Small supplier Eversmart Energy stops trading - MSE News

jukber

I was a sucker joining their loyal family scheme last December. I switched to another supplier in June this year because of their poor service and had been trying to get credit balance over £800 back since then. I was about to file a small claim because they had promised in several emails to refund me the amount but never fulfilled. Now they've gone burst, and ofgem ombudsmen won't take new cases relating to eversmart. I felt like a complete idiot.


What should I do now? Any advice, please?

Eye_Wash

jukber wrote: »

I was a sucker joining their loyal family scheme last December. I switched to another supplier in June this year because of their poor service and had been trying to get credit balance over £800 back since then. I was about to file a small claim because they had promised in several emails to refund me the amount but never fulfilled. Now they've gone burst, and ofgem ombudsmen won't take new cases relating to eversmart. I felt like a complete idiot.


What should I do now? Any advice, please?

How fortunate for you? :money:

Sounds like they have saved you at least £60, possibly more!

Not sure how much you lost when you dumped them early though :cool:

brewerdave

jukber wrote: »

I was a sucker joining their loyal family scheme last December. I switched to another supplier in June this year because of their poor service and had been trying to get credit balance over £800 back since then. I was about to file a small claim because they had promised in several emails to refund me the amount but never fulfilled. Now they've gone burst, and ofgem ombudsmen won't take new cases relating to eversmart. I felt like a complete idiot.


What should I do now? Any advice, please?

Your outstanding credit should be refunded by whomever is appointed as the Supplier of Last Resort for Eversmart by OFGEM - BUT don't count on seeing the money in a hurry - and you may have to pursue with the appointee in due course.:(

Keep all the correspondence you have had from Eversmart in a safe place (eg back up emails offline) and see if you can still download bills etc from their site.

macman

How on earth could you build up a credit of £800 in just 6 months? That indicates an overpayment of £133 per month!

Mister_G

I suspect that it was their "pay a year up front" scheme.

niktheguru

As has already been said, make sure you download all correspondence and documentation from their website (bills) and have a list of meter readings available.

If you have credit with them you will get it back, it may take time.

bufferz

Disappointed that the ombudsman doesn't make these companies Email the customer to tell them they have gone bust, and rely on sites like this for people to find out

FelineFunk

bufferz wrote: »

Disappointed that the ombudsman doesn't make these companies Email the customer to tell them they have gone bust, and rely on sites like this for people to find out

Companies who cease to trade usually fire all their staff at the same time, as they don't have any money left to pay them.

They are usually taken over by administrators, who usually get paid either by the sale of the company or more usually in the case of failed energy companies, when that energy company's assets are liquidated.

There is usually a notice on a failed energy suppliers own website to stste that the supplier has ceased to trade, with some limited additional information (often referring readers to the Ofgem website)

When Ofgem appoints a SoLR, that SoLR will contact all customers, including any past customers (where possible) that are still owed a credit balance by the failed supplier

FelineFunk

macman wrote: »

How on earth could you build up a credit of £800 in just 6 months? That indicates an overpayment of £133 per month!

The poster explained, as did a previous poster similarly affected in this thread, that they used the 'loyal family scheme'. i.e. took advantage of a very competitive tariff offered in November 2018, that expected customers to pay a year in advance for that energy. The tariff was further sweetend by the supplier saying they would pay 12% interest on any credit balance, which as ths upplier said, beat any ISA savings plan.
(Although that probably exposed the numerical skills of the company, or lack of them, as the interst was actually paid at a rate of 1% per month on credit balances :cool:)

Small supplier Eversmart Energy has launched the cheapest one-year fix on the market – but you'll need to pay the whole cost upfront.

Eversmart Energy – which has about 40,000 customers – has launched its new 'Family Saver Club' tariff, costing a typical dual-fuel household £979/year, around £20 less than the current cheapest fix....

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/10/you-can-now-pay-upfront-for-your-energy-for-the-next-year---but-/

FelineFunk

SamGrundy wrote: »

Energysmart owe us over £1000. Will we ever get it back?

We joined them just before Christmas, and paid the £1200 being a years anticipated payment in advance.

Unfortunately, due to an unexpected change in circumstances soon after joining, we haven't used anywhere near as much energy what we originally anticipated. but weren't too bothered as we were being paid 12% interest on the credit balance.

What happens to our advance payment now? And will we still get the 12% interest?

We also have a direct debit set up, with first payment due just before this Christmas, being a year after we joined. I think I might cancel that, as hopefully this mess will be all sorted out well before then.

As the late, great Jim Bowen used to say, don't worry your money is safe!

Is my money at risk?

Under regulator Ofgem's safety-net rules, your credit is protected if the worst happened and the supplier went under. ...

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/10/you-can-now-pay-upfront-for-your-energy-for-the-next-year---but-/

Great, super, smashing!

Any interest that had already been credited to your account would also be repaid, as it would form part of your credit balance.

But the actual interest amount was 1% per month (which is not 12% per year ).
But I doubt any new supplier (or even the administrators) will add any interest to your account not already credited.
Arguably, you could challenge the administrator to add any interest to your credit for the period until the SoLR takes over and not already added, but I dount the amount is worth worrying about, and even if you do succeed, I suspect the SoLR won't pay that, and you will be an unsecured creditor of the failed supplier in that small amount. There may be no money left for creditors following liquidation, and even if there is, only expect a very small percentage (e.g. about 5% maximum), so possibly about 50p
It'll probably cost you more than that for a stamp to post your claim.:cool: