SSE gas billing discrepancies

jbuchanangb

I used CEC to switch my gas to SSE, and the process is well advanced. SSE sent me a Welcome Pack on 18 March confirming that the tariff would be 3.04p/kwh inc.VAT. The tariff name is "Online Energy v10"

I have received the first bill, covering the period 1 April to 24 May.

I noticed three discrepancies.

(1) Opening Reading is estimated, and 10 units (m3) less than the closing reading used by Scottish Power from the smart meter.

(2) Closing reading is estimated, and 56 units (m3) more than the current reading.

(3) The unit rate charged is 3.11p/kwh not 3.04p/kwh as quoted on the welcome pack.

Does anyone know whether their e-mail address 'customerservices@sse.co.uk' is suitable for communicating with them? Or am I compelled to phone them about this stuff.

Robin9

(1) Did you give SSE readings ? They will not have used the Smart readings. They appear to be within the accepted tolerances of the mystery independent body
(2) Again did you give SSE readings - if not SSE will be guessing.  Do you give them reads on their dashboard/portal ?
(3)  You need to contact them re the tariff rate.

niktheguru

Pretty much all the above. Contact them by phone if you want an immediate answer. If they don't sort it then email them, if that doesn't sort it send a complaint.
I hope youve kept your actual opening and closing readings, you can give them again and your bill can be corrected. Or you can just give evidence of your estimated closing reading from your previous supplier so at least you are not double paying.

Reed_Richards

Just to be absolutely clear, it is the responsibility of the receiving supplier (SSE here) to handle the transfer.  And they have to do this at a stage when they don't have access to your smart meter so they must  go by whatever reading you gave them.  But the public is not trusted to be accurate or honest in this process so whatever readings are available must be passed to an independent adjudicator who may make an adjustment.  The reading determined by the adjudicator must then be used by both the receiving and terminating supplier (so the latter might send you a revised "final" bill).  

[Deleted User]

This graphic explains the transfer process:

As stated above, the gaining supplier manages the transfer of supply and the New Supplier Metering Agent is responsible for validating the opening/closing reads. The validated readings are passed back to the new supplier and the Old Supplier Metering Agent to close and open accounts.

The readings should be within industry tolerances:

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/switching-suppliers-144/my-opening-meter-reading-is-within-tolerance-what-does-this-mean-1690

If not, then the suppliers will get into an Agreed Readings Dispute. 

A final point. For security reasons, only one supplier has access to your smart meters and the data. Before the new supplier can access your meter, the DCC has to confirm the transfer of supply, and the gaining supplier has to send its bespoke security certificates to each meter. These certificates are part of the GCHQ-level layered security that stops all other parties from accessing your smart meters.

Robin9

@jbuchanangb  Are you by any chance thinking that just because it say Smart on the label it's Smart inside and that it was Smart it will be with SSE ?

It may be but don't rely on it. 

 One day............ perhaps 

jbuchanangb

As regards the opening reading, I submitted it on SSE's portal, and although shown on the bill as an estimate, I think it is the number I gave them. Scottish Power used their Smart Meter reading 10 units higher. I assume that these are within the industry tolerance, and can live with it.

Every time I log on to SSE to enter a meter reading I reach a screen which says "we already know your reading because you have a smart meter". In spite of this the bill they have generated is an estimate, not based on the smart meter. There is a cumbersome method to enter a reading manually, but this involves entering full name and address details as if you are not logged onto your account. I did submit a reading using this mechanism on 29 May, but when the bill arrived on 2 June, the period covered was up to 24 May.

Their closing estimate is 56 units above that reading and the reading has not changed since then, because my central heating is off and solar thermal is dealing with the hot water. I don't expect to consume any gas until September.

I have sent them an email to customerservices@sse.co.uk, which is the address from which the bill notification was sent, but I do not know whether they accept email enquiries.

I will give them a week or so to see if they reply, and if not I will reluctantly phone them. 

niktheguru

I really don’t understand why everyone is so reluctant to call the companies when there is a problem. Often the problem can get fixed extremely quickly. If you speak to someone who doesn’t have a clue then by all means email or then go through the complaint route…..it just seems people want to use email then complain things are taking a long time, when there is usually a quicker fix. Just my 2 pence.

jbuchanangb

Pros and cons of email versus calling, in my experience.

With email I can set out the nature of the concern clearly, at my convenience, and I have a timestamped written record. With phone I call a number, often chargeable, and wait up to an hour before eventually speaking to someone who doesn't understand the problem, fails to fix it, and about which event there is no written record. I am new to SSE, so I am taking the most cautious route by sending an email. I do not know yet whether SSE monitor their customer services email address, or whether it is a dead-letter box. I will find out within a week.

niktheguru

I've gotta say its pretty poor that a big energy company is still using the pandemic as an excuse over 14 months on for only dealing with "vulnerable and priority" customers. Surely all these companies have had enough time now to develop mechanisms to serve their customers.

Just looking at the sse website there's not even an easily available email address. Really quite poor. Don't understand why anyone would pay this premium in price for such poor service.

Gerry1

SSE's customer service was so bad that they had to agree that you can go to the ombudsman after six weeks instead of the usual eight, so it's official that they're bad !