Do I pay Extra Energy bill?

Jiggy_175

Hi folks, I'm one of the many having an absolute nightmare with Extra Energy following their collapse. I received a final bill of £1069 out of nowhere in August. Having gone to and fro with their useless administrators for a few months I've gotten nowhere. All they've been able to provide is a spreadsheet 7 pages long with all may invoices charged, cancelled and charged again but no actual invoices with tariffs and itemised charges.

Around a month ago it went to their Debt collection agency Credit Style who have been infinitely more helpful than Extra Energy. They asked me to write them a letter with my concerns which they forwarded to Extra Energy. I finally received a response from Extra energy......... The same figures from the spreadsheet, just on headed paper and looking more official.

Credit Style have now offered to reduce the debt to £550 if pay it immediately but I'm in 2 minds. I'll likely owe a balance but I honestly don't know how much due to Extra Energy's atrocious billing. I've calculated what I paid over the 25 month period I was with them and added the £550 which comes to £78 per month which doesn't seem like much but I was paying just £60 per month to Ovo prior to switching after being offered a lower tariff by Extra Energy. I'm also not sure I'll be liable for any debt if Extra Energy can't come up with the invoices for it. Is this true? If it goes to a County Court can I fight it if they can't actually prove how much I owe them? Would appreciate some advice as Credit Style have given me until tomorrow to give them an answer to their offer which also makes me suspect they know it's not enforceable if they're pressuring me to pay it and are willing to reduce it by over 50%

Gerry1

Subtract your opening EE electricity meter reading from your final EE meter reading, multiply by the kWh rate, add the daily standing charges, add 5% VAT to the total. Do the same for gas, converting it from cubic feet or cubic metres to kWh here.

Add both amounts together and subtract all the relevant direct debits shown on your bank statement. That's what you owe them. If you're in credit, Scottish Power will honour credit balances for both current and past customers of Extra Energy who are owed money.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/extra-energy-customers-your-questions-new-supplier-scottish-power

Gerry1

There's an interesting article in today's Guardian whuch says that 'The administrator, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), blamed Extra Energy’s haphazard record keeping, which meant that customers had not been correctly billed and meter readings had not been recorded. In response, PwC appears to have been firing off unsubstantiated demands, accompanied by threats.'.

Needless to say Ofgem just looks the other way, claiming that it is powerless to act since PwC is not an energy company. That seems a nonsensical excuse because dodgy energy companies could easily defeat the regulations simply by outsourcing their billing.

Streaky_Bacon

Extra Energy collapsed in November last year, so if your revised bill was not sent until August, it is possible that it may be too late to bill you for some of the energy, even if the revised figures are correct (due to the "back billing" rules).

Are you able to provide:

1) The meter readings from any bills that were originally sent to you
2) The meter readings from the new paperwork sent to you (from your post it sounds like they may not include readings)
3) A record of any actual meter readings that you took and/or submitted

Without the above it is impossible to advise on how much you should be paying. Even better would be for you to post the actual original bills and new paperwork (with you personal details redacted).

With regards to the offer to take a reduced amount for the "debt" you should be aware that, depending on several factorsm this might leave you open to having a partially satisfied debt recorded against you. See here:

https://debtcamel.co.uk/ff-credit-record/

Far better to figure out exactly what you think you owe, and challenge on that basis.