Extra Energy administrators demanding back-billing payment

sscarsbr

Hi.. I’m looking for some advice with regards the administrators of Extra Energy demanding payment of what I consider to be a back-billing error.

I was an Extra Energy customer from Mar 2016 until Nov 2017. We received a final bill on 12 Dec 2017 showing an outstanding credit balance which was repaid two weeks later in Dec 2017.

I received an email from Extra Energy last Oct 2018 with a revised final bill dated Oct 2018 demanding £800.00 with no explanation. I logged into the online account , which I was surprised still existed, and the account was very confusing. From Oct 2016 there were many cancelled credits and new debits and cancelled statements and reissued statements, all amounting to show a revised final bill for exactly £800.

I called Extra Energy customer services several times, the last occasion was 15th Nov 2018, where I raised this confusion and requested further information to explain and prove this error. I also requested information so I could raise this with the Ombudsman.

Extra Energy then went into administration.

The administrators are now requesting payment for £800 and inform me that Ofgem is no longer a route for me to complain, and they have threatened debt collectors. I have requested the administrator provide the evidence and explain the anomaly before I consider paying this considerable sum. I’m unable to access Extra Energy account so I cannot review any of the statements and I didn’t save a copy of them.

If this turns out to be an accounting error from 2016 then surely this is a back billing error in that they are requesting payment for energy used in 2016?

Any advice would be appreciated.

wavelets

sscarsbr wrote: »

Hi.. I’m looking for some advice with regards the administrators of Extra Energy demanding payment of what I consider to be a back-billing error.

I was an Extra Energy customer from Mar 2016 until Nov 2017. We received a final bill on 12 Dec 2017 showing an outstanding credit balance which was repaid two weeks later in Dec 2017.

I received an email from Extra Energy last Oct 2018 with a revised final bill dated Oct 2018 demanding £800.00 with no explanation. I logged into the online account , which I was surprised still existed, and the account was very confusing. From Oct 2016 there were many cancelled credits and new debits and cancelled statements and reissued statements, all amounting to show a revised final bill for exactly £800.

I called Extra Energy customer services several times, the last occasion was 15th Nov 2018, where I raised this confusion and requested further information to explain and prove this error. I also requested information so I could raise this with the Ombudsman.

Extra Energy then went into administration.

The administrators are now requesting payment for £800 and inform me that Ofgem is no longer a route for me to complain, and they have threatened debt collectors. I have requested the administrator provide the evidence and explain the anomaly before I consider paying this considerable sum. I’m unable to access Extra Energy account so I cannot review any of the statements and I didn’t save a copy of them.

If this turns out to be an accounting error from 2016 then surely this is a back billing error in that they are requesting payment for energy used in 2016?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ofgem is not the same as the ombudsman service.
Ofgem is the energy regulator, and does not usually accept customer complaints against a supplier.
The Ombudsman Service; Energy is the service that assists you in resolving complaints against your energy supplier, when the supplier cannot resolve that matter with you directly.

Unfortunately, the supplier involved in this instance is no longer trading.

You will need to resolve this matter with the administrator. If you cannot resolve the matter (and don't pay what is claimed as owed) then expect the administrator to start legal proceedings. You will then be able to explain to the judge why you deny you owe the money

[Deleted User]

sscarsbr wrote: »

The administrators are now requesting payment for £800 and inform me that Ofgem is no longer a route for me to complain, and they have threatened debt collectors. I have requested the administrator provide the evidence and explain the anomaly before I consider paying this considerable sum.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Gather all your records now while you wait to hear from the administrators.
Take the evidence from the administrators and the information you have from your own records (bank statements showing payments, old EE statements) and ask the Citizens Advice Bureau for help.
If the administrators fail to provide any evidence but issue court proceedings, take those to the CAB along with your records.

Cardew

Obviously it is an unsatisfactory situation and they need to provide evidence of the £800 debt.


However from what you state it would not appear that it is a back-billing issue under the code of practice for accurate bills see:


https://www.britishgas.co.uk/content/dam/british-gas/about%20us/pdfs/code-of-practice-back-billing.pdf


In essence the back-billing provision is where the customer has not received bills and the company are at fault for not providing bills.


You have received bills, albeit you are challenging their accuracy. Take the steps recommended in the above posts, but I suggest you don't use the term back-billing error.

sscarsbr

Thanks for the responses, really appreciated.

I made monthly Direct Debit payments per their requested amounts and provided regular meter readings. I was provided with a 'final bill' and the account was settled in Dec 2017.

