MSE News: Igloo Energy, Symbio Energy and Enstroga cease trading

Threewheeler

Symbio notified me that they would take a payment on the 8th but today discovered that they took it yesterday, seven days early.
I have cancelled my d/d and asked for it to be refunded as I am already in credit on the last bill.

dbks

Threewheeler said:

Symbio notified me that they would take a payment on the 8th but today discovered that they took it yesterday, seven days early.
I have cancelled my d/d and asked for it to be refunded as I am already in credit on the last bill.

Previously posted, and responded to, here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6301615/symbio-direct-debits

Brewer21

brynhh said:

QrizB said:

brynhh said:

I didn't cancel my direct debit for Igloo as I saw conflicting advice some places saying cancel, some leave it. However the £120 has been taken out today, so am I right in saying I should be 120+whatever I was already in credit when the Ofgem-determined supplier takes over?

Your opening bill/statement from the SoLR should include all use and payments since your last Igloo bill. Some will be charged at Igloo's tariff, some at the SoLR's.

Great, thanks a lot, that's really useful to know what to expect so I'm not going to the solr with bad info.

I'll keep an eye out for that then as it should include the reading I took this week, the credit and the £120 from today.

Igloo are now asking for meter readings this weekend. I've just supplied them mine today.
I supplied readings  the day after they announced they have ceased trading (30th September) but they applied an estimated reading to my account. Anyways that estimated and the real world reading was actually pretty close. The app now shows my supplied reading of today 👍

JudgeDekker

MWT said:

InThrees said:

I'm therefore one of the people who is owed credit but won't be moved to a SOLR, so I'm not expecting a straightforward situation when it comes to receiving my credit, unless I'm being unduly pessimistic?  

You are being unduly pessimistic.

All customer accounts, current and former, are handed over to the SoLR.

It will take a while to sort out your refund, but you will get it, probably not until after Christmas though.

It's not quite as straightforward as that, in my opinion. Yes, you will get a refund and all your credit balance is safe and protected, and yes it is likely to take quite a while. But if there's any problems with how the administrator calculates the money the old supplier owes you, ie they use the wrong meter reading, or the wrong tariff or something, there's nothing you can do and no-one you can complain to. And the administrator knows that.

oldagetraveller1

Brewer21 said:

brynhh said:

QrizB said:

brynhh said:

I didn't cancel my direct debit for Igloo as I saw conflicting advice some places saying cancel, some leave it. However the £120 has been taken out today, so am I right in saying I should be 120+whatever I was already in credit when the Ofgem-determined supplier takes over?

Your opening bill/statement from the SoLR should include all use and payments since your last Igloo bill. Some will be charged at Igloo's tariff, some at the SoLR's.

Great, thanks a lot, that's really useful to know what to expect so I'm not going to the solr with bad info.

I'll keep an eye out for that then as it should include the reading I took this week, the credit and the £120 from today.

Igloo are now asking for meter readings this weekend. I've just supplied them mine today.
I supplied readings  the day after they announced they have ceased trading (30th September) but they applied an estimated reading to my account. Anyways that estimated and the real world reading was actually pretty close. The app now shows my supplied reading of today 👍

Submitted mine earlier. I did enter readings on the 1st too (1988). The estimated in my account was also accurate, give or take a few tenths. However, their estimate (gas cubic ft.) was 1988.9 and my reading today, 1990. An immediate warning came up asking if that was correct because my consumption seems excessive?

spot1034

If there isn't an announcement about a SOLR for even one of these companies today, I think we can assume that Ofgem are having some difficulty in persuading anyone to take the job on!

TeeKay63

Symbio took my DD on Friday 1st October, but I thought they'd ceased trading?

The accompanying bill they sent me (yesterday) includes a standing charge for the whole of October.
I'm not unduly worried about losing money when the SOLR gets appointed but I was wondering why Symbio are entitled to bill me and take the money for a period they know they won't be supplying me energy for.

spot1034

TeeKay63 said:

Symbio took my DD on Friday 1st October, but I thought they'd ceased trading?

The accompanying bill they sent me (yesterday) includes a standing charge for the whole of October.
I'm not unduly worried about losing money when the SOLR gets appointed but I was wondering why Symbio are entitled to bill me and take the money for a period they know they won't be supplying me energy for.

It has been the same for several companies. The DD would have been requested and in the banking system before the announcement of their demise, and in fact they are still our supplier at this moment as a SOLR has yet to be appointed. They won't have their licence revoked until someone is lined up to replace them.

jbuchanangb

Most energy companies bill in arrears using consumption amounts derived from customer meter readings, smart meters, rarely an meter reading from a meter reader, or from estimates. Symbio were unusual in that they billed in advance each month for the number of days in the month and an estimate of the energy to be consumed in that month. Each bill included a correction for the previous month's actual consumption against the estimate. Like others I have received my October bill, with the correction for the actual September consumption, and the estimate for October.

In my case I have paid them more in direct debits then the total charges for energy up to end September, so I have a credit with them, and have cancelled my DD, but because they have billed to end October, their billing system considers that I have a debit. It remains to be seen what meter reading the SOLR will request from Symbio customers. Ideally it will be the 30 September reading as used by Symbio in their October bill, but if they ask for a reading this coming week, then that can be factored into the charges due to Symbio, based on the date and the reading. I cannot believe that the SOLR will base the transfer on 31 October and accept Symbio's estimated usage figures for October!

MWT

TeeKay63 said:

Symbio took my DD on Friday 1st October, but I thought they'd ceased trading?

It is an odd technicality of being an energy supplier that the company is not allowed to cease trading and appoint administrators without the approval of Ofgem.

That approval is only given once a SoLR has been appointed...