Peoples Energy credit on account

suryemist

I was previously a Peoples energy customer. At the end of August, I received confirmation from them that I was in credit by £178 or thereabouts. Following that, I made two further payments of £80. One on the 1st Sep and one on the 1st Oct.

My usage costs continued to be lower than my monthly payments, so my credit balance will have increased to more than previously confirmed.

When PE ceased trading, I was assured my credit would be protected when my account was switched to British Gas.

My account was automatically switched to British Gas and I provided opening meter readings to them; however, as I have had problems with British gas in the past, I quickly made arrangements to move to another supplier, Utility warehouse.

I have just paid my final bill to them (I know prices have gone up but for the short period I have been with them, it amounted to £121.69!) but when I queried my credit balance from Peoples Energy, they said I had to get in touch with them - they even gave me a number to ring.

I've just tried to contact the number which had an automated voicemail advising to contact the customer services email.

I have done that too but have received another automated message advising me no one is there and that administrators have taken over.

Should I write off my credit balance now (probably £220 or so) or is it worth pursuing and if so how?

Thanks in advance.

razord

British Gas will be in touch once they've received the money from the other company's administrators - which hasn't happened yet.

Have you had a final bill form People's Energy yet confirming your final credit balance?

PFP (which went under a week or two before People's energy) haven't even produced final bills yet (and won't until January, it seems) so it could be another few months before British Gas get details of the credits that need to be applied to accounts - or sent by cheque to those who left.

MWT

suryemist said:

...but when I queried my credit balance from Peoples Energy, they said I had to get in touch with them - they even gave me a number to ring.

This is incorrect, unfortunately the CS staff are not well briefed on the SoLR process.

It will take a while, but eventually BG will make the refund to you.

wild666

When you know your energy supplier has gone under take a meter reading and then take one ASAP from when the SoLR takes over they should tell you the prices that they are charging, normally before the date they take over by email. You can then work out your usage from either the failed company or the SolR if leaving them. The SoLR should put you on a tariff that is near the SVR, not one of their fixed rates neither should they tell the person they have agreed to a smart meter if the person doesn't have one.

Doing this would allow the person to calculate their bills and raise a concern if the readings that the failed supplier over estimates the final reading or the new supplier says the person has used more electric/gas when they leave the SoLR. 

SaverRate

suryemist said:

I was previously a Peoples energy customer. At the end of August, I received confirmation from them that I was in credit by £178 or thereabouts. Following that, I made two further payments of £80. One on the 1st Sep and one on the 1st Oct.

My usage costs continued to be lower than my monthly payments, so my credit balance will have increased to more than previously confirmed.

When PE ceased trading, I was assured my credit would be protected when my account was switched to British Gas.

My account was automatically switched to British Gas and I provided opening meter readings to them; however, as I have had problems with British gas in the past, I quickly made arrangements to move to another supplier, Utility warehouse.

I have just paid my final bill to them (I know prices have gone up but for the short period I have been with them, it amounted to £121.69!) but when I queried my credit balance from Peoples Energy, they said I had to get in touch with them - they even gave me a number to ring.

I've just tried to contact the number which had an automated voicemail advising to contact the customer services email.

I have done that too but have received another automated message advising me no one is there and that administrators have taken over.

Should I write off my credit balance now (probably £220 or so) or is it worth pursuing and if so how?

Thanks in advance.

Have you had your final People's Energy bill, if so how did you get it? (interested as an ex PE customer) or do you mean a British Gas final bill?

QrizB

suryemist said:

When PE ceased trading, I was assured my credit would be protected when my account was switched to British Gas.

My account was automatically switched to British Gas and I provided opening meter readings to them; however, as I have had problems with British gas in the past, I quickly made arrangements to move to another supplier, Utility warehouse.

I have just paid my final bill to them (I know prices have gone up but for the short period I have been with them, it amounted to £121.69!) but when I queried my credit balance from Peoples Energy, they said I had to get in touch with them - they even gave me a number to ring.

Should I write off my credit balance now (probably £220 or so) or is it worth pursuing and if so how?

This is one of the problems that can occur with switching away from the SoLR - in your case BG - before the transfer is complete.

Your PE credit will be applied to your BG account. If you'd stayed with BG, it would then have been there as a credit and you could have reduced your BG payments accordingly. BG might even have held off billing you until the PE credit was applied.

As you've switched away to UW, you'll have to wait until your credit is given to BG and then, hopefully, bG will be in tough to refund it to you. There's no point chasing it up until other PE customers report getting theirs since this could take weeks or months. In the meantime you don't have the benefit of the credit and have to pay UW.

badmemory

They have over £300 of mine.  I also have a total lack of faith in british gas's competence, so this is developing into a serious worry.  I fully expect them to lose my money.  Can you tell I have been with BG before?

QrizB

badmemory said:

Can you tell I have been with BG before?

I was with BG before, for a year on a fixed-rate tariff. Despite me sublitting meter readings regularly they failed to bill me for the whole year then failed to catch up with me for another year after that, so that year's energy was free

suryemist

badmemory said:

They have over £300 of mine.  I also have a total lack of faith in british gas's competence, so this is developing into a serious worry.  I fully expect them to lose my money.  Can you tell I have been with BG before?

yes I can understand your frustration with BG.  I was at war with them years ago when after shopping around for suppliers, they continued to try and bill me for over a year. I ended up getting the ombudsman involved and it was eventually resolved.

suryemist

HarryDavies01 said:

suryemist said:

I was previously a Peoples energy customer. At the end of August, I received confirmation from them that I was in credit by £178 or thereabouts. Following that, I made two further payments of £80. One on the 1st Sep and one on the 1st Oct.

My usage costs continued to be lower than my monthly payments, so my credit balance will have increased to more than previously confirmed.

When PE ceased trading, I was assured my credit would be protected when my account was switched to British Gas.

My account was automatically switched to British Gas and I provided opening meter readings to them; however, as I have had problems with British gas in the past, I quickly made arrangements to move to another supplier, Utility warehouse.

I have just paid my final bill to them (I know prices have gone up but for the short period I have been with them, it amounted to £121.69!) but when I queried my credit balance from Peoples Energy, they said I had to get in touch with them - they even gave me a number to ring.

I've just tried to contact the number which had an automated voicemail advising to contact the customer services email.

I have done that too but have received another automated message advising me no one is there and that administrators have taken over.

Should I write off my credit balance now (probably £220 or so) or is it worth pursuing and if so how?

Thanks in advance.

Have you had your final People's Energy bill, if so how did you get it? (interested as an ex PE customer) or do you mean a British Gas final bill?

I don't think I got a final bill from them at all.  That said, as I mentioned, the PDF statement of my account from the end of August and I was paying a set amount on direct debit (£80) and made two further payments after the statement was produced. 
Since moving to them, I've kept a spreadsheet, including dates and meter readings (with formula's built in to calculate exactly how much I should be paying), so I know my credit should be in the region of £212 or thereabouts (I have a roof full of solar panels!).
As soon as I was switched to BG, I submitted at least three sets of meter readings to both suppliers until my final reading when I moved to Utility Warehouse.
I'm fortunate in that I don't desperately need the refund of my credit but thanks to this forum, I feel a little more optimistic that I will get it back eventually!

badmemory

I got my last bill on 13 Sept as I always put my readings in on the 13th of the month.  I still had access to my account last week & the balance is reducing by a small amount every day.  But & it is a big but, the DD they took on the 20th Sept still doesn't show.