Wrong Energy Supplier

CityJack

Recently I finished my tenancy in a student flat and submitted final meter readings only to find that my supplier, Glide, was to charge me £2000 just for electricity, with the gas reading appearing to give a correct price of £150. My tariffs were set as £580 for each, mostly to give me insurance as I didn't know how much it would cost for the year before starting the tenancy.
After getting in touch with Glide it was deemed an error on their part and the meters they had on record did not have the same serial numbers as the ones I provided. This caused them to give a full refund of all bills, both gas and electric.
The main cause of this was that they had not switched the energy supply on my selected date from the previous tenants, who were using First Utility. Does this mean I am obliged to contact First Utility and pay them, as I have not entered a contract with them? Shall I take the refund from Glide and sit on it for a while?
The last contact from Glide suggested to approach First Utility and let them know that they "still" provide my energy, which suggest to me that I should pay them from now on. My tenancy has now finished however so I am unsure where I stand with the matter.

System

CityJack wrote: »

Recently I finished my tenancy in a student flat and submitted final meter readings only to find that my supplier, Glide, was to charge me £2000 just for electricity, with the gas reading appearing to give a correct price of £150. My tariffs were set as £580 for each, mostly to give me insurance as I didn't know how much it would cost for the year before starting the tenancy.
After getting in touch with Glide it was deemed an error on their part and the meters they had on record did not have the same serial numbers as the ones I provided. This caused them to give a full refund of all bills, both gas and electric.
The main cause of this was that they had not switched the energy supply on my selected date from the previous tenants, who were using First Utility. Does this mean I am obliged to contact First Utility and pay them, as I have not entered a contract with them? Shall I take the refund from Glide and sit on it for a while?
The last contact from Glide suggested to approach First Utility and let them know that they "still" provide my energy, which suggest to me that I should pay them from now on. My tenancy has now finished however so I am unsure where I stand with the matter.

The missing piece of the jigsaw appears to be that you failed to take note of the fact that there was an existing (deemed) contract in place when you started your tenancy. You should have contacted the existing supplier with your details and meter readings. From this point onwards, you would have been free to switch suppliers.

It would appear that your Deemed supplier may have blocked the switch, and Glide has treated your contract with them as an erroneous transfer of supply: hence, the full refund. The Deemed supplier will want payment and the bad news for you is that this will be at the supplier's highest tariff rate. I suspect that First Utility is still trying to work out who has been using the supply, and it will catch up with you very soon. This is probably not the news that you wanted to hear.I would sit down with pen, paper and calculator and work out how much is owed and then I would give First Utility a call. They have 6 years to recover what is owed under English Law.

CityJack

Hengus wrote: »

The missing piece of the jigsaw appears to be that you failed to take note of the fact that there was an existing (deemed) contract in place when you started your tenancy. You should have contacted the existing supplier with your details and meter readings. From this point onwards, you would have been free to switch suppliers.

It would appear that your Deemed supplier may have blocked the switch, and Glide has treated your contract with them as an erroneous transfer of supply: hence, the full refund. The Deemed supplier will want payment and the bad news for you is that this will be at the supplier's highest tariff rate. I suspect that First Utility is still trying to work out who has been using the supply, and it will catch up with you very soon. This is probably not the news that you wanted to hear.I would sit down with pen, paper and calculator and work out how much is owed and then I would give First Utility a call. They have 6 years to recover what is owed under English Law.

Thank you for your reply! Does the existing contract continue to run even after the tenant has left? I know with my contract I applied for a set time period to be covered by the supplier so I would have thought this would be the same for the previous tenant.
My landlord also has proof of meter readings from the point of our tenancy beginning and ending. I'm unsure how I was to know who the previous supplier was as this was the previous tenants information which I wouldn't have access to.!
Also, is there a reason it would be on the high tariff rate? Glide have insisted that this is an error on their part and I'd hope to maintain that and perhaps use it to my advantage.
It might be worth mentioning that I am a student and didn't have this problem last academic year in terms of changing supplier.

System

CityJack wrote: »

Thank you for your reply! Does the existing contract continue to run even after the tenant has left? I know with my contract I applied for a set time period to be covered by the supplier so I would have thought this would be the same for the previous tenant.
My landlord also has proof of meter readings from the point of our tenancy beginning and ending. I'm unsure how I was to know who the previous supplier was as this was the previous tenants information which I wouldn't have access to.!
Also, is there a reason it would be on the high tariff rate? Glide have insisted that this is an error on their part and I'd hope to maintain that and perhaps use it to my advantage.
It might be worth mentioning that I am a student and didn't have this problem last academic year in terms of changing supplier.

The existing contract ends when the previous tenant moves out assuming that the supplier was notified and meter readings provided. If there is a tenancy gap, the landlord takes over the supply. If the landlord took a meter reading when you moved in, did he contact the supplier? If he did, then this may make a difference. The reason why you would be on the supplier’s most expensive tariff is because suppliers are not allowed to move consumers on to fixed contracts without their approval. Deemed contracts exist to ensure that you have energy on ‘tap’ when you first move in.

It is true that some suppliers just accept a switch without any problems. Others treat it as an erroneous transfer of supply hence the advice to start by contacting the existing supplier.

