Neon Reef - any views?

Phones4Chris

LtMike77 said:

brewerdave said:

Phones4Chris said:

Phones4Chris said:

...........................................

(I'm beginning to think, as someone else suggested similar, my NR credit was the credit on 29th October plus 2 DD's taken after !).

 It's also obvious the NR administrators have seemed to appear lazy at best, sloppy or irresponsible at worst if their systems couldn't work out how much we owed since their last bill through to the 21st November!

Didn't happen to everyone - my final NR statement was calculated to an estimated read on 20/11 (which was ~ 2kwh under my estimate)
 HOWEVER still haven't any bill covering November start date from BG. The only bill they have raised (and subsequently cancelled) was from 6th December to 1st February, so no idea what start read they intend to use !!!

I've never had a final statement from NR, not yet anyway.

I did contact the administrators when we got the email about the website access stopping back in February. I was told my closing statement had not been released, that there were being released in batches and they would notify me when released and provide PDF copy.

Not sure they know what they are doing, the administrators for Green were very good in comparison.

BG have billed me from the 3rd Dec 21 several times and I've had to to get them cancelled and amended due to them using an opening read that was from the date of my last NR bill near the end of October. 

Exactly the same for me except I contacted the help team rather than the administrators. The PDF never turned up.

Phones4Chris

Petriix said:

Phones4Chris said:

Phones4Chris said:

...........................................

(I'm beginning to think, as someone else suggested similar, my NR credit was the credit on 29th October plus 2 DD's taken after !).

Having eventually had a response to my complaint, it's now obvious BG think they can charge their kWh rates from the last bill from NR (29th Oct. in my case) meter reading on that date given by NR. Seems rather "odd" that when I initially complained about lack of detail in relation to this "miscellaneous document", no-one could manage to say what it contained.
Now they've had a written email complaint information appears!
They haven't included daily charges from 29th Oct. until 3rd December but this still results in an overcharge of ~£13 or so by my calculations - not a bank breaker for me but how many other customers are they trying to do this to? It's also obvious the NR administrators have seemed to appear lazy at best, sloppy or irresponsible at worst if their systems couldn't work out how much we owed since their last bill through to the 21st November!
Obviously I'm not going to accept the BG response and will update again when there is more to add.

It's fairly standard to have a tolerance of up to 200 units on changing supplier. Normally the receiving supplier will just credit you with the difference in price for the discrepancy.

As the previous supplier is no longer trading the standard processes break down so you just have to be pragmatic. God knows what situation was left at NR for the administrators. It does seem incompetent but it would probably cost them more than £13 to manually recalculate an account and chase for payment etc.

If BG really are refusing to refund you the difference then you likely have grounds for a successful referral to the Ombudsman. I found the BG complaints team quite agreeable as they ended up writing off the ~ £40 I owed after switching away. BG originally said they'd put the account on hold until my NR credit came through, but then started aggressively chasing me for the payment. Now they're sending me a cheque for the ~£50 NR credit. 

You have the wrong end of the stick here. It has nothing to do with a "tolerance" of up to 200 units (and it's 250 actually), it has to do with using the wrong reading altogether. The reading being supplied (one presumes. where else?) is in this "miscellaneous document" the exact contents of which we don't know. It seems if there are no other readings in the document, then it appears that NR administrators have been extremely lazy as I said before. I suspect there is more in this document than some advisors are letting on, as based on exchanges to date, different information seems to appear..
In any event, I have proof (in the last actual bill from NR) that the reading was the 29th October, and I've read a couple of other posts here where others have had similar from the 21st October!
BG cannot charge their deemed tariff for energy before they became SoLR. I was going to say go away and read what OFGEM say, but no need, I'll quote it for you here as I've just quoted it in my reply to BG's "customer relations" response (my bold) -

""We will seek information on a SoLR’s proposed deemed contract rate. SoLR’s deemed contract prices can reflect no more than the reasonable costs of supply (including costs attributable to the purchase of gas or electricity at short notice), together with a reasonable profit.

