Add your feedback on energy supplier Yorkshire Energy

Howard1948

Signed up for my 2nd year with YE. Good service, easy transfer and pleasant call centre staff when changing. Also on lower prices than last year although "Green Goat" does not seem to be on Martin Lewis website. I have chosen to get a reminder to send meter readings every month so no estimated bills.

meldrew56

Sorry not app meant the online portal

movingon

How long are they taking to answer emails? Sent mine on 9th and received auto-acknowledgment, but no actual reply. Not good start

fewkeste

movingon wrote: »

How long are they taking to answer emails? Sent mine on 9th and received auto-acknowledgment, but no actual reply. Not good start

I think it's better to ring them.

murmeltier

I switched my electricity to Yorkshire Energy beginning of July. All was going well and apparently they are now supplying my energy, but to this date they have been unable to accept, validate or pass on my opening meter read to my previous supplier. I am yet to receive a bill.

I have phoned them several times, only to be fobbed off with various excuses, none of which seem to make sense. Apparently there is an issue with getting hold of the meter details from my previous supplier and/or an industry-wide database - makes no sense, as I've never had any issues before, and I've been switching suppliers every couple of years.

I've raised an complaint with them, but three weeks in I've had nothing more than a "we have received your complaint" email.

I'm not sure what to do next other than to wait for the 8 weeks of the complaint to elapse and then escalate to the energy ombudsman.

In summary - stay away. They're incapable of dealing with problems / handling complaints in an efficient and customer-friendly manner.

Haarlem

murmeltier wrote: »

I switched my electricity to Yorkshire Energy beginning of July. All was going well and apparently they are now supplying my energy, but to this date they have been unable to accept, validate or pass on my opening meter read to my previous supplier. I am yet to receive a bill.

I have phoned them several times, only to be fobbed off with various excuses, none of which seem to make sense. Apparently there is an issue with getting hold of the meter details from my previous supplier and/or an industry-wide database - makes no sense, as I've never had any issues before, and I've been switching suppliers every couple of years.

I've raised an complaint with them, but three weeks in I've had nothing more than a "we have received your complaint" email.

I'm not sure what to do next other than to wait for the 8 weeks of the complaint to elapse and then escalate to the energy ombudsman.

In summary - stay away. They're incapable of dealing with problems / handling complaints in an efficient and customer-friendly manner.

I had just the same problem. My old supplier (Tonik) said they had not received the opening reading from YE. They asked me to contact YE to supply reading, but YE said they had sent it.

After contacting Tonik they asked me to send a copy of my first bill from YE so they could produce a closing account. YE took over August 2018 and produced the first bill in January 2019. I submitted meter readings to YE on the last day of each month. Tonik were very patient waiting five months.

I have been told on this forum that it should all go smoothly through the data transfer system, but it obviously does not always work and it is left with the customer.

Biggus_Dickus

murmeltier wrote: »

I switched my electricity to Yorkshire Energy beginning of July. All was going well and apparently they are now supplying my energy, but to this date they have been unable to accept, validate or pass on my opening meter read to my previous supplier. I am yet to receive a bill.

I have phoned them several times, only to be fobbed off with various excuses, none of which seem to make sense. Apparently there is an issue with getting hold of the meter details from my previous supplier and/or an industry-wide database - makes no sense, as I've never had any issues before, and I've been switching suppliers every couple of years.

I've raised an complaint with them, but three weeks in I've had nothing more than a "we have received your complaint" email.

I'm not sure what to do next other than to wait for the 8 weeks of the complaint to elapse and then escalate to the energy ombudsman.

In summary - stay away. They're incapable of dealing with problems / handling complaints in an efficient and customer-friendly manner.

Notwithstanding how Yorkshire Energy have actually handled your complaint it appears that your issue has most likely been caused by the ‘meter reading validation’ process.

Your opening meter readings will have been sent by Yorkshire Energy to the 3rd party verifiers for validation;...one company validates the gas reading,...a different company validates the leccy reading. They use the UK national database and lord knows what else to validate (or otherwise!) your meter readings.

Once the readings are officially verified they are fed back to the losing and gaining suppliers. It’s only at that point your previous supplier can produce your definitive final bill an thence issue a definitive credit refund if one is due, and your new supplier can start producing definite/accurate bills.

Customers are in a kind of administration ‘limbo’ until the 3rd party verifiers have completed their checks.

