Simplicity Energy - Ceasing to Trade

womble23

Similar for me, nothing on the BGE side to suggest they're aware I'm switching out either. 

And now that you mention it, aren't the "old" supplier meant to contact their customer at the start of a switch as part of a control to ensure its been a genuine switch request. 

I just have that fear in the back ofy mind, this is not going to be plain sailing... 

As my gas switch to Utility Point didn't have the same challenges as NR, I'm currently due to supply them meter reading with that completing next week. 

Shedman

Well my gas switch to SO went through today and there's still nothing at all on BGE account to indicate that it has taken place.  In fact the account portal really shows not a lot at all...looks pretty useless compared to others.

Database not yet updated to show SO as supplier yet but I'll keep checking as it seems to change late in the day or overnight.

pusb

I don't know what to do with mine. I had a £100 credit on my Simplicity account. It says that will go through to my British Gas account, but could take 12 weeks.

If I now switch away from BG, what happens to my credit? 

Shedman

pusb said:

I don't know what to do with mine. I had a £100 credit on my Simplicity account. It says that will go through to my British Gas account, but could take 12 weeks.

If I now switch away from BG, what happens to my credit? 

Your credit will still be transferred to BG.  If you leave your BG DD open then they should pay you any net credit (after taking account of any BG charges for utilities consumed before your switch completes) using the DD.  If you have cancelled your DD then they will likely pay by cheque.   12 weeks is probably going to be about right.

pusb

Shedman said:

pusb said:

I don't know what to do with mine. I had a £100 credit on my Simplicity account. It says that will go through to my British Gas account, but could take 12 weeks.

If I now switch away from BG, what happens to my credit? 

Your credit will still be transferred to BG.  If you leave your BG DD open then they should pay you any net credit (after taking account of any BG charges for utilities consumed before your switch completes) using the DD.  If you have cancelled your DD then they will likely pay by cheque.   12 weeks is probably going to be about right.

Thanks. I will look at switching now then. I don't want to be on the expensive BG supply any longer than necessary! 

Shedman

Been away from BGE for the electric for a week now but still no acknowledgement on BGE account of this fact!  Still showing both tariffs and the todays balance figure incrementing by estimated anount for both fuels.   No indication of any opening read figures even though the final bill from Simplicity was issued some time ago (12 Feb).   Not been asked for DD info from BGE nor have they seemingly used the bank info from Simplicity as no DD is showing for them on any of my bank accounts.   In fact a big fat zilch from BGE since the initial contact from them in early Feb.  All very strange.


EdIt:  on BGE FAQs re Simplicity I have just found this:

 "On Friday 5th March the process of transferring your Direct Debit details from the Simplicity Energy bank to the British Gas Evolve bank was completed. We are now in the process of setting up your Direct Debit in our systems and will keep your payment date and amount the same as you had with Simplicity Energy. When we have set this up for you will see the details in your online account."

Strange that, over a week later, they still aren't showing the DD info on the account or that no DD appears on the bank account that was used for the Simplicity one.


By the way you can no longer log into your Simplicity account ...all you get when you try are 2 new pages with new Information re Payments and Meter Readings. (Edit2:  actually you can still log into the customer portal and see the old account info such as invoices, meter readings etc but you have to click on the link in the text on the Simplicity home page and not the large Log into your Account button on the bottom of the Home Screen...yet another odd quirk 😅)

Payments

 Simplicity Energy has ceased trading and British Gas Evolve has been nominated by Ofgem as the Supplier of Last Resort 

The Joint administrators (FRP Advisory) are responsible for collecting any arrears. If you are looking to pay your final bill for energy used up to the 30th January 2021, you will be able to do this soon as new service is available. We expect this to be available by the 25th March 2021. You will be notified when this facility is available along with the amount due.

For any credit balances you will be notified of the amount owing by 31st March 2021. 

If you have a British Gas Evolve account this will be credited to your account.

If you do not have an account with British Gas Evolve, they will try and refund the credit during April 2021. 

If you have not heard from British Gas Evolve by this point and believe you have a credit owed, please use the following link Contact Us 

Meter Reads

Simplicity Energy has ceased trading and British Gas Evolve has been nominated by Ofgem as the Supplier of Last Resort. 

Simplicity Energy is no longer able to process reads using this facility. 

Before taking any further action, please look at your bill from your supplier. 

