Question about registration (energy company worker's help needed here)

far

This one's for an expert in the field of switching I'm afraid!

We have switched from nPower and British Gas to Scottish Power's Online Energy Saver 4. The electric portion has switched fine and we've been given a date of 23/10/2007 however there is an "R" next to the Gas on their system which seems like it stands for Registration. A couple of advisors told me this means that they're waiting on a final registration date from Transco. However a couple of people have said this could stand for Rejection as well.

British Gas sent a letter dated 2/10/2007 that was delayed by the postal strike saying that unless we paid £39.88 that they would bar the switch. However, on the 30/9/2007 I myself paid the FULL balance of the account online using a debit card and a phone call to British Gas confirmed the account was totally clear and even elicited that they had a switching date of 22/9/2007.

Therefore I am confused - does it look like a rejection has been made or is it normal for registration of gas to take this long as opposed to electricity which seems to have gone through much quicker? Any other thoughts as to what may be going on here?

Terrylw1

Hi Far,

Based on the letter date it's most likely a rejection. Rejection can normally be reversed if they are dealt with quick enough but at this stage it's possibly too late.

You could ring the administration service who you call when you move properties and request your Supplier name. It's all in their system so they will know if the Supplier can't advise.

There will be a data items catalogue for everything you can send or receive for all industry parties to communicate. Just like the Data Transfer Catalogue (DTC) in electricity. They should have access to that if they work in gas.

far

Thanks for the info. I called up Scottish Power today and got 2 different answers from 2 different departments. One insisted the R meant rejection and meant that only the electricity switch would go ahead (as you suspect it's way beyond the 7 day limit to put it through again) but another department said that no rejection was showing on the system and the R definitely stood for Registration (awaiting registration date with Transco).

British Gas by the way suggested a switching date of 22/10/2007 - that was a mistake in my original post! I shall retry calling them later on this week and see what they say but if the gas doesn't go through it will cause problems as we went for a duel fuel tarriff so I assume we'd be switched to something else. By the way, we made an application to switch on 21/9/2007 and paid off the full balance on the 30/9/2007, including the "debt" of £39.88 that British Gas point out existed. Would rejecting the switch therefore contravene regulations and would a call or letter to EnergyWatch be of any use here?

Terrylw1

To be honest, 1 call to the Transco registration service will tell you since all Suppliers pass data via them.

Well, the problem is going to be the registration date. I'm not sure in gas, but in electricity you are not allowed to do a backdata registration. So, since it's past the 7 day limit, there is most likely no industry mechanism to allow them to do it even if they wanted to. Thats ow it works in electricity, but it I don't know on gas so it's worth checking. So, you may have to register as a new customer again.

Sounds like you've lost your dual fule and will end up on another tariff. So, it looks like you will need to contact SP to see if they will sort this when your gas gets through. Keep as much proof from BGas that you paid and they hopefully will be able to accept this and get you back on duel fuel.

If BGas have incorrectly objected and even upheld that objection (upholding is an additional process where they agree to keeping the objection in place) - (if upholding is done the same in gas as in electricity which I'm unsure on) - then they have broken industry policy so you can use that against them. Energywatch will help you sort it, and you could probably get some compensation for the inconvenience but even Energywatch cannot do what there is no mechanism for. So, if the registration cannot be backdated, all you can do is speak to SP about how to get it through again on duel fuel despite having differening registration dates.

A pretty annoying situation to be in!

far

Terrylw1 wrote: »

To be honest, 1 call to the Transco registration service will tell you since all Suppliers pass data via them.

Would this also reveal if the switch is pending because it's awaiting registration from them? If so who do I call as the usual National Grid number listed on the Energywatch website only tell me who currently supply my Gas and the Customer Service team say they cannot tell me any more than this or my Meter Point Reference (which I already have from my Gas bill anyway).

Terrylw1

Was it 0870 608 1524

It's the same as with electricity, they say that but at the end of the day all registrations by Suppliers go through them hence in order to tell you the current Supplier they can also tell you if you are in the process of switching. Otherwise you could just be moving in and they would tell you the old Supplier in error if they didn't check a pending registration.

Have you tried quizzing them about that? If not, they can eaily tell you since it's all on their system and they communicate with the Suppliers to register it. The Supplier at the end of the day is register their interest in the MPRN with them, not the other Supplier.

If you don't get aywhere that way, the only other way is with the Supplier or your gas friends checking the relevant dat items catalogue to find the R marker.

far

Thanks for that! I'll try getting more info from them tomorrow. Thanks for your help.

millymollymandy2K7

Just a thought, but have you contacted Bgas to ask if they have objected to the transfer and if so the reason why they have objected? If they say the account is now clear to leave you can ask spow to reapply, it is also possible that transco have objected - this would normally be due to incorrect registration details or that another supplier has applied for your supply before spow - could this be possible?
Sorry just realised was scottish power and not pgen

far

Just to update you on this, afraid you were right Terrylw1. A helpful call to someone at Scottish Power this afternoon revealed British Gas had objected on the 2/10/2007. However, yesterday Scottish Power sent a "resubmission of the objection" in order to get more details of the objection and overturn it. Apparently they can do this one more time after this to see why the objection has been made and to see if it still exists. After the 3rd time the application for gas only will be cancelled and we'll be on their Standard electricity tarriff.

British Gas are insistent that they have no reason to block us and insist they "can see no reason to block us again". I feel I may have a complaint to EnergyWatch coming along soon.... :mad:

Incidentally, before phonining Scottish Power, I tried the Transco number you provided but again they weren't helpful saying that they weren't responsible for registering who was about to provide gas to what address - strange as every gas company has to go through them don't they?

I'll keep the thread updated on what happens anyway - might help someone in the future.

Terrylw1

Hi Far,

Thats just a jobsworth at Transco. They don't do the registratio but they are responsible for the data to the industry auditor - Elexon.

You don't need them anyway as it seems that you have found someone useful at SP.

They will have a certain timescale to remove the objection so sounds like they are on the ball which is good.

Seems like a "left hand, right hand" situation at BGas. Can't see why they can't just remove the objection if they state that.

I would say if they uphold the rejection, pop it off to Energywatch anyway and register a complaint. What people are not always aware of is that Suppliers are all on a leaguetable for EW complaints. This leaguetable is sent out to all Suppliers so they can see who's the worst. So, even though you have got it sorted, you can still add one to the leaguetable to reflect their poor service. I think all customers should do that.

In my opinion, Energywatch are a bit slack and Ofgem have a lack of control in some areas (GSOS being a big one since they left it to Suppliers to largely manage themselves without audit until 2005! Now thats what you call naive because I know of 1 Supplier that saved a fortune on that issue by not compensating customers!) so the more complaints, the better since they will focus on the Suppliers more...

far

Decided to chase this one up today to see how it was going and can't say I'm very pleased with Scottish Power where another department insisted they had made an effort to register the Gas on the 2/10/2007 and a rejection was sent through on 15/10/2007 (Monday)! They said they'd then make a new application on the 31/10/2007 but the guy said after I told him we really did owe British Gas no money that he'd put the registration through again straightaway to save time waiting until the 31/10. Frankly I am even more confused after all this but again will update on this whole sorry mess when I get more information (probably not till the end of the month now).