reimbursement delay after energy switch

Heedtheadvice

Confirm refund arrived as promised (actually quicker!) so happy on that score.


My further communication regarding the compensation not yet responded to.....


so some progress for me but I guess it could be due to the combination of speaking with an agent backed up possibly by Resolver. The latter has had only auto confirmation of receipt so far.

spot1034

Now can we clarify the exact rules around compensation.


As I understand it, if a refund of credit on a final bill is not made within ten working days, a payment of £30 compensation is due and should automatically be added to the refund when it is finally paid.


If this does not happen - i.e. if they eventually refund the money but not within the ten working days and that payment does not include an automatic addition of £30 - does that mean further compensation is then due, or do they still have a chance to get away with just £30 if they pay it after a complaint is made?

EnergyRookie

spot1034 wrote: »

Now can we clarify the exact rules around compensation.


As I understand it, if a refund of credit on a final bill is not made within ten working days, a payment of £30 compensation is due and should automatically be added to the refund when it is finally paid.


If this does not happen - i.e. if they eventually refund the money but not within the ten working days and that payment does not include an automatic addition of £30 - does that mean further compensation is then due, or do they still have a chance to get away with just £30 if they pay it after a complaint is made?

Did you read the link I provided way back in post#3?

It explains the situation clearly.

What will I get automatic compensation for?


For any switches started on or after Wednesday 1 May, all energy suppliers have to pay automatic compensation for:

• A late credit balance refund. You'll get £30 automatic compensation if your previous supplier fails to refund your outstanding credit within 10 working days of sending your final bill. According to Ofgem, this could benefit an estimated 197,000 people (based on 2017 data).
• ...

If an energy firm breaches any of these standards, it'll have to pay you the automatic compensation within 10 days of the missed deadline. If it fails to do this, it will have to pay a further £30.

So I do not agree with the premise on which you ask your question.

e.g. for a qualifying switch, if the supplier fails to refund you your account credit until, say, 12 days after they have issued you a final bill, they will still have a further 8 days in which to pay you the automatic compensation.

Btw, for the sake of clarification, days refers to working days.

spot1034

I accept that if a deadline is only narrowly missed there is a window where the £30 compensation can be paid and that will be the end of the matter. However I am thinking about a period longer than ten days after the missed deadline.



In my case, I received a final bill from Enstroga dated August 28th showing a credit balance of £110.43, and it said this would be refunded on September 11th. I assume that this date - September 11th - is the 'missed deadline'. A further period of more than ten days has now elapsed since the missed deadline.



The articles states

If an energy firm breaches any of these standards, it'll have to pay you the automatic compensation within 10 days of the missed deadline. If it fails to do this, it will have to pay a further £30.

I interpret this to mean that if no payment at all - neither the refund itself nor the £30 compensation - is received within a further ten days following the missed deadline, the compensation automatically increases to £60?



Is that correct?

Heedtheadvice

That further compensation for 10 working day beaches is my understanding too, as well as the link supplied above is MSE and as clarified by Ofgem in the explanatory publication fegarding the Statutory Instrument https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/supplier-guaranteed-standards-performance-switching-final-decision-and-statutory-instrument
'Final Decision.....' part way down the page.

spot1034

I've now received my refund from Enstroga. No compensation though, so I shall be pursuing this further.

dawnineastwood

Enstroga final bill stated that credit would be refunded via DD on 23 September (the 10th working day after date of final bill). Nothing received so email sent on 24 Sep asking for refund plus £30 automatic compensation. Still nothing so on Monday this week I phoned Enstroga. I was told that, despite what was stated on final bill, refunds are only made manually at the customer's request! The lady said she would put the refund through but did not know anything about the compensation payment. She said she would pass my query regarding automatic compensation to the billing dept. Refund received today in my bank but no compensation payment . My interpretation is that my complaint dates from my email of 24 September so if £30 compensation does not arrive in my bank by next Tuesday that will increase to £60. I shall be chasing this. Has anyone actually received an automatic compensation payment from Enstroga?

spot1034

Enstroga might reflect on the fact that if they had not taken wholly unnecessary 'top-up payments' from customers' accounts at the point of the year when it is perfectly normal to have a deficit, the final bills they are now sending out to customers leaving them would be more likely to show either a small surplus which they would perhaps find it less troublesome to pay back, or a small deficit which they would be able to collect in the normal way without generating a large number of complaints and claims for compensation.

spot1034

dawnineastwood wrote: »

Enstroga final bill stated that credit would be refunded via DD on 23 September (the 10th working day after date of final bill). Nothing received so email sent on 24 Sep asking for refund plus £30 automatic compensation. Still nothing so on Monday this week I phoned Enstroga. I was told that, despite what was stated on final bill, refunds are only made manually at the customer's request! The lady said she would put the refund through but did not know anything about the compensation payment. She said she would pass my query regarding automatic compensation to the billing dept. Refund received today in my bank but no compensation payment . My interpretation is that my complaint dates from my email of 24 September so if £30 compensation does not arrive in my bank by next Tuesday that will increase to £60. I shall be chasing this. Has anyone actually received an automatic compensation payment from Enstroga?

That's a bit of an admission by them - that refunds are only made manually at the customer's request. I suppose she might have got confused with their policy for customers who are remaining with them but if she was referring to account closures, the Ofgem press release on this includes the following

Suppliers will have to report data on payments to Ofgem which will monitor their compliance to ensure that suppliers are implementing new regulations correctly.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/customers-entitled-automatic-compensation-switching-problems-1-may


So presumably they will be reporting to Ofgem that they are failing to refund customers?

Heedtheadvice

Dawn, your interpretation is not strictly correct in my opinion after reading Ofgem regs and interpretation of the StatuteIt makes little practical difference but may make your position as you describe it not actually factually correct.

Compensation is due if the credit is not reimbursed to you after 10 working days after the final bill. Enstroga quote that as 14 days but it equates to the same thing, as they promised you.


The fact that Enstroga have an internal problem requiring some manual trigger is irrelevent. I had the same story but did not interpret it as I had to request a repayment but that somebody in Enstroga had to trigger the payment. That is a problem with their processes.


So, your first credit repayment deadline is as they originally informed you on the final bill and as per Ofgem regulations.


A Compensation payment, if that refund has not been made, is then due within 10 working days. So you were owed balance plus £30. That will be plus a further £30 compensation - by 7th October if the compensation payment has not been made.....and so on. Of course you have had the credit repaid but the compensation clock still ticks.



The date of your complaint is irrelevent in terms of credit and compensation payments but would be the start of the period that Ofgem allow before impass is reached and when you can escalate to them....unless deadlock is reached prior to that, I believe.