MSE News: Yorkshire Energy customers furious over Scottish Power switch delays

[Deleted User]

Got to say that the thing that drew my attention was this gem in this MSE article

Ofgem advises customers to wait until they've transferred over to Scottish Power and received their credit refund before switching away to a cheaper tariff elsewhere. It says if you switch away before receiving a credit refund, the process of getting credit back becomes more complicated.

Wow never seen this referenced in any Ofgem article relating to the YE to SP (Ofgem SOLR switch) - does it exist?  Because I cannot see anything to this effect.  Surely this cannot be right?  Not that it matters to me as I have already left Scottish Power(2nd February) to Avro.  I am now in the twilight zone whereby I am already paying my new supplier but the old one (Scottish Power) is yet to take a DD (set up in early December) although they have given me what they think is my final bill!  No sign of the credit refund yet but am not expecting it to appear before March at the earliest!

This is what SP state on their website for YE customers

If you are owed money because your Yorkshire Energy account was in credit, please don’t worry. Once we receive your meter readings, we’ll work closely with Yorkshire Energy to ensure your account with them is closed down properly and any remaining credit balance is added to your new ScottishPower account or issued to you by cheque.

prccbc

Hi This is the email I received on 26 January but no further news since then other than my account with S P has been set up.

Your final bill from Yorkshire Energy

Dear Peter,

Since we took over your energy supply from Yorkshire Energy on the 6th December 2020, we've been working with them to ensure the smooth transition of your account to ScottishPower. We're getting in touch to keep you updated on your final bill from Yorkshire Energy and any outstanding credit balance you are due.

Please be assured, ScottishPower will honour any credit balance you had with Yorkshire Energy.

Next steps

Yorkshire Energy's administrators are making good progress in calculating your final bill and will send this to you as soon as possible. If there is a credit due to you, as soon as we receive the information from Yorkshire Energy, we'll write to you confirming the value. We'll ensure the credit is applied to your ScottishPower account or sent to you by cheque (if you have since left us), so you don't need to do anything at this stage.

Thank you for your patience.

Lynda Clayton

UK Customer Services Director

nyermen

For those of us moved over to SP from Tonik when they went under, we understand.  Tonik into administration on 12th October 2020.  I got an email 5th Feb apology about the delay - subject "your tariff details will be with you as soon as possible" - stilll working cloely with tonik energy (administrators presumably?) to complete the transfer process.
As I owed tonik energy a little (<£50) at the time, apparently I'm still not allowed to switch, which quite frankly sounds borderline on the same word used by the trip advisor reviewer who got successfully sued.

brewerdave

nyermen said:

For those of us moved over to SP from Tonik when they went under, we understand.  Tonik into administration on 12th October 2020.  I got an email 5th Feb apology about the delay - subject "your tariff details will be with you as soon as possible" - stilll working cloely with tonik energy (administrators presumably?) to complete the transfer process.
As I owed tonik energy a little (<£50) at the time, apparently I'm still not allowed to switch, which quite frankly sounds borderline on the same word used by the trip advisor reviewer who got successfully sued.

Surely you are listed with the distribution cos. as a customer of SP even if your Tonik account isn't finalised? I've been thru 4 SOLR processes and in every case I moved on ,once the SOLR was listed ,regardless of whether I was owed credit or I owed money..

Herbalus

The new contract on SP is not actually that much more expensive than the YE one, and is the one of the cheapest SP tariff they do. Just sit tight and they will get round to it.

the SP tariff for switched YE customers is fixed until June so there is plenty of time. They are busy, just go and make a cup of tea and do something else. There’s plenty more in life to be furious about. 

MSE_Helen_K

Verdigris said:

I still haven't been contacted by SP. I'd left YE and my final credit calculated before it ceased trading. All I require is a cheque from SP.

PS: The link in the OP doesn't go anywhere.

That link is now fixed - apologies, and thanks for flagging! 
Also listed here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/02/former-yorkshire-energy-customers-furious-over-scottish-power-ta/

Einst

[Deleted User] said:

Wow never seen this referenced in any Ofgem article relating to the YE to SP (Ofgem SOLR switch) - does it exist?  Because I cannot see anything to this effect.  Surely this cannot be right?  Not that it matters to me as I have already left Scottish Power(2nd February) to Avro.  I am now in the twilight zone whereby I am already paying my new supplier but the old one (Scottish Power) is yet to take a DD (set up in early December) although they have given me what they think is my final bill!  No sign of the credit refund yet but am not expecting it to appear before March at the earliest!

I too switched away from YE as soon as I got the first email from SP notifying me of them being appointed....
No way was I having anything to do with them, so put in a switch asap.
It took about 26 days to switch to the new supplier, and I worked out my bill as if I was still on my fixed contract with YE, from the date of my last bill, up to the switching date.. and also worked out what it would have cost, should the account have been setup with SP...  over the 26 days, I have saved over £80 on the difference in tariffs....  WOW !
As I had a healthy credit balance, it leaves just over £7 to pay.. (SP did tell me they would honour the YE tariff) but if they welch on the deal and charge me an extra £80, they ain't getting it.

The advice from OFGEM and MSE to remain is wrong... the advice should have been switch ASAP, or suffer SP woes and tariffs.

agsteele

I've had an open account with Scottish Power for three weeks now.  They explained that there was no direct debit in January and I should consider paying a manual transaction for that month. The February direct debit went out to plan.  The admininstrators of Yorkshire Energy are the ones to 'blame' for the delay in refunds.  I got my final bill from Yorkshire Energy yesterday stating that the credit would either be added to my Scottish Power account or refunded by Scottish Power.

Am I angry? Not at all.

clive764

I note the advice not to move suppliers until the credit is refunded or transferred to the Scottish Power account but this is nearly 3 months in the making now which has meant missing out on alternative tariffs from other suppilers which have now been withdrawn.
I have telephoned Scottish Power Customer Service (sic) many times only to be met with a plethora of different implausible excuses, which really are not my problem. If Green Energy/EDF can be as efficient as it seems, then there is no excuse for the delay with Scottish Power.
When I finally received the new tariff details from Scottish Power I initiated a comparison search and I am in the process of moving to So Energy on a two year fix cheaper than the allocated Scottish power tariff.
Because I do not trust Scottish Power to get things right and I have no confidence in them or their processes I have cancelled my Direct Debit, notified this to them in writing and stated that I will pay the final bill with a one-off payment, but I will not pay until the account credit is either included in this final bill or refunded to me in some other way.

joineduptech

Just been notified of my final bill by YE. They have billed from 28/11/2021 to 05/12/2021 at increased prices (I was on a variable tariff). I thought they had to give advanced notice of price increases! Not worth arguing about as difference is small. SP Energy Exclusive is currently cheapest for Economy 7. Nearly changed to Green Energy a month ago!!!