As far as Glide is concerned, what exactly have they told you and have you got it in writing? They have the right in law to refund you £2k today and re-bill you for £2.5k tomorrow. They are clearly a bit disorganised.

CityJack

Hengus wrote: »

The existing contract ends when the previous tenant moves out assuming that the supplier was notified and meter readings provided. If there is a tenancy gap, the landlord takes over the supply. If the landlord took a meter reading when you moved in, did he contact the supplier? If he did, then this may make a difference. The reason why you would be on the supplier’s most expensive tariff is because suppliers are not allowed to move consumers on to fixed contracts without their approval. Deemed contracts exist to ensure that you have energy on ‘tap’ when you first move in.

It is true that some suppliers just accept a switch without any problems. Others treat it as an erroneous transfer of supply hence the advice to start by contacting the existing supplier.

As far as Glide is concerned, what exactly have they told you and have you got it in writing? They have the right in law to refund you £2k today and re-bill you for £2.5k tomorrow. They are clearly a bit disorganised.

I shall try to find out from the landlord what steps they went through. I was definitely provided with meter readings for the day my tenancy started, courtesy of the landlord. Would there be any workaround for the highest tariff? I'm not expecting to be able to keep all of my money, however I'm not wanting to pay far greater sums than I'd hoped after spending a year scrimping and saving, especially when I don't currently feel at fault.

With regards to Glide I had several telephone conversations where they were listing off error after error which they had made. Initially the predicted usage was over £25000 for 2 people living in a 1 bed flat for 10 months. In writing the only evidence is them mentioning an 'internal error with an apology.

System

Clearly, I am not privy to all the conversations that you have had with Glide. That said, if they are not registered on the National Database as being the supplier then they had no option but to re-pay you all the money that you had paid them. It follows that if Glide wasn’t the supplier then A N Other was and they will want to be paid for the energy that they have supplied. The fact that you haven’t spoken to them is irrelevant as you were on contract the moment that a light switch was turned on. Whether they will waive their right to charge you the full standard variable rate is I am afraid a matter for you and the supplier. I suspect that the Landlord failed to pass on any details. Make sure that you do not end up paying for the other tenant’s energy: it happens when people move out and do not tell the supplier.

CityJack

Hengus wrote: »

Clearly, I am not privy to all the conversations that you have had with Glide. That said, if they are not registered on the National Database as being the supplier then they had no option but to re-pay you all the money that you had paid them. It follows that if Glide wasn’t the supplier then A N Other was and they will want to be paid for the energy that they have supplied. The fact that you haven’t spoken to them is irrelevant as you were on contract the moment that a light switch was turned on. Whether they will waive their right to charge you the full standard variable rate is I am afraid a matter for you and the supplier. I suspect that the Landlord failed to pass on any details. Make sure that you do not end up paying for the other tenant’s energy: it happens when people move out and do not tell the supplier.

Okay thank you for your help. It looks like this is going to be a matter of negotiating with First Utility for their best offer and hoping they will understand. Can the responsiblility in any way be given to Glide in terms of them not letting us know that they were not our supplier? This could have been avoided long ago had they informed us and so us paying the extra tariff is due to their errors.

System

It is worth a formal complaint in writing to Glide. You could ask them to agree to cover any difference in cost given that they were slow to realise that you were not on supply. I suspect that they will argue that they were acting in good faith etc and they had no reason to believe that the meters that they were supplying were not linked to your property, but here is £20 for your trouble. You can then wait 8 weeks and take the complaint to The Energy Ombudsman who will take another 8 weeks to reach a decision. If the decision goes against you, then the supplier is 100% of the hook. I think that I would do my own calculations first to see what I am likely to have to pay to the other supplier.

As suggested above, check the database to see which supplier was actually supplying energy to your property. There is no point in having a discussion with FU if they are not the nominated supplier.

Sadly, the industry procedures that underpin the supply of domestic energy in the UK are as out dated as steam trains.

footyguy

CityJack wrote: »

Recently I finished my tenancy in a student flat and submitted final meter readings only to find that my supplier, Glide, was to charge me £2000 just for electricity, with the gas reading appearing to give a correct price of £150. My tariffs were set as £580 for each, mostly to give me insurance as I didn't know how much it would cost for the year before starting the tenancy.
After getting in touch with Glide it was deemed an error on their part and the meters they had on record did not have the same serial numbers as the ones I provided. This caused them to give a full refund of all bills, both gas and electric.
The main cause of this was that they had not switched the energy supply on my selected date from the previous tenants, who were using First Utility. Does this mean I am obliged to contact First Utility and pay them, as I have not entered a contract with them? Shall I take the refund from Glide and sit on it for a while?
The last contact from Glide suggested to approach First Utility and let them know that they "still" provide my energy, which suggest to me that I should pay them from now on. My tenancy has now finished however so I am unsure where I stand with the matter.

So, after the refund from Glide, how much have you actually paid for the energy you consumed last year?

CityJack

footyguy wrote: »

So, after the refund from Glide, how much have you actually paid for the energy you consumed last year?

The refund is for all bills as Glide failed to switch supply to themselves from First Utility. This totals approximately £1100 per person however we only actually expected to use about £400 worth in hindsight across gas and electric. The large sum was mostly to reassure us we wouldn't overspend.
So after the refund no money will be left with Glide and first utility will be expecting some money, however I am unsure what their price is per unit.