Once appointed, a SoLR will be able to charge the failed supplier’s customers on the basis of its deemed contract rate. This will cover the period from appointment until customers have agreed a replacement contract rate with the SoLR or another supplier of their choice, or the six month period of SoLR appointment expires, whichever is earlier. We will consider the SoLR deemed contract prices in terms of what is best overall for the customer groups involved."

Petriix

Phones4Chris said:

Petriix said:

Phones4Chris said:

Phones4Chris said:

...........................................

(I'm beginning to think, as someone else suggested similar, my NR credit was the credit on 29th October plus 2 DD's taken after !).

Having eventually had a response to my complaint, it's now obvious BG think they can charge their kWh rates from the last bill from NR (29th Oct. in my case) meter reading on that date given by NR. Seems rather "odd" that when I initially complained about lack of detail in relation to this "miscellaneous document", no-one could manage to say what it contained.
Now they've had a written email complaint information appears!
They haven't included daily charges from 29th Oct. until 3rd December but this still results in an overcharge of ~£13 or so by my calculations - not a bank breaker for me but how many other customers are they trying to do this to? It's also obvious the NR administrators have seemed to appear lazy at best, sloppy or irresponsible at worst if their systems couldn't work out how much we owed since their last bill through to the 21st November!
Obviously I'm not going to accept the BG response and will update again when there is more to add.

It's fairly standard to have a tolerance of up to 200 units on changing supplier. Normally the receiving supplier will just credit you with the difference in price for the discrepancy.

As the previous supplier is no longer trading the standard processes break down so you just have to be pragmatic. God knows what situation was left at NR for the administrators. It does seem incompetent but it would probably cost them more than £13 to manually recalculate an account and chase for payment etc.

If BG really are refusing to refund you the difference then you likely have grounds for a successful referral to the Ombudsman. I found the BG complaints team quite agreeable as they ended up writing off the ~ £40 I owed after switching away. BG originally said they'd put the account on hold until my NR credit came through, but then started aggressively chasing me for the payment. Now they're sending me a cheque for the ~£50 NR credit. 

You have the wrong end of the stick here. It has nothing to do with a "tolerance" of up to 200 units (and it's 250 actually), it has to do with using the wrong reading altogether. The reading being supplied (one presumes. where else?) is in this "miscellaneous document" the exact contents of which we don't know. It seems if there are no other readings in the document, then it appears that NR administrators have been extremely lazy as I said before. I suspect there is more in this document than some advisors are letting on, as based on exchanges to date, different information seems to appear..
In any event, I have proof (in the last actual bill from NR) that the reading was the 29th October, and I've read a couple of other posts here where others have had similar from the 21st October!
BG cannot charge their deemed tariff for energy before they became SoLR. I was going to say go away and read what OFGEM say, but no need, I'll quote it for you here as I've just quoted it in my reply to BG's "customer relations" response (my bold) -

""We will seek information on a SoLR’s proposed deemed contract rate. SoLR’s deemed contract prices can reflect no more than the reasonable costs of supply (including costs attributable to the purchase of gas or electricity at short notice), together with a reasonable profit.

Once appointed, a SoLR will be able to charge the failed supplier’s customers on the basis of its deemed contract rate. This will cover the period from appointment until customers have agreed a replacement contract rate with the SoLR or another supplier of their choice, or the six month period of SoLR appointment expires, whichever is earlier. We will consider the SoLR deemed contract prices in terms of what is best overall for the customer groups involved."

My point is that it doesn't really matter what made up reading they use to open your account, as long as they refund you the difference in unit costs so that you're not out of pocket. My experience is that the new supplier always agrees to this without exception.

My philosophy is to allow them to make as many mistakes as they want on the grounds that it strengthens my complaint and ultimately wins me more compensation.

In this episode I've won all the units and standing charge between when NR went bust and when BG officially took over my supply (they never billed for this) and all my BG charges between the first bill they sent after replacing my meter in December and when I left them in January (written off thanks to my successful complaint). About £70 in total. 

Patr100

Suddenly got notification of my first statement for Dec to April.

Statement says:

"Good news, your payments are spot on Your monthly payments are on track to cover your expected energy use."

