Yorkshire energy ?

BedrockFred

mwt_2 said:

Chris_Cross said:

The legalities of this that I find hard to get my head round is that they can be charging me for a few weeks of energy in the months I am using the most energy without me having any rights to know how much I am being charged, wow...    

That's my issue too, the timing of this stinks. I have to lay the blame on Yorkshire Energy for this, there's been no communication from them, the first time I found out about this was when Scottish Power emailed me yesterday.

The only clue I got was when a few months ago YE offered to "extend" my fixed tarriff for another 6 months without any exit fees, it sounded too good to be true, and sure enough it was.

Like everyone else I'll now have to wait it out until the switch over to SP is complete, then I'll be switching straight back out again.

Energy is an absolute disgrace in the UK, this whole system is not fit for purpose. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to pick our own supplier? The new supplier can just backdate the first bill to when YE went under. Surely there should be some sort of period where everyone gets a chance to switch to their preferred supplier, and if they don't take that opportunity then they get shifted to the SOLR.

Absolutely agree re the way it's done, once a supplier goes into administration customers should be give at least 14 days to switch before being SoLR'd  

bagand96

BedrockFred said:

mwt_2 said:

Chris_Cross said:

The legalities of this that I find hard to get my head round is that they can be charging me for a few weeks of energy in the months I am using the most energy without me having any rights to know how much I am being charged, wow...    

That's my issue too, the timing of this stinks. I have to lay the blame on Yorkshire Energy for this, there's been no communication from them, the first time I found out about this was when Scottish Power emailed me yesterday.

The only clue I got was when a few months ago YE offered to "extend" my fixed tarriff for another 6 months without any exit fees, it sounded too good to be true, and sure enough it was.

Like everyone else I'll now have to wait it out until the switch over to SP is complete, then I'll be switching straight back out again.

Energy is an absolute disgrace in the UK, this whole system is not fit for purpose. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to pick our own supplier? The new supplier can just backdate the first bill to when YE went under. Surely there should be some sort of period where everyone gets a chance to switch to their preferred supplier, and if they don't take that opportunity then they get shifted to the SOLR.

Absolutely agree re the way it's done, once a supplier goes into administration customers should be give at least 14 days to switch before being SoLR'd  

It's not a bad idea.  However Yorkshire Energy ceased trading as a going concern on Thursday. So if I took up to 14 days to switch to a new provider then who is providing and billing me for my energy in that interim period?

YE can't because they are not a trading entity (it's not just about billing us, it's about buying energy on the wholesale market, paying staff, buildings insurance etc). 

Thats why they SoLR. They need to get everyone with a new supplier ASAP. Only effective way to do that is a one hit transfer for everyone. 

Unless of course they come up with some ability to backdate a transfer or do it retrospectively. 

matelodave

Gerry1 said:

mwt_2 said:

Chris_Cross said:

The legalities of this that I find hard to get my head round is that they can be charging me for a few weeks of energy in the months I am using the most energy without me having any rights to know how much I am being charged, wow...    

Energy is an absolute disgrace in the UK, this whole system is not fit for purpose. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to pick our own supplier? The new supplier can just backdate the first bill to when YE went under. Surely there should be some sort of period where everyone gets a chance to switch to their preferred supplier, and if they don't take that opportunity then they get shifted to the SOLR.

I can't understand why a normal energy switch can't be completed as quickly as a mobile phone switch, e.g. by the end of the next working day.  At present it's effectively three working days, but nothing happens for two weeks beforehand because of the cooling off period.  That's quite a deterrent.

Why can't the cooling off period be retrospective?  It's not as lots of work to lay new pipes and wires would have to be ripped up and reversed.  Even if no further improvement were possible, three days would still be a worthwhile improvement on the current situation.

If you are being taken over by a SoLR why is there a cooling period anyway - the cooling period is to allow you or they to change their mind and halt the swap.
You don't have the opportunity to remain with your existing supplier if they've gone bust so there's no need for the cooling period so IMO it should be possible for you to swap over in 3-5 days.

When IRESA went bust on 31st July 2018, Octopus took over on 1st August and I  manged to get transferred over to Eversmart on 6th September = 37 days.
Even at that time of the year without the cost of heating, the time with Octopus cost me £35 extra. At the time Octopus took over they estimated that it would take them three weeks to take over an suggested that it would be OK to initiate a switch after then.

I received this from Octopus on 22nd August

• Your transfer to Octopus Energy is now complete, and your Octopus account is up and running.
• We're issuing final bills all this week, covering the period up to July 31st. If you haven't received yours, it should be in your inbox by the end of the week.
• You can now switch to a new supplier, should you choose to do so.
• If you stay with Octopus, you'll get great service & good value green energy — plus £50 credit for every friend you introduce.

Unfortunately for most people who just lost YE the the next 5-6 weeks will not only be during the coldest part of the year but will have Christmas in the middle to slow it all down even more so could work out to be quite costly

masonic

spot1034 said:

mwt_2 said:

Chris_Cross said:

The legalities of this that I find hard to get my head round is that they can be charging me for a few weeks of energy in the months I am using the most energy without me having any rights to know how much I am being charged, wow...    

