Pure Planet reviews: add your feedback

katherinious

Hi
Looking for some advice on Pure Planet, I've tried on a couple of occasions to get clarification from them, but remain as confused as ever! 
We entered into a fixed-rate contract with them in October 2019 which runs out in June 2021. I'll be honest, the monthly requests for meter readings (with only a few day's notice to submit readings) were a bit of a pain. I wanted to get a smart meter installed, but ended up cancelling an appointment to install one after my husband really wasn't keen!

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I was notified at the end of April that after the account had been reviewed, we were £343.44 in debit. Clearly, we'd used more gas and electricity during lockdown! The confusion comes in with Pure Planet's proposal. They suggested increasing the DD amounts. And then also mentioned a one-off payment, to clear the debit. The email itself didn't make a lot of sense, it didn't say anything as clear as "You also need to make a one-off payment". The sentence literally started with "A one off payment of: £343.44 to clear your balance."

I asked for clarification on this one-off payment and the next email I got back said:

"The payments for the balance will be added as an addition to your usage, it seems like your usage has been a lot higher than what we agreed upon initially, this would be due to your excessive usage." 
Not helpful - all it says is that the DD will be increased, because we've used more than predicted. 
After trying for clarity a third time, I got this response:
"Further to your recent correspondence in regards to your payments increasing we proposed to increase you payments as your payments aren't covering your usage.
Warmer months (April - September) XXX
Cooler months (October - March) XXX
Then as you have a debit balance of £343.44 we suggested a few options to pay the debit balance so you could make a one off payment of £343.44."

What I don't understand is this. If we do nothing, what happens when our contract ends next month. Whose fault is it that we have underpaid? Is it ours or theirs? Surely a fixed-rate contract is just that - fixed? Are they able to increase our DD payments within the contract? And what about the debit? Do we need to pay this? What happens when the contract ends, can we just walk away and open an account with a new provider and not pay this debit? I'm not looking for a loophole, I want to do the right thing, but I don't want to be taken advantage of either. And all of my attempts for clarity have resulted in nothing particularly helpful! It's at times like this that being able to actually speak to a human would be beneficial! 

All I really want to know is this:
1. Do we need to clear this debit?
2. Can they increase our DD during a fixed contract?
3. Or is all this correspondence in anticipation of the end of our existing contract?

Gerry1

katherinious said:

All I really want to know is this:

1. Do we need to clear this debit?
2. Can they increase our DD during a fixed contract?
3. Or is all this correspondence in anticipation of the end of our existing contract?

1.  YES.  You've used the energy so why do you expect someone else to pay for it?  Only the price per kWh and the daily charge are fixed.  It's not All You Can Eat, no energy company offers that.  Use more, pay more.

2.  YES.  As above.  Use more, pay more.

3.  NO.  Nothing to do with that at all.  Use more, pay more.

PurePlanet

Hey @katherinious
Thanks for your post! Hopefully we can help clear things up a bit for you. 
When you sign up to a fixed tariff, what that means is your unit rate (price per kWh of energy, spot on @Gerry1!) is fixed.
Your Direct Debit can be increased, or decreased, depending on whether your account is in debit or credit. It sounds like we've suggested an increased Direct Debit, to make sure your payments cover your energy usage going forward, and an extra payment to get the account out of debit. 
We review your account every 6 months, so it's not down to your account's contract ending soon - I think that's just a coincidence! 
If you move energy supplier, you'd still be required to pay Pure Planet for any remaining debit on the account, as it's to pay for energy that you've already used. 
I hope that helps to explain! 
We also have more info about Direct Debit reviews in our FAQs, which you may find useful. 
Nataly @PurePlanet

btr30

My mother in law is a Pure Planet customer and is increasingly frustrated by their inability to raise a bill since 9 January. Every month she submits monthly readings and DD payments are taken and her account now shows large credit, which is false position as charges have not been levied since last year.
She has emailed, wattbotted, sent in photos of meter but with no bills forthcoming.
Can company rep advise on how she can get a bill raised to get her account back on track?

PurePlanet

Hey @btr30
It sounds like there's a reason the account can't be billed, that our team is working on. We don't have access to your info here on the MSE forum, so I would definitely recommend getting in touch with our Member Services team directly by selecting 'get help and support' > 'ask a question', and typing 'message the team'. They'll be able to provide an update on the account, and where they've reached with being able to generate a statement. 
I hope that helps, 
Nataly @PurePlanet

michelle09

PurePlanet said:

michelle09 said:

Edit: Add insult to injury - the website (I am not using the app) just tried to reject my electricity meter reading (with photo evidence) because it was lower than anticipated. Not filling me with any joy as to what PurePlanet wil try and call reasonable gas usage. Surely if PurePlanet cared about renewables they would endorse lower energy use.