They still say via my account :

Direct Debit 
You're not paying enough

locky123

First BG statement received from Dec with estimated start meter reading which was lower than actual. I never received final statement from NR and I did check account before it it disappeared. Contacted BG via Twitter and new bill produced using actual meter reading in Dec, Instead of owing £256 with estimated reading, now owe £56 with actual. I would recommend checking statement readings and contact BG via Twitter if estimated readings are significantly out and you have proof such as photo. 
I guess Ill never know what meter reading NR used to produce the final statement. At least BG can produce a sensible statement with relevant info to check, whereas EDF like to obfuscate their customers.

brewerdave

Today I logged into my BG account to find a message that I was now paying too much and need to reduce my DD !
 The DD has just been requested at the increased amount that BG decided I needed to pay per month but the "estimated balance at end of contract" figure has shot up !! 
 They really have no idea what they are doing - still no "replacement" bill for the one cancelled in March and no sign of billing for the interim period between NR falling over and BG asking for a read.
Can't be bothered to contact them yet again after trying to get any sense out of the Chat agents. I've got the money I've calculated I'll owe put to one side but I can imagine some customers are oblivious and are going to get a very nasty shock when BG finally wake up !!

ViperBugloss

locky123 said:

First BG statement received from Dec with estimated start meter reading which was lower than actual. I never received final statement from NR and I did check account before it it disappeared. Contacted BG via Twitter and new bill produced using actual meter reading in Dec, Instead of owing £256 with estimated reading, now owe £56 with actual. I would recommend checking statement readings and contact BG via Twitter if estimated readings are significantly out and you have proof such as photo. 
I guess Ill never know what meter reading NR used to produce the final statement. At least BG can produce a sensible statement with relevant info to check, whereas EDF like to obfuscate their customers.

I am not sure about BG producing a sensible statement. I have had four attempts to get a correct bill up to 31 March. I submitted readings at midnight on 31 March/1 April. I had to do this using the link to a webform as the BG website was not available. However, these readings were never applied to my account. About a week later I contacted BG using webchat, supplied the readings with frequent emphasis that they were for March 31. However, when I received a bill this had not been done so the bill was incorrect with me being overcharged by about £10. I raised a complaint and it has taken three more attempts to get a correct bill. This has included some sleight of hand by BG with regard to the credit received from Neon Reef. Apparently, VAT is taken off this amount (so 20/21 of the quoted amount) then this VAT is credited against the VAT on the bill. None of this is explained and the person I spoke to on the phone had to go away for an explanation. Sorting this has taken many hours. I am now going to spend an hour banging my head against a brick wall because that is more fun.

Patr100

Anyone else been offered this?:

Our fixed-rate tariff, Exclusive May 23v1, is exclusive to customers who have moved to us since their previous supplier went out of business - you won’t find it anywhere else online.

Fixed price energy until 31st May 2023**
Exit fees of £75.00 per fuel if you switch to another supplier.
No exit fees for switching to another British Gas tariff.
Standing charge:38.990p per day
Unit rate: 34.460p per kWh

BUFF

yes, just this afternoon.  For me it is ~16% uplift from current SVT - almost tempting for the certainty plus the "No exit fees for switching to another British Gas tariff."  should a cheaper one be available.

ViperBugloss

Patr100 said:

Anyone else been offered this?:

Our fixed-rate tariff, Exclusive May 23v1, is exclusive to customers who have moved to us since their previous supplier went out of business - you won’t find it anywhere else online.

Fixed price energy until 31st May 2023**
Exit fees of £75.00 per fuel if you switch to another supplier.
No exit fees for switching to another British Gas tariff.
Standing charge:38.990p per day
Unit rate: 34.460p per kWh

I have just checked my account and I see that this is available to me. I have night storage heaters so I am on the Economy 7 rates. For me, it is
Standing Charge 64.706p per day
Day Rate 38.649p per kWh
Night Rate 23.736p per kWh
I cannot understand why the standing charge is nearly twice as high. I calculate that these charges represent a 16.4% increase over my current charges. Also, based on my average usage over the last 10 years that would represent a yearly cost of £3,500. That is not feasible. I think I shall be making a lot of use of a heated over blanket next winter.