Overpayment of utlity bills being withheld

Stevolution

I have been with Spark Energy for about 10 years until I switched suppliers in Sep 20.  Due partly to my lack of diligence (not checking monthly statemets etc, because life...) I had been overpaying month after month. My final bill showed I was in credit around £1600.  Since then I have been phoning /webchatting and asking for a refund, but was continually being stalled while they "check with the accounts team".  By early Dec I had realised that they had no intention of just paying the money to me without further escalation, so I started to threaten them with the Ombudsman.  Then the next time I called about 2  weeks ago, they said there had been an "irregularity" found  and that they didnt owe me anything!  When I asked when this irrgeularity was supposed to have occurred, the agent told me "2013"!   When I asked for full details and a breakdown of how the irregularity had arisen & for how this would adjust all subsequent bills, the agent said they wouldnt do that; they would just send an amended final statement, showing the new position [which was that I owe them £100]. 

Clearly my next course of action should be to write to demand more transparency in how they arrived at this new bill and to contact the Ombudsman; but I was also wondering if anyone else had had any similar experiences with a utility company withholding overpaid funds?  Also, isnt there some sort of statute of limitations for "correcting errors" like this. For example I know that with HMRC, any error they make which is not corrected within 2 years, can no longer be pursued. Surely they cant be allowed to bring into play an error they may have made 7, nearly 8 years ago - that's assuming such an error even exists as I have no proof of it.  Any advice is welcome

dogshome

2013 Hic-up ?

The Statute of Limitations cuts out demand for payment of unknown debt or billing errors, for anything over 6 years, so even if Spark have identified a problem they haven't a leg to stand on.

Stop faffing about and go to the Ombudsman NOW 

Streaky_Bacon

Do you still have your opening reads and your bills over the duration of the account?

I appreciate that it is a long time and you may not have them, but it would be useful if you can do your own calculations on what you used and what you paid. The simplest solution to this would be to show that their calculations are wrong, without even having to delve into statutes of limitation and back billing rules.

It sounds your contacts so far have been over the phone, so you should put something in writing, as you suggest.

If you have an online account and access to online bills then make sure that you download and screenshot everything that you can today.

I had a similar situation with a supplier a few years back, and I found that they had replaced the online bills, keeping the original dates so that it looked like they were the original bills. Fortunately I had kept the paper copies and so could disprove their claims quite easily.

Stevolution

Thanks for the replies.  Unfortunately I have no paper records of any bills.  When I joined I signed up for online billing (thought I was helping the planet!)  This wasnt a problem - so I thought - because on their website you could view each monthly bill.....but suddenly the facility to download those bills (other than the new/current one) has been withdrawn!  I'm very concerned about this and I think you are right that I need to take it to the Ombudsman, especially if they are potentially "changing" the bills offline!

Stevolution

Latest update on my case. I reported it to the Ombudsman and eventually they have now comeback with a ruling which is that Spark have shown v poor customer service so they want them to pay me £150 compo. However, having spoken to Ombudsman, apparently to my amazement, they have no investigative powers. basically they reviewed my evidence (which includes only 2 paper bills because I was using online accounting as explained in OP) and Spark basically just said "nope the final bill is correct". I had assumed they could force them to provide evidence or a rationale for the final bill, but apparently NOT!  The lady I spoke to said I could maybe try OFGEM but looking on their website, it states they dont intervene "in individual cases". 

NB The Ombudsman said the backbilling claim only applies where the supplier is late in supplying a bill/demand which therefore puts the consumer in a debit position [ie they can make them strike off the money owed] but it dosent apply where the consumer is in credit!  This seems bizarre but is a salutory lesson to us all, always underestimate your readings and keep yourselves in debit at all times!

Any future advice or suggestions from anyone would be gratefully accepted.  Does MSE have "investigators" that can look into my case? If so how do I contact them?

Many thanks

Steve

LHW99

Take it to one of the papers, or your MP?

[Deleted User]

Stevolution said:

Latest update on my case. I reported it to the Ombudsman and eventually they have now comeback with a ruling which is that Spark have shown v poor customer service so they want them to pay me £150 compo. However, having spoken to Ombudsman, apparently to my amazement, they have no investigative powers. basically they reviewed my evidence (which includes only 2 paper bills because I was using online accounting as explained in OP) and Spark basically just said "nope the final bill is correct". I had assumed they could force them to provide evidence or a rationale for the final bill, but apparently NOT!  The lady I spoke to said I could maybe try OFGEM but looking on their website, it states they dont intervene "in individual cases". 

