Small supplier Eversmart Energy stops trading - MSE News

crafty_Blue

bufferz wrote: »

Anyone managed to escape utilita yet? Giving green till the end of the week then I'm trying elsewhere

I wish there was a 'sticky' or something that answered all the questions that are cropping up. What I do know is I'm getting screwed over. Unless I'm misunderstanding the case, Utilita [via email today] are asking me to sign onto their portal which also confirms I'm accepting a smart meter. Can someone tell me if I'm reading this right ?

crafty_Blue

matelodave wrote: »

You were warned to download your on-line info and keep a very careful eye on what was going on. It's now in the lap of the gods

Nobody warned me. Was away for two weeks while this happened. Does anyone know if I can switch right now ?

Stratus

crafty_Blue wrote: »

Unless I'm misunderstanding the case, Utilita [via email today] are asking me to sign onto their portal which also confirms I'm accepting a smart meter. Can someone tell me if I'm reading this right ?

The alternative appears to be accept a higher tariff:

3.2 We will supply you on our Smart Meter tariffs even if you do not have a Smart Meter installed until we are able to complete the installation. If you repeatedly refuse to allow us, or our representatives, to install a Smart Meter, we may transfer you onto our Premium Energy Tariff, for non-Smart Meter usage. As this may be more expensive, we will give you 14 days’ notice of this change.

This is interesting because although I accept some tariffs may be only available to sign up to by those with smart meters, this condition penalises existing non smart meter customers for refusing to have a smart meter installed.

ivanleo

Everybody was due to be switched by 18 September 2019. Contrary to popular belief, under the SOLR process it's not (or certainly shouldn't be) Utilita who stop you from switching away, it's the 10 day lock-out period explained here www (dot) ofgem (dot) gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/06/lock_out_periods-_policy_paper_0.pdf

Basically once you've switched to a new supplier (i.e. Utilita) the power distribution company will not allow another switch for 10 working days, therefore as of tomorrow anyone who's on supply with Utilita under SOLR can switch away as by October 3rd the lock-out period will be over for everyone.

I had a credit balance and I just used the DD guarantee to reclaim the money through my bank. If KPMG contact me in a few months to ask that I pay them the few quid difference, that's fine by me, but I don't see why I should be out of pocket for months while KPMG and Utilita work out the figures.

Also contrary to popular belief, it is possible to avoid the SOLR process completely if you switch immediately as soon as it is announced that a supplier is going out of business. I did so when Iresa went under, applied to switch on the day of the announcement and Octopus was never able to take over my supply because by the time they initiated the SLOR switch, my chosen supplier had already initiated the process, so the Octopus switch failed. Unfortunately I didn't find out about Eversmart going under until it was too late, so if anyone knows of a mailing list that send out notifications of supplier failures that would be handy.

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

ivanleo wrote: »

I had a credit balance and I just used the DD guarantee to reclaim the money through my bank.

How did you did this? What were the specifics in your case?

JohnB47

I had an email last night inviting me to register my account with Utilita. I did that and I can now log-in and see all (well, most of) the details - it says my account is 'as of' 18th Sept.

No meter readings are recorded and they haven't asked me for meter readings yet and nor is there a Direct Debit set up (I cancelled the Eversmart one on 6th Sept). So they haven't recorded the last Eversmart readings - taken and given to them on 6th Sept, my normal meter reading date.

I still intend to wait and see if my switch to Breeze on 5th Oct goes ahead.

Stratus

ivanleo wrote: »

Everybody was due to be switched by 18 September 2019. Contrary to popular belief, under the SOLR process it's not (or certainly shouldn't be) Utilita who stop you from switching away, it's the 10 day lock-out period explained here www (dot) ofgem (dot) gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/06/lock_out_periods-_policy_paper_0.pdf

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/06/lock_out_periods-_policy_paper_0.pdf

Thanks for that. This needs to become common knowledge for those of us regularly finding ourselves in collapsing energy supply companies.

Interestingly, or coincidently, I received a new date for transfer to Symbio this morning of 17th October.

Meanwhile I registered with Utilita following email received yesterday and submitted a meter reading for them. Still haven't received a welcome pack that had been promised but I don't think it would include anything that isn't available through the web portal.

Bigun28

I'm in a bit of a debacle with my energy switch following the collapse of EverSmart. I only have electric at home and I was moved over to Utilita and onto the expensive tariff in September, which I tried to switch straight away to OutFox the Market through the MSE Energy Club. However, despite OutFox giving me a quote only for electric only, and sending me their welcome pack saying they would only be supplying my electric, they then cancelled the switch as they changed all of their tariffs over to be dual fuel only.

So I then tried to swap again through the Club to Igloo Energy. However, Utilita blocked that switch as it was still within the cooling off period for the Utilita move, and Igloo cancelled the process when I spoke to them on the phone. I believe the cooling off period has now expired, but the MSE club site now won't let me do a new comparison to switch as it is still showing 'Switch in Progress'.

Now contacted the MSE Club admin to try to get the account reset to allow me to compare again.

ivanleo

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd wrote: »

How did you did this? What were the specifics in your case?

Just called the bank and told them I'd been overcharged (which is true) and the company has gone out of business (which is also true) and the bank refunded the direct debit to my account. My credit balance was fairy small so I only had to reverse the August direct debit, and obviously the September one which they took after they'd gone bust (as they never had any ground to take a charge in September in any case).

You can legitimately reverse however many months of DDs are necessary to claim back all your credit balance, even if this leaves you with a small amount owing to the Eversmart administrators. It just means that in however many months time, they'll send you an invoice for the difference, which is fair enough.

ivanleo

Stratus wrote: »

Meanwhile I registered with Utilita following email received yesterday and submitted a meter reading for them. Still haven't received a welcome pack that had been promised but I don't think it would include anything that isn't available through the web portal.

Well I haven't had a welcome pack either and this concerns me slightly. The Utilita site says

The price you pay for your energy until the 30 September can be found at help/our-tariffs. The price you will pay with us from 1 October will be sent to you with your new Welcome Book.

So how much am I paying now? Without the welcome pack, I have no idea.

On the upside, I've spoken to Green Energy today and they've confirmed my switch will go through on 9 October.