Hi @michelle09
Without being able to speak to our Member services team who'd have access to your account, I can't be certain, but I think this is likely to have been caused by the previous homeowner possibly not sending in regular readings. Hence, a new reading may look lower than estimated.
I've passed on your comments to our complaints team. I've only got "michelle09" to go on, but hoping that with some of the extra info you've added, they'll be able to track it down. 
Marc @PurePlanet  

Late edit: If you could send me a DM with your address and name, so that I can pass this over to our complaints team? 

As an update to this PurePlanet issue - I asked for a deadlock letter when I was unhappy with PurePlanet's resolution to overcharge me. PurePlanet refused to issue one. I waited the eight weeks and went to the Energy Ombudsman.

Yesterday the Ombudsman upheld my complaint. PurePlanet have been ordered to apologise for their shortfalls, reissue my gas bill for one seventh (!!!) of what they tried to charge me, and pay compensation.

While it took 6 months to get it sorted, I did find the Ombudsman very helpful.

Mr.Boy

I've been fairly happy with Pure until my fixed deal comes up to end and they tell me their only available tariff is literally TWICE as expensive... sorry for the giant image their website is also terrible, my 5k monitor is showing this text as 2" tall!



What kind of company can recommend you pay double? In small letters on another page they say if I do nothing, I'll be rolled onto their standard variable tariff - ironically this is a better deal than Energy Club can offer.

PP why is your fixed deal DOUBLE the price of your variable? That's just disgusting. Other providers seem to be charging (on my usage) about £350 premium for a 1yr fixed deal, not £2000!

PurePlanet

michelle09 said:

As an update to this PurePlanet issue - I asked for a deadlock letter when I was unhappy with PurePlanet's resolution to overcharge me. PurePlanet refused to issue one. I waited the eight weeks and went to the Energy Ombudsman.

Yesterday the Ombudsman upheld my complaint. PurePlanet have been ordered to apologise for their shortfalls, reissue my gas bill for one seventh (!!!) of what they tried to charge me, and pay compensation.

While it took 6 months to get it sorted, I did find the Ombudsman very helpful.

Hi @michelle09

Thanks for posting back. I'm pleased to hear you've been happy with the service you've received from Ombudsman Services. 
We're sorry that we were unable to reach a conclusion without Ombudsman intervention on this occasion.

Our Complaints team have noted that the decision made is in line with their suggestion of recalculating your gas use after obtaining more information regarding your gas use from your new meter, and therefore being able to revise your bills. The additional issues that Ombudsman Services identified relating to the issuing of your deadlock notification are also reasonable.  We're pleased to have reached an outcome for your complaint and our Complaints team will implement it for you as soon as possible. 

Nataly @PurePlanet

gm2010

I have been a customer of PurePlanet for over 4 years.  All went well except that it took them 2 years to replace a broken electricity meter.  However, every time an appointment was made to replace the meter and wasn't kept they did give me a £30 credit.  I earnt £90 from them in the end!!  Now, however, I am in Credit of £1300!!  They reviewed my account in May and put me on a temporary payment plan of an additional £24 as they said I was using too much energy.  The last statement that they have issued went up to June 2021 - nothing since.  For the last 6 weeks I've been attempting to use the Wattbot connection through the app requesting a review and a refund.  Eventually I got an email saying they're looking into my account on 10th September.  Three days ago I get a notification saying that my monthly payment is going to increase by a third.  I'm getting very impatient now and resorted to Twitter which does seem to get a more timely response but still only saying they're looking into it.  I CANNOT WAIT TO CHANGE SUPPLIER when all the dust settles and would deter anyone from changing to PurePlanet.  I honestly don't know what they're up to.  I see from this Forum that they're backed by BP so they're unlikely to go bust but it's infuriating that they continue to increase my charges when the balance on my account is showing such a huge credit!!  Is this happening to anyone else with Pureplanet I wonder??

PurePlanet

Hello @gm2010
It sounds like there's a billing issue with your meters. If you've not received a statement since June 2021, this may be why your account is in so much credit. I'd recommend checking your meter serial numbers on the front of your meters matches the serial numbers under your meter details in your account on the app. Then contact the team as they'll be able to investigate and resolve this billing issue for you. The best way to contact the team is via WattBot, if you type 'message the team' along with some pictures of your meters where their current reading is clear and a description of your issue, you should hear back within 3 working days. The message in WattBot that confirms that your conversation has been passed to the team starts with 'Okay I've passed our conversation to the team'. 
I hope this helps!
Mads @Pure Planet