Solarplicity Switched My Tariff Without My Knowledge 19 August 2019 at 10:17AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Energy 22 replies 967 views

userdefinable

I was a solarplicity customer and I switched to them because they offered no standing charges on their tariff. Perfect for me as I was using hardly any gas or electric during this time.

First I heard about them going into administration was an email from Toto welcoming me. I had no correspondence from Solarplicity on this matter.

When I saw the tariff Toto was offering, I was confused. Especially as they were supposedly matching my Solarplicity one.

Then I realised, looking at my old Solarplicity statements, that in May they had switched my tariff without ever informing me. Surely this is illegal?

I doubt there's much I can do now they have gone into administration?

I was on their "Solarplicity Fair Market Price Variable 2018" and then seemed to get switched to "Standard Variable" in May.

Did this happen to anyone else?

FreeBear

userdefinable wrote: »

I was on their "Solarplicity Fair Market Price Variable 2018" and then seemed to get switched to "Standard Variable" in May.

Did this happen to anyone else?

The last bill I had from Solarplicity was back in June. The tariff back then was the Fair Market one. Then I too got switched to Toto. According to their "welcome pack", I was on the 12 month fixed SMART tariff which incurred a standing charge... If/when Toto send me an invoice, they are going to get a right earful as a) I dispute the tariff switch, b) I've switched to another supplier.

matelodave

That's why you need to check you bills, statements and on-line account regularly.

READ whats on them and make sure that the readings are correct (even if you've got a smart meter)

In the end it's your money so it really should be up to you to take care of it rather than expect others to do it for you.

userdefinable

@matelodave that might be true, but if your mobile phone company suddenly upped your monthly cost and never informed you, people would be kicking off. Bills are online these days so it's easy to forget to check them. People haven't got time to micro manage every little thing in their lives. Companies have an obligation to keep people informed when they want to start taking more money off you.

userdefinable

@FreeBear could it be that Solarplicity (or their receiver) wanted to make it seem more attractive to take on their customers when it failed, so they switched people onto less competitive deals, hmm?

matelodave

Did you check previous bills to see when your earlier fix expired. They might have sent you an e-mail which got lost in the junk or even just notified you on a bill/statement that your fix was due to expire.

Although that said, if you were on a time limited fix you should have anticipated that the fix was coming to the end and that you'd automatically get rolled over onto the Standard Tariff if you didn't do something.

userdefinable

It wasn't a fixed deal.

I didn't receive any notification in email, junk email, post or by any other means.

Delburn

It is on record here that in the past Solarplicity have failed to provide customers with the required tariff renewal notification. This supports customers who say their contract was renewed without their knowledge.

ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2019/02/notice_of_reasons_for_solarplicity_po.pdf

I also suspect that Solarplicity provided comparison sites with an incorrect default renewal tariff, which had no standing charge, when in fact one has applied to the default renewal tariff for some time.

FreeBear

Delburn wrote: »

It is on record here that in the past Solarplicity have failed to provide customers with the required tariff renewal notification. This supports customers who say their contract was renewed without their knowledge.

The last tariff change notification I had was September 2018 giving me the option to go with a new SMART fixed tariff or default to a more expensive standard variable. So it looks like they have corrupted the customer database before the transfer to Toto - Deliberate or an IT cockup ?

Stuart_W

FreeBear wrote: »

If/when Toto send me an invoice, they are going to get a right earful as a) I dispute the tariff switch, b) I've switched to another supplier.

If you switched to another supplier prior to the transfer of accounts from Solarplicity to Toto, then your switch to Toto was an error and it will be reversed so you will never be billed by Toto. Worth checking with your current supplier that the transferhas been reversed. If it hasn't, your current supplier can process an erroneous switch reversal.

Mine was switched to Toto from Co-op on 5th Aug and reversed on 8th Aug. I actually left Solarplicity on 4th April.

joncombe

userdefinable wrote: »

I was a solarplicity customer and I switched to them because they offered no standing charges on their tariff. Perfect for me as I was using hardly any gas or electric during this time.

First I heard about them going into administration was an email from Toto welcoming me. I had no correspondence from Solarplicity on this matter.

When I saw the tariff Toto was offering, I was confused. Especially as they were supposedly matching my Solarplicity one.

Then I realised, looking at my old Solarplicity statements, that in May they had switched my tariff without ever informing me. Surely this is illegal?

I doubt there's much I can do now they have gone into administration?

I was on their "Solarplicity Fair Market Price Variable 2018" and then seemed to get switched to "Standard Variable" in May.

Did this happen to anyone else?

I was on the exact same tariff and the exact same thing happened to me. I got no notification at all and only noticed from the bill (which I had to get them to email me, because the download link on their website did not work).



To cap it all the Solarplicity Fair Market Price tariff I had been on was then listed as the cheapest tariff - which is the one I had been on.


@userdefinable when did you join this tariff?


In my case Solarplicity told me the tariff should have already ended after I signed up to it. They notified those already on the tariff at that point in time, but that was before I joined, so I never got any notice.



I raised a complaint about it, which they ignored for 8 weeks and then sent me the "go to the ombudsman" letter. So I did. They award £75 compensation but of course Solarplicity went bust before I got it refunded to my bank account, so that too was a waste of time.

I did however get them to re-bill on the expected tariff (without standing charge) as a result of this problem.