If you have moved to British Gas Evolve, your final read from Simplicity Energy will be used as your start read with British Gas Evolve for 30th January 2021, so you will never pay twice for the energy you use. If the readings you are given by Simplicity Energy and British Gas Evolve are the same, and the reading you have taken is not significantly different (+ 700 kWh or – 250 kWh), please log onto your British Gas Evolve account and submit your readings there. This will allow your ongoing account to be kept up to date.  

If you have moved to another supplier after the 30th January 2021, but before an account was established with British Gas Evolve, there will still be a period of time where British Gas Evolve was your supplier. British Gas Evolve has been provided with the readings from the 30th January 2021, and the date of your switch to a new supplier, so that they can send you an accurate bill. British Gas Evolve will use any credit balance you have to pay for the energy you’ve used with them, before refunding the balance to you. If you don’t have a credit balance you will need to contact British Gas Evolve to pay the bill.

If you have moved to another supplier after the 30th January 2021 and an account was established with British Gas Evolve, your change of supplier process from British Gas Evolve to your new supplier should go ahead as normal. If you have any queries on your meter reads please contact your new supplier. 

Please check you emails to see if you have an account with British Gas Evolve before taking further action. If you still need to talk to someone regarding your account with British Gas Evolve, please use the following link Contact Us 

pusb

Had my bill for the period 15/02/21-14/03/21 today.
Got the shock of my life when I opened it. I knew BG would be more than Simplicity but it was over double what my last Simplicity charge was!  

Shedman

pusb said:

Had my bill for the period 15/02/21-14/03/21 today.
Got the shock of my life when I opened it. I knew BG would be more than Simplicity but it was over double what my last Simplicity charge was!  

Was the opening read the same as the Simplicity closing one then?  What happened to period from 30 Jan to 15 Feb?  Hopefully that gets missed by both of them 😅.  Can you see the opening read on the BGE account anywhere.  No bill for me yet.

KevPude

Just received an email from BGE requesting a meter reading. For just 45 days supply it works our we're paying an extra £217 (+42%) compared to our old Simplicity tariff. Still can’t believe BGE named their tariff “Simplicity Promise”.....clearly a promise to rip us off. 

I was considering a switch to Neon Reef for electricity (comfort heating) but sticking with BGE gas (to heat water only).  However, with the dearer months under our belt and the tenancy ending in June there seems little point in switching now......after incurring a £36 exit fee we’d only save about £70 over the next 3 months.

I’ve emailed Ofgem three times now, highlighting their seemingly inconsistent SoLR process e.g. the difference in the deal ex GNE customers were offered by EDF, compared to that offered to Simplicity customers by BGE. EDF guaranteed that all customers would see a decrease in price versus their current tariff until 30 September 21.

However, even after finally getting around the auto generic responses and receiving a holding reply, the response I received today (14 days later) didn’t address any of the points I raised and even wrongly quoted EDF as the SoLR. I’ve expressed my disappointment with their reply and guess what....the same auto response with hyperlinks to information I already know😩. I’ll try again tomorrow.

burnleymik

I am having a complete nightmare with all this.
I was switched to BGE from Simplicity. Got the email on the 8th Feb to show my new tarriffs with BGE, which were not competitive, so I initiated a move to Peoples Energy. No problem so far. On the 15th feb I got an email from BGE to say my Direct Debit was being switched over from Simplicity to BGE. So, I contacted BGE CS and asked them not to take a direct debit, but to send me a bill as I had already initiated a move. They said they didn't have my DD information anyway. I got an email around the start of this month from peoples Energy saying I had been moved, gave meter readings and they took their first payment for my gas and electricity.

15th March my bank account shows my full Simplicity Direct Debit amount had been taken by BGE. I wasn't best pleased. I already had a +ve balance with Simplicity that I am struggling to chase up.

I got onto BGE because I have never given them permission to take a DD from my account and had explicitly asked for a bill. They were not interested and then I also find out that they allowed my switch of the Electricity supply to go to peoples energy, but objected to my Gas switch because they didn't have all the details from Simplicity. Not once throughout this whole thing did they inform me of that. I am now trying to chase up with peoples Energy to see why they are charging me for both gas and Electricity if they are not supplying me, but contact peoples energy is proving almost impossible. 

An absolute shambles from start to finish. We should never have been automatically switched and given the option to choose our own supplier.