a new contract with Co-operative Energy on Wednesday 30 November 2016. Co-operative Energy will contact you in the coming days to explain what happens next.

Your contract

Will I be on a different contract with Co-operative Energy? Will I pay more?
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Co-operative Energy will be offering the same price as you were paying before with GB Energy Supply, whether you were on a fixed or standard variable tariff. They will contact you in the coming days with more information about your tariff.

If you want to change tariff, ask Co-operative Energy to switch to another deal, or shop around. No exit fees will be charged.

For clear advice on how to shop, visit Ofgem's energy guide at Be An Energy Shopper (opens another website).

Switching supplier

I don’t want a contract with Co-operative Energy. Can I switch?
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Our advice is not to switch immediately, but wait until Co-operative Energy has got in touch with you. They will contact you in the coming days with more information about your tariff.

Once you have been contacted by them you can then ask them to put you on their cheapest deal or shop around. You won’t be charged exit fees.

For clear advice on how to shop, visit Ofgem's energy guide at Be An Energy Shopper (opens another website).

Accounts in debt or credit

I’m in credit to GB Energy supply. Will I get my money back?
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Co-operative Energy will honour all outstanding credit balances for both current customers, and for past customers of GB Energy Supply who are still owed money. For current customers any credit on their account will be used to offset future energy use. For past customers a refund will be processed in due course.

I’m paying back a debt to GB Energy supply. Will I now pay this to Co-operative Energy?
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You will not need to pay back your debt to Co-operative Energy. However, you may have to continue to pay this back to GB Energy Supply. Further detail will be provided in due course by the administrator.

Payments through direct debit

Should I cancel my direct debit?
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No, you don't need to worry about cancelling your direct debit.

Wait until Co-operative Energy has got in touch with you. They’ll do so in the coming weeks. They will help you set up a new account and will be able to tell you what will happen with any credit balance you may have with GB Energy Supply.

I’ve already cancelled my direct debit. Should I do anything?
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You don't need to worry if you’ve already cancelled your direct debit. Wait until Co-operative Energy has got in touch with you. They will help you set up a new account and will be able to tell you what will happen with any credit balance you may have with GB Energy Supply.

Complaints and contacts

Will Co-operative Energy take on my unresolved complaint to GB Energy Supply?
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Co-operative Energy will be reviewing all existing complaints in the next few weeks with a view to responding to customers as soon as possible.

Further help and advice
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Enquiries for your supplier

Co-operative Energy will be contacting GB Energy Supply customers with more information about their contract and tariff in the coming weeks. If your question isn't answered here, you should contact the GB Energy Supply customer contact team as normal.

Co-operative Energy will be supporting GB Energy Supply’s existing customer contact centre, making sure that customers have as smooth a transition as possible to their new supplier.

GB Energy Supply customer helpline: 0800 644 4451

Further help and advice

If your question isn’t answered here and you have concerns about your energy supply, problems or complaints, you should contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline in the first instance for guidance and support.

Citizens Advice consumer helpline (opens another website)
Telephone: 03454 040506 - Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Ofgem's role

You can read more about our powers to protect consumers when suppliers go out of business in our guidance: Supplier of Last Resort process.

locky123

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/gb-energy-supply-customers-your-questions-new-supplier-co-operative-energy

Dird

Living_proof wrote: »

Robin Hood Energy Limited
Net Worth £-712,570

Could be worse:
OVO ENERGY LTD
Net Worth: -£74,098,000

Shame I'm too stingy to pay to see where the liabilities are

lolamancity

Well that press release seems pretty good, doesn't it?! I'm pretty happy with that

locky123

Depends whether Co-op customer services can handle the extra traffic and whether their IT system can transfer the GB Energy database without any glitches. Plenty of things to go wrong if you ask me. But in principle the deal of staying on same GB Energy tariff is good, as long as they dont add any new t&cs.

navig8r

facade wrote: »

When I tried to get a quote off them Saturday afternoon and again Sunday the website just crashed, whether I used firefox, IE or chrome. :eek:

They were the only supplier in the cheap energy table I couldn't get prices from.


Looking good then........:o

I tried to get a quote from co op and it crashed after I entered gbenergy as my supplier. I tried again using another company and was given a quote .. very strange??
g8r

Poundnote

Good News:-
Everything comes to he who waits
Good News
Paying the same rate as with GBE
Good News

System

From the BBC:

Ofgem said the cost of protecting customers' balances would be funded partly by Co-operative Energy and partly by its safety net, funded by a levy paid by all energy firms.

Delete 'paid by all energy firms' and insert 'paid by all energy customers'. I suppose that we should all be thankful that it wasn't one of the Big 6 that went under.

ffacoffipawb

tg99 wrote: »

I’ve already cancelled my direct debit. Should I do anything?
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Made me laugh!