The meter reading verification process is mandated by Ofgem and all energy suppliers are duty bound to follow it. They have no choice but to adhere to the rules and they are completely at the mercy of the 3rd party meter-reading verifiers with regard to time-scale. There is (apparently) little the energy companies can do to speed up this process.

The ‘meter reading validation’ process is generally fairly swift,...but not always.

I switched energy supplier not too long ago and it took over 9 weeks from the actual switch-over day when I submitted opening meter readings to receiving my final bill/credit refund.

The delay was caused solely by the gas verification process;...it took 7 weeks (for reasons that still remain unclear) to validate my gas reading;...conversely the leccy reading verification took about 5 days.

I’ve switched numerous times before, and since, but never encountered that problem.

brewerdave

Biggus_Dickus wrote: »

The ‘meter reading validation’ process is generally fairly swift,...but not always.

I switched energy supplier not too long ago and it took over 9 weeks from the actual switch-over day when I submitted opening meter readings to receiving my final bill/credit refund.

The delay was caused solely by the gas verification process;...it took 7 weeks (for reasons that still remain unclear) to validate my gas reading;...conversely the leccy reading verification took about 5 days.

I’ve switched numerous times before, and since, but never encountered that problem.

I switched relatively recently - but as a contrast to your experience, my final gas bill was issued 13 days after switch and the credit refunded after 16 days:T
HOWEVER, the leccy has not yet been finalised - I gave the hand over reading to the new supplier - the old supplier, Yorkshire Energy, also asked for it ( they said if I didn't supply they might use an estimate) - I presume that the hold up is the third party verification step.:(

murmeltier

From what I understand … they haven't even started the validation process yet because "we're missing your meter details from your previous supplier" (my previous supplier explained to me that this was bs, and at the moment I'm tempted to believe them more than YE).

But who knows, it's impossible to get a proper explanation of what's going on.

I might just cancel the direct debit with YE … maybe that will generate a reaction

Biggus_Dickus

murmeltier wrote: »

From what I understand … they haven't even started the validation process yet because "we're missing your meter details from your previous supplier" (my previous supplier explained to me that this was bs, and at the moment I'm tempted to believe them more than YE).

But who knows, it's impossible to get a proper explanation of what's going on.

I might just cancel the direct debit with YE … maybe that will generate a reaction

Very interesting,...that sentence has jogged my memory;,...when I initially signed-up to my present supplier (Avro) I received an email (within 2hrs!) from their support desk that said they were ‘missing’ my meter details (MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers) for my gas and leccy meters.

Furthermore, the email went on to say that the onus was on me (it made no mention of my previous company!) to supply the gas and leccy meter MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers within 5 days,...otherwise my switch would automatically be cancelled!

I immediately supplied Avro with the requested meter numbers etc and thought nothing more about it. My switch went ahead and was completed in a very timely manner.

However, looking back (and prompted by your post), it does raise a few questions.

How do energy companies normally obtain meter (MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers) details when a new customer signs up with them?

One would surmise that they have instant access to some kind of database because Avro knew immediately that my meter details were ‘missing’???;....and why were my details missing I wonder???

Avro were obviously quite happy to accept the meter MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers that I supplied.

However, perhaps the nub of your problem is that Yorkshire Energy are indeed ‘missing’ your meter details but instead of asking YOU to supply the info they make a request that your previous supplier sends them the ‘missing’ MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers etc.

Maybe Yorkshire Energy, unlike Avro, have a policy that doesn’t rely on new customers supplying vital info such as MPAN, MPRN and serial numbers etc. I could certainly understand why they’d adopt a policy like that because garnering such info could be a challenge for some customers.

Can I make a suggestion:-...take the initiative and send Yorkshire Energy your meter ‘details’ directly;...it may expedite your problem;...it may not, of course.:(

Your gas and leccy meter MPAN/MPRN plus the associated serial numbers can be obtained from one of your previous bills.

MPAN and MPRN numbers are unique reference numbers for your electricity and gas supplies.

• MPAN stands for metering point administration number and relates to electricity. It’s also sometimes called a ‘supply number’ or ‘S number’.
• MPRN stands for meter point reference number and relates to your gas supply. It’s sometimes called an ‘M number’.
[I]
https://edfenergyuk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/474/~/what-are-mpan-and-mprn-numbers-and-where-do-i-find-them%3F
[/I]