Solarplicity/TOTO shambles

Stuart_W

I left Solarplicity on 6th April.

They continued to bill me. Various emails and phone calls come to nothing.

They have now transferred me as of today from my current supplier to TOTO energy, who are taking over Solarplicity accounts.

Surely this is illegal.

I only got to know this when I read a "sorry you are leaving us" email from my current supplier.

Current supplier are now attempting to process an erroneous transfer reversal.

Those free light bulbs were not worth the faff.

SnowTiger

As Solarplicity has sold much of its customer base to TOTO I wonder if OFGEM will appoint a Supplier of Last Resort when they go bust.

If not, I wonder who will pay money owed to customers such as myself.

I guess their is the Direct Debit Guarantee to fall back on:

If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society

However, payments agreed to and made as part of a payment plan are unlikely to be considered an 'error'.

Delburn

I think it it quite likely things will come to a head by the end of the week.

The OFGEM consultation on failure to pay FIT payments closed on 1/8/2019 and I think has to be made final, or dropped by 10/8/2019

Either Solarplicity will get some money in from Toto and start paying HMRC, the big energy producers, domestic FIT suppliers and the back log of refunds. They will then struggle on.

Or they will not have enough money and surely OFGEM will have to confirm the notice, appoint administrators and appoint an SOLR.

There are also two winding-up orders outstanding. They paid HMRC on one of the recent ones which suggests they think they can carry on for a bit, otherwise they would be accused of giving HMRC preferential treatment.

Sometimes the SOLR has voluntarily paid refunds on closed account. If not then do not hold out too much hope as the holding company has been busy getting charges put on the assets of the energy supply company so that it is first in line of the creditors.

Stuart_W

I never had a direct debit with Solarplicity and they billed monthly, pay on receipt of bill, so thankfully they don't owe me money. They think I owe them a fair bit based on bills after my supply changed, which of course I haven't paid. Might be a few pence owed or owing when they actually produce a final bill, which seems like they'll never do.

Calls and emails come to nothing but now switching my supply from my new supplier to Toto is just even more hassle. If Toto go bust as Delburn predicts, this could make this even more of a pain. Thankfully not a costly one as I'm not owed money, just an administrative faff.

norricorp

Shambles is the right word.
I just logged on to Solarplicity to enter meter readings and discover that I have been / am being moved to Toto (who?).
Go to Toto website to read their information. Just for fun look at their tariffs, give address and it will not go further because I am an existing customer.
I have had no contact from Solarplicity or Toto.
What on earth is going on?

Stuart_W

Indeed. No communication from Solarplicity or Toto and they've just switched everyone (and even switched me even though I left several months ago).

This is not normal, surely, and with no notice or communication surely illegal.

I fear someone is about to go bust imminently with this kind of shinnanegins, otherwise they'd do it properly and inform folk.

norricorp

And now Solarplicity have ceased trading.
Toto Energy, despite saying that one could keep the Solarplicity tariff or a cheaper Toto tariff do not allow customers to see other tariffs.
And according to Toto the terms and conditions of the Solarplicity contract allow them to transfer customers to another supplier at any time. So even though Toto are promising to take twice the direct debit for the first month, there is nothing the customer can do and no compensation for the mess.
But from mid September, everything will be sorted and then one can move to another supplier (Toto's advice).

DawnCrush

norricorp wrote: »

...
Toto Energy, despite saying that one could keep the Solarplicity tariff or a cheaper Toto tariff do not allow customers to see other tariffs.
And according to Toto the terms and conditions of the Solarplicity contract allow them to transfer customers to another supplier at any time.
...

:huh:

Anyone can see toto's tariffs available to new applicants on their website.

As regards the carrying over of the solarplicity tariff

Will my contract length remain the same?

Yes! If you’re on a standard variable tariff, your contract will continue to roll. And if you’re on a fixed tariff, the tariff end date will remain the same as when you were with Solarplicity.

https://totoenergy.com/solarplicity-customers#faq3

But never allow the facts to get in the way of a good rant :cool:

Jakubk

Solarplicity HIKED the Tariff and Standing Charge in preparation for the move to Toto, I was not informed of the rise, only noticed it when I was querying something else.

Now the billing system where we have all our historic bills is DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE, they have been messing with the digital certificates since Friday because they are trying to keep ownership with what companies are left out of the administration.

This is OUR data being passed from pillar to post to different companies who we did not have a trading relationship with. Surely the website needs to be managed by the administrator and OFGEM needs to keep it operational for us but not under the control of whatever the new or latest company is called.

macman

So you were not on a fixed tariff?

Delburn

DawnCrush wrote: »

:huh:

Anyone can see toto's tariffs available to new applicants on their website.

As regards the carrying over of the solarplicity tariff

https://totoenergy.com/solarplicity-customers#faq3

But never allow the facts to get in the way of a good rant :cool:

If you are a Toto Customers they block you from seeing new customer tariffs when you put in your address. You can get around this by using a false address.

I am on a fixed tariff, carried over from Solarplicity. When Toto have stated the terms of my tariff in the welcome pack there are three differences from the amounts Solarplicity were charging me. Some differences are in my favour, others against.

Given the incompetence and/or dishonesty of Solarplicity, you cannot take anything they, or Toto say at face value.