NB The Ombudsman said the backbilling claim only applies where the supplier is late in supplying a bill/demand which therefore puts the consumer in a debit position [ie they can make them strike off the money owed] but it dosent apply where the consumer is in credit!  This seems bizarre but is a salutory lesson to us all, always underestimate your readings and keep yourselves in debit at all times!

Any future advice or suggestions from anyone would be gratefully accepted.  Does MSE have "investigators" that can look into my case? If so how do I contact them?

Many thanks

Steve

To answer your last question, MSE has no legal investigatory powers as such. Ombudsman Services, of which The Energy Ombudsman is but one part, is an arbitration service run by a private company. The strength of your case depends very much on the information that you provide. A key weakness in the whole process, as far as I am concerned, is the lack of disclosure; that is, the complainant doesn’t get to see or comment on the file that the supplier provides to the Ombudsman.

You now have two options: one accept the Final Decision and more on, or decline the Final Decision and look at other legal options. The latter comes with some risk of additional costs.

Stevolution

Ended up having to give up with this (which is disgraceful). As stated, Ombudsman nor OFGEM say they can investigate any counter claims from the supplier, so it's my word against theirs. I considered other legal options, but those I approached for a free initial consultation weren't interested in the case (which suggests this has happened before & consumer lost). Even my MPs office advised me that "MPs dont get involved in individual disputes with energy suppliers"!! 

I ended up accepting the £150 compo. Poorer, but wiser, I will now be underestimating all my monthly readings going forward, as it seems it simply is throwing away your money if you get in credit with these charlatans!

ItsComingRome

Stevolution said:

Ended up having to give up with this (which is disgraceful). As stated, Ombudsman nor OFGEM say they can investigate any counter claims from the supplier, so it's my word against theirs. I considered other legal options, but those I approached for a free initial consultation weren't interested in the case (which suggests this has happened before & consumer lost). Even my MPs office advised me that "MPs dont get involved in individual disputes with energy suppliers"!! 

I ended up accepting the £150 compo. Poorer, but wiser, I will now be underestimating all my monthly readings going forward, as it seems it simply is throwing away your money if you get in credit with these charlatans!

Seems a bit harsh (as well as potentially libellous) calling them charlatans when you have no evidence of any wrongdoing.

niktheguru

ItsComingRome said:

Stevolution said:

Ended up having to give up with this (which is disgraceful). As stated, Ombudsman nor OFGEM say they can investigate any counter claims from the supplier, so it's my word against theirs. I considered other legal options, but those I approached for a free initial consultation weren't interested in the case (which suggests this has happened before & consumer lost). Even my MPs office advised me that "MPs dont get involved in individual disputes with energy suppliers"!! 

I ended up accepting the £150 compo. Poorer, but wiser, I will now be underestimating all my monthly readings going forward, as it seems it simply is throwing away your money if you get in credit with these charlatans!

Seems a bit harsh (as well as potentially libellous) calling them charlatans when you have no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Rather than "underestimating" your usage, you'd probably be better off going forward

1. Downloading all bills to your computer to keep as a record
2. Actually looking at your bills every month to ensure the meter readings are accurate
3. Consider getting a smart meter, so the billing is more accurate
4. Go to a decent supplier
5. Keep an eye on your direct debits and your usage so not only are your bills accurate but you are not going far into credit or debit. This takes a few minutes every month or two to do, and will save yourself a lot of pain in the end.

QrizB

niktheguru said:

Rather than "underestimating" your usage, you'd probably be better off going forward

1. Downloading all bills to your computer to keep as a record
2. Actually looking at your bills every month to ensure the meter readings are accurate
3. Consider getting a smart meter, so the billing is more accurate
4. Go to a decent supplier
5. Keep an eye on your direct debits and your usage so not only are your bills accurate but you are not going far into credit or debit. This takes a few minutes every month or two to do, and will save yourself a lot of pain in the end.

Definitely do this. You could even save your bills to Google / OneDrive etc.

I've just checked and I've got a pdf nPower bill here from late 2011 (I think I have paper bills from before that date but I'm not inclined to dig them out).