Yorkshire energy ?

Trev456

I must confess, I take everything that I'm told by a Customer Service Representative with a pinch of salt. For all I know, she could be correct, that could be SP's policy at the moment. It depends, I guess,on how many people are left on this tariff in May as to whether SP decide to increase their prices.  (I can't quote your reply because it contains a link and I'm too new to the forum to post a link!).

masonic

Trev456 said:

I must confess, I take everything that I'm told by a Customer Service Representative with a pinch of salt. For all I know, she could be correct, that could be SP's policy at the moment. It depends, I guess,on how many people are left on this tariff in May as to whether SP decide to increase their prices.  (I can't quote your reply because it contains a link and I'm too new to the forum to post a link!).

Indeed, that's why I wondered about the date - since the online chat staff are not UK-based, but you have confirmed that wasn't a misunderstanding. I would be surprised if they do not put the prices up as soon as they are able. It is looking quite competitive vs their other tariffs now, and will be even more so after the April price rises.

[Deleted User]

It's interesting, or possibly typical, that SP are now using the non-increase as a selling point, whereas it seems that they did not really have any say in the matter, because it is part of the OFGEM SOLR conditions. 

Bobbymax

I've repeatedly told SP that my gas usage, which they've presumably got from YE, was much too low (about a tenth of what it should be) therefore my DD is much too low (at least £25 a month). First reply told me it was correct so I sent them evidence it was wrong. Second reply said they knew it was wrong but it would be corrected when the account went live (it wasn't). They've ignored subsequent emails and two DMs on Twitter, but did jump in when I complained to a third party to again ask for account details so they could correct any errors.
They've still done nothing with the information, it's a shambles that I'll be getting out just as soon as the YE administrators pull their finger out and send me the credit balance, though any half-decent fixed tariff will be gone by then. 
What is more worrying is that SP have now taken £78 out of my bank account without furnishing me with specific details of the tariff I've been put on.

keithgawler

Bobbymax said:

I've repeatedly told SP that my gas usage, which they've presumably got from YE, was much too low (about a tenth of what it should be) therefore my DD is much too low (at least £25 a month). First reply told me it was correct so I sent them evidence it was wrong. Second reply said they knew it was wrong but it would be corrected when the account went live (it wasn't). They've ignored subsequent emails and two DMs on Twitter, but did jump in when I complained to a third party to again ask for account details so they could correct any errors.
They've still done nothing with the information, it's a shambles that I'll be getting out just as soon as the YE administrators pull their finger out and send me the credit balance, though any half-decent fixed tariff will be gone by then. 
What is more worrying is that SP have now taken £78 out of my bank account without furnishing me with specific details of the tariff I've been put on.

See my post of yesterday. I suspect a lot of us are under by a factor of 10 on what SP think is our expected annual gas KwH. Anyone else in the same boat?

Phones4Chris

Bobbymax said:

................
What is more worrying is that SP have now taken £78 out of my bank account without furnishing me with specific details of the tariff I've been put on.

Did you not get an email from SP on the 7th December?
The Welcome page https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/solr/yorkshire-energy which was linked in the original email from SP (or you can find it on SP's home page) has an FAQ section down the page. In that, there is "What energy tariff will I move to when I transfer to ScottishPower?"
Expand that, you'll see in the text "click here" which is a link to https://web-content.scottishpower.co.uk/files/pdf/solr/Energy-Exclusive-Pricing-Leaflet-Dec20.pdf  
That document gives the prices for all the regions.

Bacman

I take the tariff rates from sites and calculate myself what that means as a total, to compare to other suppliers, as a lot of these end figures on websites are entirely wrong and can't be trusted.

Our electricity is about 58% day and 42% night on Economy 7 electricity (national average); calculating the figures, SP are actually a bit cheaper than other providers apart from Neon Reef who are about £90 less a year. This means we will stay with SP until the dust settles and then look at a switch later on. Those with day rate high use will certainly be paying more with SP.

The SP prices take effect when SP take on the account from YE. Gave meter readings 6th December as asked by SP's email. Given this, a couple of queries:

Our account with SP was set up in the last half of January, entered meter readings, got a bill from SP which was calculated from 6 December to the date of the January readings, all correct and confirmed the readings on both occasions, calculated correctly too. SITUATION - That means even though the account was set up January, the fact the charge by SP was from 6 December means they in effect took over the account then - before any customer was given any pricing rates and therefore accept the terms (ie stay) or switch?

