Cannot get my money back from SSE

fifitrixibel666

I switched energy providers last month as according to SSE's online account information I was in credit by approximately £400.  They wouldn't return it so I switched providers. According to Uswitch my money would be returned when my final bill was paid. It hasnt been. I phoned them again and they're now saying they owe me £189 and would return it. This was last week and they've not returned my money.
Please advise

Robin9

SSE's online info can be misleading.   Your £400 would have been the balance from the previous bill plus and DD's received. It does NOT include the cost of energy hence the £189 figure.

When was the switch completed ?

macman

They have 6 weeks to produce a final billing. 'Last month', even if 1/5/21, wasn't 6 weeks ago.

MWT

I've recently been through a switch from SSE for one of my relatives.

When you get the final bill from them the payment date for anything they owe to you will be shown on the bill...

So the timeline was as follows:

Actual switch date:  13th April

Final bill date: 22nd April

Refund date : 6th May

That was a switch to Octopus and they were very prompt in dealing with the final reading.

Another supplier might take longer of course...

phillw

Robin9 said:

SSE's online info can be misleading.   Your £400 would have been the balance from the previous bill plus and DD's received. It does NOT include the cost of energy hence the £189 figure.

I don't understand why they don't include estimated energy usage when displaying balances online, or just take the stupid things off as they are pretty meaningless.

MWT

phillw said:

Robin9 said:

SSE's online info can be misleading.   Your £400 would have been the balance from the previous bill plus and DD's received. It does NOT include the cost of energy hence the £189 figure.

I don't understand why they don't include estimated energy usage when displaying balances online, or just take the stupid things off as they are pretty meaningless.

I really don't see the problem, they accurately show how much you have built up ready to pay the next quarterly bill.

Estimates are more likely to be misleading than letting you do your own calculations since you can take your own meter reading any time you want...

phillw

MWT said:
I really don't see the problem, they accurately show how much you have built up ready to pay the next quarterly bill.

Estimates are more likely to be misleading than letting you do your own calculations since you can take your own meter reading any time you want...

Quarterly bill? My monthly bill is produced on the 26th and the direct debit is taken on the 1st. So for most of the month the balance is meaningless.
The balance of the last statement is more useful.

MWT

Doesn't matter what period you have your billing over, it is hardly 'meaningless' it tells you the same thing monthly or quarterly, it is the total you have ready to pay your next bill.... You know what your last bill came to so you have a good idea if you have enough or not...

Deducting an estimated amount from the actual total is more likely to increase confusion than reduce it...

[Deleted User]

phillw said:

Robin9 said:

SSE's online info can be misleading.   Your £400 would have been the balance from the previous bill plus and DD's received. It does NOT include the cost of energy hence the £189 figure.

I don't understand why they don't include estimated energy usage when displaying balances online, or just take the stupid things off as they are pretty meaningless.

Sadly, there are too many consumers who haven’t latched on to the simple fact that a credit/debit balance is only valid provided it is based on an actual meter reading, and then only on the day that the meter reading was taken.