Iresa Closes Door to New Customers

The_Green_Hornet

The independent energy company behind the retail market’s cheapest deal has shut its doors to new consumers amid concern over its mounting complaints and wafer thin cash reserves.

Iresa Energy is one of almost fifty challenger brands to the big six legacy suppliers but it has set itself apart by offering a rock bottom dual fuel supply tariff at an average price of £834 a year.

However, the company has slammed the brakes on its rising popularity after the regulator warned the company to get a handle on an increasing number of complaints from its customers.

A spokesman for Ofgem said it became aware that Iresa’s customers were struggling to get hold of customer service representatives raise queries and complaints.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/13/uks-cheapest-energy-supplier-closes-doors-new-customers/

http://www.iresa.co.uk/not-taking-new-orders/

fredandwilma

No surprises there, then?

The question is - Why don't they just introduce new tariffs in line with current market prices, if they want to stay in business?

As energy consumers, it affects us all, in the end.

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/watchdog-ofgem-attacked-over-checks-on-energy-firms-a3514606.html

Iresa refused to give its current financial status.

Their 2016 accounts are due October 2017. Until then, who knows?

System

fredandwilma wrote: »

No surprises there, then?

The question is - Why don't they just introduce new tariffs in line with current market prices, if they want to stay in business?

As energy consumers, it affects us all, in the end.

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/watchdog-ofgem-attacked-over-checks-on-energy-firms-a3514606.html

Iresa refused to give its current financial status.

Their 2016 accounts are due October 2017. Until then, who knows?

Agreed - there are no winners when an energy supplier goes bust. Let us hope that this is not the case here. As an Iresa customer, I am hoping that this is nothing more than the Regulator providing guidance to a supplier, and then overseeing an improvement plan.

The bigger question here is whether or not Ofgem is up to the job?

PaschalFun

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

The independent energy company behind the retail market’s cheapest deal has shut its doors to new consumers amid concern over its mounting complaints and wafer thin cash reserves.

Iresa Energy is one of almost fifty challenger brands to the big six legacy suppliers but it has set itself apart by offering a rock bottom dual fuel supply tariff at an average price of £834 a year.

However, the company has slammed the brakes on its rising popularity after the regulator warned the company to get a handle on an increasing number of complaints from its customers.

A spokesman for Ofgem said it became aware that Iresa’s customers were struggling to get hold of customer service representatives raise queries and complaints.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/13/uks-cheapest-energy-supplier-closes-doors-new-customers/

http://www.iresa.co.uk/not-taking-new-orders/

It's only temporary.

They will reappear on the comparison sites when they open their doors again



(Of course, it might be with a much higher tariff though...:cool:)

Other small suppliers have closed their doors temporarily to new customers in the past e.g. Flow Energy

Even Tesco Bank closed it's doors to those wishing to open a current account with them recently. They have now re-opended them, but the deal now is no where near as good as it was.

You may also be interested in

System

PaschalFun wrote: »

It's only temporary.

They will reappear on the comparison sites when they open their doors again



(Of course, it might be with a much higher tariff though...:cool:)

Other small suppliers have closed their doors temporarily to new customers in the past e.g. Flow Energy

Even Tesco Bank closed it's doors to those wishing to open a current account with them recently. They have now re-opended them, but the deal now is no where near as good as it was.

You may also be interested in

All that may be true, but I just wonder how many Iresa customers reading the news are thinking of initiating a switch away today.

PaschalFun

You do realise that when it's a slo news day, the hacks often turn to the internet to look for a good story, don't you?

The issue of the financial position was raised here on MSE a year ago
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5454979

Iresa held just over £12,300 in cash and debt of almost £90,000 at the end of 2015 according to its most recent publicly available financial results which were posted to Companies House in September.

As you can see from the above link of 12 months ago, they didn't launch their first tariff until March/April 2016

PaschalFun

Hengus wrote: »

All that may be true, but I just wonder how many Iresa customers reading the news are thinking of initiating a switch away today.

I don't know how many, are you going to perhaps be one of them???
(there's no early exit fee to worry about, and you have already moaned and groaned about this supplier and no doubt will continue until the cows come home, I just don't understand why you are still with them, I really don't
Unless, of course, it's because you know a good deal when you see one :cool:)

I certainly won't be. I got in whilst the going was good, and plan to take maximum advantage :money:

System

PaschalFun wrote: »

I don't know how many, are you going to perhaps be one of them???
(there's no early exit fee to worry about, and you have already moaned and groaned about this supplier and no doubt will continue until the cows come home, I just don't understand why you are still with them, I really don't
Unless, of course, it's because you know a good deal when you see one :cool:)

I certainly won't be. I got in whilst the going was good, and plan to take maximum advantage :money:

I will comment on any supplier that fails to get the regulatory basics of its offer right. I have also said that I follow the savings. The fact that some people chose to fly with a budget airline doesn't mean that they have to accept unlicensed pilots or an unserviceable aeroplane. It is the statutory role of all Regulators to ensure full licence compliance - no matter how difficult or expensive that is for a supplier. What is more interesting is that there are no SLCs pertaining to customer service or complaints so I doubt that this is the reason why Ofgem has stepped in. Time will tell.

youravinalarrrf

PaschalFun wrote: »

It's only temporary.