QUESTIONS

(A) As SP are charging from 6 December it means they took over the account then, yes?
(B) Were they legally able to charge without giving customers the tariff information?
(C) The credit carried over from YE, given that we have not had a final bill (it really is simple, OFGEN have the final meter readings after all which SP needed confirmation in order to then bill from 6 December as they did) - are SP able to persue YE customers for monies on the SP account when the funds from YE when repaid will repay the "debt" or does SP have to wait to chase customers for overdue payments if applicable AFTER the YE monies are credited and on the SP account? I never run my accounts in the negative however not keen on paying SP monies I don't have to as the YE credit funds will cover.

Thoughts?

bagand96

Bacman said:

SITUATION - That means even though the account was set up January, the fact the charge by SP was from 6 December means they in effect took over the account then - before any customer was given any pricing rates and therefore accept the terms (ie stay) or switch?

QUESTIONS

(A) As SP are charging from 6 December it means they took over the account then, yes?

Yes.  SP were always going to be your supplier from December 6th.  Yorkshire Energy ceased trading so could not be your supplier from that point.

Bacman said:

(B) Were they legally able to charge without giving customers the tariff information?

Yes.  They did not need to furnish customers with tariff information, and we did not need to accept any T&C's.  The process is administered by OFGEM and called SoLR - Supplier of Last Resort.  Which is exactly as it sounds.  The supplier (Yorkshire Energy) went bust.  That left the 74,000 customers without a supplier.  So OFGEM trigger the SoLR and invite bids from other suppliers to take on those customers.  OFGEM chose SP, and effectively agree the tariff and T&Cs for us.  It's called a "deemed" tariff.

This is to ensure continuous supply of utilities. The alternative is that without a supplier the Electricity and Gas transporters disconnect those supplies.  (Obviously that would be very unlikely to happen, it would be impractical for start).  But you need a supplier to have a supply, so SoLR ensures that process happens.  It's far from perfect, but it is necessary.

All that said, the tariff was available on the SP website from early December, first discussion of it on this thread was 7th December.

Bacman said:

(C) The credit carried over from YE, given that we have not had a final bill (it really is simple, OFGEN have the final meter readings after all which SP needed confirmation in order to then bill from 6 December as they did) - are SP able to persue YE customers for monies on the SP account when the funds from YE when repaid will repay the "debt" or does SP have to wait to chase customers for overdue payments if applicable AFTER the YE monies are credited and on the SP account? I never run my accounts in the negative however not keen on paying SP monies I don't have to as the YE credit funds will cover.

 OFGEM do not get involved with meter readings and producing final bills.  Yorkshire Energy (under the Administrators) will produce final bills, and have started doing so, many of us have had them.  They need to then pass on credit balance information to SP who then need to credit it to your account, or issue a cheque.  That will take some time.  Obviously in the mean time everyone is using energy from SP and they will bill for it.   Did you set up a DD with SP?  They will collect that if you did, you may be able to reduce it via your online account.

Bacman

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, set up DD with SP; had to amend it online as used to use SP a few years back and they carried over the old DD which was with a bank we no longer use - easy enough to amend; and yes, DD funds were taken from our existing bank recently which is fine. 

I cannot amend the DD as it needs to be higher than it is with the SP rates, until the difference in the outstanding bill is under £100 as SP won't allow the DD amount to change until that - which won't be until the YE refund has happened so our DD is on the low side until then. Worked out the amount we'll be billed from YE to 6 December and the credit we will get will end up under a tenner taking into account 6 December to January with SP; will be good when it is resolved though, clean and tidy. I don't like to have any debts however i'm also not going to add monies to SP when I don't have to.

Good idea if everyone stops thinking about the price we used to get with YE as they went bust, and concentrate on what deals we can get now, depressing otherwise.

Question still though if SP can chase for monies owed on their account when there is enough in the YE account to pay for it (ie 6 December to now)? Technically they can as it is a debt to them however not sure if there are any OFGEN rules that would mean SP need to wait for clarification on the YE final bills, which they seem excessively slow in creating?

bagand96

Bacman said:

Question still though if SP can chase for monies owed on their account when there is enough in the YE account to pay for it (ie 6 December to now)? Technically they can as it is a debt to them however not sure if there are any OFGEN rules that would mean SP need to wait for clarification on the YE final bills, which they seem excessively slow in creating?

Yeah, this is one of the bigger flaws with SoLR.  Especially given the time of year YE went bust, lots would have credit balances going into the coldest months.  I don't think there's any rules/rights to make SP wait for credit balances before billing for energy used.  You could perhaps get in touch with their CS to see if they'd reduce your DD on that basis?  Although from what I've seen here, many don't put much faith in their customer services!

In a similar situation.  I've switched away from SP now, so have a final bill from them.  I also have a final bill from YE with a credit.  SP will collect the DD for my final bill next week, I doubt very much the YE credit will have made it to my account by that point!