Supplier Charging for Energy Not Consumed

wolfysmith

Hengus - I have recently experienced OFGEM and had almost the same replies as you noted. Apart from a written response I was given the offer of a phone meeting for about 45 minutes with the potential of more activity being undertaken. I am awaiting a further reply after the meeting.

Customers will find that the Supplier will do what it wants if it can get away with it, the Ombudsman doesn't have any teeth, doesn't want to investigate anything too difficult/contentious (its almost don't rock the boat we'll just tell you 'poor supplier service' and tell the supplier to make a refund or some £20 to buy you off). Ombudsman will state that certain issues can only be dealt with by OFGEM and OFGEM will then tell you that they wont pursue anything. Dead end.

There is no 'end to end' management, no enforcement of the regulations to keep suppliers honest/lawful and no resolution to key issues raised.

The issues I raise are not about recovering £20... its about the enforcement of the regulations and changing the Supplier behaviour.

THE SWITCHING PROCESS IS BROKEN AND THE SUPPLIERS GET AWAY WITHOUT ANY DISCIPLINE/ENFORCEMENT. IT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.

I am awaiting a response from OFGEM before I take any further action.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

wolfysmith

Amendment to my estimate of Supplier rip off.


MSE News states that annual switchers now total 7.7 million per annum. If that's the case then potentially all of those customers could be being ripped off to the tune of £154million if they all got charged £20 for gas not consumed.


Even when you eventually get the money back (if you are persistent) after 12 months pursuit then Suppliers, Ombudsman and OFGEM will still not deal with the broken process in order to stop the problem from occuring.


All of you switchers out there should check your readings when you move suppliers.

System

wolfysmith wrote: »

Amendment to my estimate of Supplier rip off.


MSE News states that annual switchers now total 7.7 million per annum. If that's the case then potentially all of those customers could be being ripped off to the tune of £154million if they all got charged £20 for gas not consumed.


Even when you eventually get the money back (if you are persistent) after 12 months pursuit then Suppliers, Ombudsman and OFGEM will still not deal with the broken process in order to stop the problem from occuring.


All of you switchers out there should check your readings when you move suppliers.

You are beginning to sound like a broken record. You have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that energy consumers are being defrauded to the tune of £154M per year based on ONE case. The fact that no one has posted anything in the last week or so backing up your assertion should tell you something. Time to move on perhaps? FWiW, I have looked back at my last 8 switches, over the past 3 years, and the opening and closing readings were the same for all my transfers. That said, some were estimated following verification.

wolfysmith

Hengus,
Glad to see that your switches have gone ok.


I cant disagree with you on anything. I did put the words 'could' and 'potentially' in the same sentence to qualify that I don't yet have any evidence (apart from mine) and you are right I don't know the extent of the problem. It does seem that MSE Energy forum visitors for this post accounts for 0.0001% of the total 7.7m so perhaps we'll never know after I pull this at the weekend.


Thanks for your input.

phillw

wolfysmith wrote: »

Even when you eventually get the money back (if you are persistent) after 12 months pursuit

You could have gotten it back quicker if you weren't trying to get a full blown inquiry launched.

wolfysmith wrote: »

All of you switchers out there should check your readings when you move suppliers.

That is reasonable advice.

wolfysmith wrote: »

I did put the words 'could' and 'potentially' in the same sentence to qualify that I don't yet have any evidence (apart from mine) and you are right I don't know the extent of the problem.

Maybe you shouldn't make sensationalist accusations of industry wide fraud without knowing the extent of the problem.

wolfysmith

I see others are experiencing Suppliers switching and ignoring the actual read