Utilita - Eversmart

matelodave

I was fascinated by the speed with which Utilita produced my final bill and refund cheque after I'd sent them a motivation squib.

The final bill from Eversmart took two days) and the the settlement check another two (at least one of which would have included time in the postal system) which sort of suggests that they already have the information & data and are just sitting on it rather than processing it and getting it sorted out

aardvark56

Thanks for the advice which I shall follow up myself.

aardvark56

Death in the family needed my support

aardvark56

Update. I sent a complaint letter asking them to resolve the matter or issue a deadlock letter. This was sent signed for. They have not replied. Any advice on next steps please?

Ian4321

I just going into battle with Utilita.
I have had to raise a complaint to get my Eversmart final bill from them.  It eventually arrived but is missing 4 monthly payments to Eversmart and is based completely of estimated readings.  Fortunately I have photos of the meters on the relevant dates.
I've built the response and attached evidence re the Eversmart missing payments but I need some assistance with the next part of my complaint.

When Utilita communicated to us that they were appointed as the SOLR we receive an email or a letter.  I believe it was an email.  I'm hoping someone can post a copy to the forum.  Specifically I'm looking for the tariff rates and how they were to be charged.  The reason I pulled away from them was they were proposing to bill a higher rate per day for the first x units.  Unfortunately I don't have a smart meter, so they can't bill me accurately and having solar power and battery backup means I don't consume power of sunny days for 24 hours or more.  I do have my own power monitoring...

They have in the last couple of days, sent me a "revised final bill" for Utilita as I jumped ship immediately Eversmart went pop.
I notice that the tariff rates are different between SEP 2019 and OCT 2019.  The rates did go down, so that would be in your/our  favour.
Much appreciated if someone could help with the correspondence we received with the initial rates.
Many thanks

JohnB47

Ian4321 said:

I just going into battle with Utilita.
I have had to raise a complaint to get my Eversmart final bill from them.  It eventually arrived but is missing 4 monthly payments to Eversmart and is based completely of estimated readings.  Fortunately I have photos of the meters on the relevant dates.
I've built the response and attached evidence re the Eversmart missing payments but I need some assistance with the next part of my complaint.

When Utilita communicated to us that they were appointed as the SOLR we receive an email or a letter.  I believe it was an email.  I'm hoping someone can post a copy to the forum.  Specifically I'm looking for the tariff rates and how they were to be charged.  The reason I pulled away from them was they were proposing to bill a higher rate per day for the first x units.  Unfortunately I don't have a smart meter, so they can't bill me accurately and having solar power and battery backup means I don't consume power of sunny days for 24 hours or more.  I do have my own power monitoring...

They have in the last couple of days, sent me a "revised final bill" for Utilita as I jumped ship immediately Eversmart went pop.
I notice that the tariff rates are different between SEP 2019 and OCT 2019.  The rates did go down, so that would be in your/our  favour.
Much appreciated if someone could help with the correspondence we received with the initial rates.
Many thanks

Not sure what you mean about the rates changing. My 'Final Eversmart Bill' uses the correct Eversmart rates and the Utilita bill, for the period I was with them, uses the correct two tier rates. Neither suppliers rates changed during the period of my bills.

As for my progress with Utilita, I received a largely correct bill from them which didn't mention my Eversmart credit. Then I received a 'Final Eversmart Bill' which shows the credit due. I then contacted Utilita and asked them to amalgamate both bills and send me a cheque for the outstanding credit. They sent me a text saying they would do that but it would take some weeks and in the meantime my account has been put on hold until they receive the credit from the Eversmart administrators.

CJMylchreest

Make a formal complaint. You will get a phone call to sort it out I suspect, they don’t like complaints. Try this number ‭+44 1962 891192‬. Good luck, Utilita are hopeless and very expensive! 

Gerry1

CJMylchreest said:

Try this number ‭+44 1962 891192‬.

Just dial 01962 891 192.  Few Russian oligarchs will be be bothered about the energy costs of their empty penthouses, and if you're abroad you're probably desperately trying to get back !

Ian4321

Good news!  The documents have been found.
I received a letter dated 16th September which said "Welcome"...
The back of page one only says the Tariff is "Smart Energy" paid by DD and no other information; so I called them.I have copious notes from the call.
Their operative told me that I would be paying for electric rate 1 for first KWh per day the Rate 2 for the remaining with a similar charging pattern for the gas.  The differential between Rate 1 and Rate 2 is ~14p and as a proxy for a standing charge is it a bit higher that I had with Eversmart but OK.
Where it becomes a problem for me is that a) I don't have a smart meter so they can't measure usage per day and b) I have a power management system including solar etc and even at the end of September, use little or no power from the grid.
I discussed this with the operative and came to the conclusion that Utilita was not the company for me and they would just average the units used over the billing period; so even if I charged the EV on one day, The 40KWh charge would turn into a average of 1+bit units per day at tier 1 for the whole month.

Next letter from Utilita, dated 27 September - "enclosed your welcome booklet" and gives rates effective 1st October.  Not 28 days notice, but they are doing the best they can.  However, the FAQ on the back now says Rate 1 is charged on the first 2KWh per day.  The differential is 12.284p, so the proxy for the standing charge is now 24.568p per day.  This seems expensive!

Eventually, the Utilita Final Bill arrives (I switched supplier) and yet again a different set of rates.  None of the rates used for Gas nor Electric ,match those given on the phone or in the letter they have sent me.  Also, there is a "slight of hand" in Tier 1 rates.  If you take the elapse days in the billing period and multiple by 2, they are over charging for Tier 1 units.

I put together a spreadsheet sometime ago when I put Eversmart into "special measures" because they were so bad.
It tracks usage, expected charges and actual charges specially because Eversmart were so bad at it.
Putting the Utilita numbers in, I get red boxes all over.

HHarry

CJMylchreest said:

Make a formal complaint. You will get a phone call to sort it out I suspect, they don’t like complaints. Try this number ‭+44 1962 891192‬. Good luck, Utilita are hopeless and very expensive! 

Not so sure - my complaint has been in for 7 weeks and hasn’t even been acknowledged.

I’ve provided the readings on the changeover date from Eversmart to Utilita on 3 occasions now, but they haven’t managed to use them in any of the 3 final bills they’ve issued.
 The £90 payment I made, based on my calculations, doesn’t ever show on any of their paperwork - although I’ve gone from owing £213 to £180 to £30.  Going in the right direction - I expect to owe them £3.

Utilita are just incompetent.