If Extra Energy have made an accounting error dating back to Oct 2016 resulting in me under-paying for energy from Oct 2016, is there no redress at all? Essentially I'm now potentially paying for their mistake from over two years ago.

Is that reasonable?

gt94sss2

You first need to work out what the £800 is for/why they think you owe it now. Its also worth talking to the energy ombudsman. Its certainly wrong that they try and get the £800 now if you don't legitimately owe the money.

If the £800 claim is 'legitimate', I also think that the back billing code may apply to most of it given it states:

Under the Code, from 1 July 2007, where the suppliers are at fault in not billing a domestic customer, they will not send a bill which includes unbilled energy consumed more than 1 year previous to the bill being issued.

This clause confirms the suppliers’ commitment to bill customers regularly and accurately, and imposes limitations on the circumstances where customers can be billed for previously unbilled energy that is more than 12 months old. Where suppliers issue a bill which has these principles applied, they will credit the
account with the value of the unbilled energy consumed over 12 months ago, taking into consideration any payments already made by the customer or credits applied to the account, so that the customer is not required to pay any additional sums towards this previously unbilled energy consumption.

– The Back Billing rule does not differentiate the circumstances by which the original issue of unbilled energy consumed occurred. Thus, customers will be fully entitled to redress under the back billing rules where unbilled energy consumption is identified, for example, during the roll out of Smart Metering, as a result of Members’ billing system changes and customer migration between billing systems.

i.e. it covers inaccurate bills (due to supplier error) not just non-billing

Lochmaben

This sounds crazy. Your best bet, if you get nothing from the administrators, is to go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau. They will help you for free.

Xbigman

Just how much information do you have?

Do you have the meter reading(s) for when you switched to Economy energy?
Do you have the reading(s) for when you switched away?
Do you know what unit rates you were paying?
What was the total of the direct debit payments you made.

Even if you have to guesstimate the unit rates the other three figures will allow you to do a calculation that will certainly be accurate to well within £800 and tell you whether this debt is real or not.



Darren

sscarsbr

Thanks all for the further insights.

Hi gt94sss2, your point is how I was thinking and also within the link from Cardew (thanks) there's the following statement that also seems to indicate back-billing relating to an incorrect payment and reassessment which this is.

Payment arrangements
This would include circumstances where a supplier has failed to reassess a
payment arrangement (eg. direct debit).
Scenarios where back billing clause may apply include:
– Where a reassessment is not made within 15 months.
Suppliers may not be at fault if:
– They have reassessed the payment within the last 15 months.
– They have made a reassessment based on a reasonable estimate.
If suppliers are found to be at fault, an adjustment will be made to reflect any
deficit of payments over 12 months old

I could sift through all my accounts and look for the opening and closing balances and if that turns out to be the issue it should be much easier to argue. For the sake of this question I’m going to assume the billing may be ultimately correct. It’s the failure of Extra Energy to identify and try to rectify with me in a reasonable amount of time, especially considering I ceased to be customer in Nov 2017 and had a final bill issued and credit balance repaid.

It looks like the energy ombudsman won’t be able to help although I’ll contact them to check so it’s over to CAB.

I await the letter of explanation from the administrator to see exactly why they think I have this outstanding balance.

Thanks for the advice.

Rgds

Lesh56

I seem to be in a very similar situation. Found this thread by googling. I was with them happily paying by direct debit. We moved out in June 2015 with the usual final meter readings having taken place. I seem to vaguely recall the final bill was a long time coming.
Then in November 2016 they re-emerge claiming I owe them. My recollection is a bit vague about when but I do remember phoning them up and saying that everything was fine re final meter reading. They guy said, yes appears fine, do nothing it will be sorted.
Well now the CRS debt recovery guys have come into the frame saying I still owe 630£.
Searching through emails there was one in November 2017 (2.5 years after moving) where they admit not just of one mistake they made but two thus ending up with this figure (something about them mixing up thermal units )
Why should I believe them and pay? It makes no sense? I’ve never been in arrears for anything in my entire life.
Les

spiro

Assuming the prices stayed the same for the period you were with EE, take your initial meter reading when you joined them, take the closing reading when you left them. Hopefully they were both actual readings not estimates. Use these and calculate the energy charges over the whole period, add on the daily charge and VAT and this will give you the total you should have paid them.
Then total all the DD payments you made to them and deduct the refund you got.
If the 2 amounts match you have paid everything owed, if they don't then either you owe them or they owe you.