They will reappear on the comparison sites when they open their doors again



(Of course, it might be with a much higher tariff though...:cool:)

Other small suppliers have closed their doors temporarily to new customers in the past e.g. Flow Energy

Even Tesco Bank closed it's doors to those wishing to open a current account with them recently. They have now re-opended them, but the deal now is no where near as good as it was.

You may also be interested in

Personally I think that your post is nothing more than wishful thinking on your part.

The problems at Iresa clearly run much deeper than perhaps we are aware of and I believe Ofgem intervening to stop them taking on any new customers is possibly just the start of this.

If you believe anything that Iresa have posted on the social media websites then more fool you. From what I can see it's been nothing but downright lies and insincere apologies for not doing what we all know they should have done all along. There's very little indication of any actual action being taken by Iresa. They clearly haven't a clue what they're doing with the Caloric Value calculation and even a cursory check of anyone's bill before they released them on Tuesday would have shown them that they'd got it wrong.

Actions do speak louder than words and unfortunately the evidence so far is that they haven't taken any action to correct their mistakes or improve their customer service in any way hence why Ofgem were left with no option other than to intervene on this occasion. It's very rare for Ofgem to make any public comment about the interventions they make behind the scenes.

I made the decision to start switch a away for my gas two days ago before this official confirmation that Ofgem had intervened was made public. This was due Iresa's lies about having resolved the Calorific Value billing issue for gas and their appalling levels of customer service . I decided to stay with Iresa for my electicity purely based on the cost implications of switching away and the fact that there's hopefully very little Iresa can get wrong with the billing of my electricity.

The reality is that you can put lipstick on a pig and dress it in fancy clothes but at the end of the day it's still a pig!

Hopefully I have learned my lesson this time.

PaschalFun

Hengus wrote: »

I will comment on any supplier that fails to get the regulatory basics of its offer right. I have also said that I follow the savings. The fact that some people chose to fly with a budget airline doesn't mean that they have to accept unlicensed pilots or an unserviceable aeroplane. It is the statutory role of all Regulators to ensure full licence compliance - no matter how difficult or expensive that is for a supplier. What is more interesting is that there are no SLCs pertaining to customer service or complaints so I doubt that this is the reason why Ofgem has stepped in. Time will tell.

So you won't be one switching away at this time then?

Yet another example of you urging others to do as you say, not as you do :cool:

At least youravinalarrrf (what an apt user name) has committed to putting his money where his mouth is ,and in so doing will be moving to a more expensive tariff.

PaschalFun

youravinalarrrf wrote: »

Personally I think that your post is nothing more than wishful thinking on your part.

The problems at Iresa clearly run much deeper than perhaps we are aware of and I believe Ofgem intervening to stop them taking on any new customers is possibly just the start of this.

If you believe anything that Iresa have posted on the social media websites then more fool you. From what I can see it's been nothing but downright lies and insincere apologies for not doing what we all know they should have done all along. There's very little indication of any actual action being taken by Iresa. They clearly haven't a clue what they're doing with the Caloric Value calculation and even a cursory check of anyone's bill before they released them on Tuesday would have shown them that they'd got it wrong.

Actions do speak louder than words and unfortunately the evidence so far is that they haven't taken any action to correct their mistakes or improve their customer service in any way hence why Ofgem were left with no option other than to intervene on this occasion. It's very rare for Ofgem to make any public comment about the interventions they make behind the scenes.

I made the decision to start switch a away for my gas two days ago before this official confirmation that Ofgem had intervened was made public. This was due Iresa's lies about having resolved the Calorific Value billing issue for gas and their appalling levels of customer service . I decided to stay with Iresa for my electicity purely based on the cost implications of switching away and the fact that there's hopefully very little Iresa can get wrong with the billing of my electricity.

The reality is that you can put lipstick on a pig and dress it in fancy clothes but at the end of the day it's still a pig!

Hopefully I have learned my lesson this time.

Good on you, youravinalarrrf!
Great user name too!

As for wishful thinking on my part, yes I wish Flow didn't close it's doors tempoarily a year or two back. I was looking to switch to them at the time, but they closed their doors just before my switching window opened, and so I ended up paying a litle more than I wanted to.

As for Tesco Bank, yes I wish they hadn't stopped their great deal. If you missed it, you missed out, like I suspect you will see happen when Iresa re-opens its doors again.

I hope whoever you choose to switch to, you will be reassured by their expensive tariff.
Unlike a certain, well-known beverage though, you will simply be paying more money for exactly the same energy.