That's my issue too, the timing of this stinks. I have to lay the blame on Yorkshire Energy for this, there's been no communication from them, the first time I found out about this was when Scottish Power emailed me yesterday.

The only clue I got was when a few months ago YE offered to "extend" my fixed tarriff for another 6 months without any exit fees, it sounded too good to be true, and sure enough it was.

Like everyone else I'll now have to wait it out until the switch over to SP is complete, then I'll be switching straight back out again.

Energy is an absolute disgrace in the UK, this whole system is not fit for purpose. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to pick our own supplier? The new supplier can just backdate the first bill to when YE went under. Surely there should be some sort of period where everyone gets a chance to switch to their preferred supplier, and if they don't take that opportunity then they get shifted to the SOLR.

My guess would be that YE was a victim of coronavirus - maybe it will be added to the official figures! I believe the government sent out a request via Ofgem that suppliers should not chase bad debts at the height of the crisis earlier this year, which of-course would affect small suppliers who have far less in reserve than the big boys. So you could say the blame lies with the government.

Several suppliers have gone bust each winter for the past few years. This is becoming quite normal and should be of concern to Ofgem. As more customers get a taste of a sudden jump in price in a tariff they thought was fixed, it is going to be a barrier to competition in the market as customers will be unwilling to switch to unfamiliar and smaller suppliers.

movingon

I have checked on the Northernpowergrid.com  (Yorks and North east) page for "who is my supplier" and it still states YE are my supplier. So does that mean SP have not even started the transition, and i have time to start a switch elsewhere? 

UnclaimedEnergy

14 day cooling off period before switched to SoLR - This means you don't have a supplier for those 2 weeks, meaning there's no one buying energy for you and technically you should get disconnected during this time. (You'll be off-grid for 2 weeks by not having a supplier). And no.... you shouldn't get 2 weeks of free energy for being with a supplier that went bust, you aren't the victim here, the staff who lost their jobs are.

YE weren't a victim of coronavirus.... they were a victim of not being able to gain extra investment to cover their losses and overly cheap tariffs. Suppliers were able to restart chasing bad debts months ago and if it was this that caused them to fail, they wouldn't have lasted until December. Even before the pandemic they had £3million worth of debt based on their latest accounts.

Ofgem are concerned about the number of suppliers going bust which is why they're adding new restrictions on new entrants as well as setting up 'milestone audits' where suppliers need to prove they're set up to manage their customers at certain points before being able to take new ones on.

Ultimately though, you have a market which for the last 3-4 years has been propped up by outside investment. Companies like Bulb and Octopus have been making £millions of losses every year in the pursuit to gain customers, all of which has been paid for by investers. iSupply, Tonik and YE were all looking for investors before they sold their customer base/went bust but no one deemed it a smart investment to part with their money into loss making suppliers.

masonic

movingon said:

I have checked on the Northernpowergrid.com  (Yorks and North east) page for "who is my supplier" and it still states YE are my supplier. So does that mean SP have not even started the transition, and i have time to start a switch elsewhere? 

No, your energy distributor will only list SP as your supplier when they complete the take-over of your supply. Due to the statutory cooling off period, you are very unlikely to get a different supplier to apply to take it over before SP gets in (SP might already have applied to take it over, but if not they surely will in the next few days).

I'm guessing SP will gain our supplies ~21st December, and we'll be free to start a switch out ~4th January.

alpaco47

Spoke to SP yesterday (after a 25 minute wait!), they were insistant that any refunds will come from YE and not SP. don't see how that can happen if YE are in admin. Surely the administraters will deal with that.
Last time this happened to me it took around 7 months to finalise and I had to go through the ombudsman to resolve issues, so I don't expect anything soon. I have told SP that I do not wish to have them as my supplier, due to previous experiences. I have to wait for a final bill before I can move. Couldn't get any indication of the 'special tariff'. Have cancelled my DD with YE, as this would give them over £400 of my money. SP said I shouldn't have done that because any refunds would be sent by bank transfer and they needed the bank details!! 

matelodave

All my refunds have managed to get into my bank accounts without having an active DD. They already have all your bank account info anyway so all it needs is a straightforward BACS credit transfer not an active DD.
I pay quite a few of my other bills using BACS, so there's no reason for them not to do the same

Malchester

alpaco47 said:

Spoke to SP yesterday (after a 25 minute wait!), they were insistant that any refunds will come from YE and not SP. don't see how that can happen if YE are in admin. Surely the administraters will deal with that.
Last time this happened to me it took around 7 months to finalise and I had to go through the ombudsman to resolve issues, so I don't expect anything soon. I have told SP that I do not wish to have them as my supplier, due to previous experiences. I have to wait for a final bill before I can move. Couldn't get any indication of the 'special tariff'. Have cancelled my DD with YE, as this would give them over £400 of my money. SP said I shouldn't have done that because any refunds would be sent by bank transfer and they needed the bank details!! 

No, they are wrong. All refunds of credit from YE will come from SP. That is the rule and part of the deal and it even applies to those who were in the process of switching from YE when they went bust. Check Ofgem website FAQ's to check if you want to.I was switched from Tonik and SP also told me that wrong info. It is a sign of the incompetence nd lack of training for SP customer service staff