Credit balances - what are the rules for supply companies on refunding this?

MrMaloney

Are there any rules over how much and how long a supply company can hold onto credit balances for?

I have just renewed on a 12 month fixed contract with isupply, as it looked to be the best going for me. My issue is that they have been holding onto a £417 credit and have over the past 2-3 months made excuses why they couldn't refund, such as we need to wait for another meter reading, or today they said, you may have used more over Christmas. I've supplied monthly readings, the last being 3 Jan 2017. They bill/issue statements quarterly rather than monthly. I pay £66/month currently (they increased it from £43/month in April last year). After threatening to phone up radio 5 when Martin is on next week etc they did eventually offer to pay £250 now and then refund any other balance when I change onto the new fixed contract on 4 Feb. I asked how long to refund the £250 and they said 28 days. I did state that it is possible to carry out same day bank transfers in the UK and whilst I wouldn't expect it today I would have thought it was possible to work through their internal checks within 3 or 4 days. All she could say is she would mark it as urgent. There must be rules on how much and how long supply companies can hold onto customers credits??

In one conversation with them on the subject at the beginning of the month, we touched on meter readings. They said they were legally obliged to send out a meter reader at least once every 2 years. I pointed out that I hadn't seen one and I've been with them over 2 years. They have now booked one for 3 Feb. My own meter readings I supply to them have all been "validated". I have an eon installed smart meter, they say they can't read smart meters ... yet. However, the company they contract out to for meter readings do seem to be able to read smart meters (I forget the name of the company but went to their website and they said that they can do this). I'm guessing my meter readings are being validated by the contracted reading company who check my smart meter reading. I would guess that either it's cheaper for them to do it this way, or they hide behind being unable to read smart meters as a way of inflating estimates.

System

MrMaloney wrote: »

In one conversation with them on the subject at the beginning of the month, we touched on meter readings. They said they were legally obliged to send out a meter reader at least once every 2 years. I pointed out thtI hadn't seen one and I've been with them over 2 years. They have now booked on for 3 Feb. My own meter readings I supply to them have all been "validated". I have an eon installed smart meter, they say they can't read smart meters ... yet. However, the company they contract out to for meter readings do seem to be able to read smart meters (I forget the name of the company but went to their website and they said that they can do this). I'm guessing my meter readings are being validated by the contracted reading company who check my smart meter reading. I would guess that either it's cheaper for them to do it this way, or they hide behind being unable to read smart meters as a way of inflating estimates.

As of the 1st April 2016, meters have to be read once per year but Ofgem has not stated how this is to be done. Clearly, if the supplier is able to take remote readings then there is no need to send out a meter reader.

I suspect when a supplier says that they cannot read a smart meter they are talking about the fact that they have no communications link to it. Many of the first generation smart meters are supplier dependent. If you change suppliers then the meter becomes a dumb meter that requires someone to read it. I suspect that you know this already.

As far as your credit balance is concerned, then first check your ts and cs. MSE also has some very good advice on how to get your money back.

MrMaloney

Thanks for the info. I'm fairly certain although installed by eon, it can be read by anyone. It was one of my questions when they offered to install it. I'll have a check of the T&Cs. Thanks

System

MrMaloney wrote: »

Thanks for the info. I'm fairly certain although installed by eon, it can be read by anyone. It was one of my questions when they offered to install it. I'll have a check of the T&Cs. Thanks

I doubt it. You will have a SMETS1 meter which communicated directly with E.oN. The next generation meters, SMETS2, will communicate with The Data Communications Company (DCC) which only went live in November 2016. Suppliers are still allowed to install first-generation meters. The next generation should rollout later this year. That said, not many of the small suppliers have established links to The DCC.

MrMaloney

I've had a quick scan of the T&Cs and it says that they will vary the monthly payments according to usage. It is silent on credit balances. I should have checked earlier to see the credit balance building up.

System

This, according to the Govt website, is what E.oN should have told you when to had your smart meter installed:

Switching suppliers

Smart meters will ultimately make switching suppliers easier and quicker. It is important that smart metering devices work together (even if from different providers) and also that consumers can still use the meter on change of supplier. However, meters installed during the early roll out may lose some smart functionality depending on which energy supplier you switch to. This will be resolved for the vast majority of meters installed during the main rollout as more energy suppliers begin installing smart meters.

In most cases, if you switch during the early roll out the meter can still be used in ‘traditional’ mode if the new energy supplier cannot support the smart functionality at the stage of switching suppliers. The In Home Display (IHD) issued alongside the smart meter should still continue to operate and show you near real time information about your energy consumption.

Ofgem has introduced rules designed to help domestic consumers understand if the smart services they receive will be maintained when they switch supplier. The rules include a requirement that a supplier installing a smart meter must inform the customer that they may lose meter functionality on change of supplier.

MrMaloney

isupply use Lowri-Beck for meter reading.

Raxiel

MrMaloney wrote: »

Thanks for the info. I'm fairly certain although installed by eon, it can be read by anyone. It was one of my questions when they offered to install it. I'll have a check of the T&Cs. Thanks

When they say anyone can read it, they mean anyone can press the button on the meter (9 for total units, 6 for day/night with e7) and read the digits on the display.

footyguy

MrMaloney wrote: »

Are there any rules over how much and how long a supply company can hold onto credit balances for?

I have just renewed on a 12 month fixed contract with isupply, as it looked to be the best going for me. My issue is that they have been holding onto a £417 credit and have over the past 2-3 months made excuses why they couldn't refund, such as we need to wait for another meter reading, or today they said, you may have used more over Christmas. I've supplied monthly readings, the last being 3 Jan 2017. They bill/issue statements quarterly rather than monthly. I pay £66/month currently (they increased it from £43/month in April last year). After threatening to phone up radio 5 when Martin is on next week etc they did eventually offer to pay £250 now and then refund any other balance when I change onto the new fixed contract on 4 Feb. I asked how long to refund the £250 and they said 28 days. I did state that it is possible to carry out same day bank transfers in the UK and whilst I wouldn't expect it today I would have thought it was possible to work through their internal checks within 3 or 4 days. All she could say is she would mark it as urgent. There must be rules on how much and how long supply companies can hold onto customers credits??

In one conversation with them on the subject at the beginning of the month, we touched on meter readings. They said they were legally obliged to send out a meter reader at least once every 2 years. I pointed out that I hadn't seen one and I've been with them over 2 years. They have now booked one for 3 Feb. My own meter readings I supply to them have all been "validated". I have an eon installed smart meter, they say they can't read smart meters ... yet. However, the company they contract out to for meter readings do seem to be able to read smart meters (I forget the name of the company but went to their website and they said that they can do this). I'm guessing my meter readings are being validated by the contracted reading company who check my smart meter reading. I would guess that either it's cheaper for them to do it this way, or they hide behind being unable to read smart meters as a way of inflating estimates.

You can either request for it to be returned (which may result in an increase your monthly payment by DD) or you can request the supplier use the accrued credit to reduce your monthly payments
(I never had any issue with this when I asked iSuppyEnergy to do so when I used accrued credit over one year to reduce monthly payments for the next)

This MSE article may assist you further
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

The other thing that strikes me is that if you have genuinely accrued £417 creditover 12 months, then you way over-estimated you anticipated annual consumption last year. That could well mean you were not on a very good tariff, and if you have not now corrected that error, any result from a comparison site would equally be questionable for this year.