Out Fox The Market Refuse Credit Refund

Adeegee

I switched to Out Fox The Market from Bulb in May with a monthly direct debit set at £119. In September they hiked up the DD to £170 claiming that it wasn't covering my estimated annual usage. My account is now over £350 in credit and given we are about half way through winter, they got that wrong. I have tried twice tried to obtain a credit refund which they have flatly refused to do. On the first occasssion they would only agree to reduce my DD to £164.  On my second attempt they again would only agree to a further reduction of my DD to £155. Their grounds for not refunding any of the credit is that we are apparently now, at the end of December, moving into winter and the credit is needed to support higher winter usage. My December usage was £15 above my current DD and it doesn't take a maths genius to work out how many months my credit balance would last at that rate of usage. I plan to take this to the Ombudsman but don't anticipate a quick resolution either way. However I wondered what would would happen if I cancelled my DD as my credit balalnce would be sufficient to cover the next two months usgae so there is no way I would be defaulting on payment. I wondered whether anyone had tried doing this?
Thanks

Merlin139

You can cancel your DD but OFTM will probably charge you £25 per month for not having an active DD. Not allowed but it will say they can in their T&C's 

If your December usage is £15 above your DD amount it may increase dramatically if we have a cold 3 months. Think how warm December has been.

Have you been living in the same property for more than 2 years? What have OFTM said is your AEC (Annual Estimated Consumption) is per fuel? Do you like like you are on track to use that much energy?

The information you have given does not provide enough to correctly tell you what to do. I myself would raise a complaint with them about the fact they have not refunded any of your credit. At the 8 week point escalate to OFGEM. Or if you are getting nowhere with your complaint request a deadlock letter then complain to OFGEM. 

Gerry1

Merlin139 said:

At the 8 week point escalate to OFGEM. Or if you are getting nowhere with your complaint request a deadlock letter then complain to OFGEM.

The Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

MWT

Adeegee said:

...My account is now over £350 in credit and given we are about half way through winter, they got that wrong. I have tried twice tried to obtain a credit refund which they have flatly refused to do. ...

...My December usage was £15 above my current DD and it doesn't take a maths genius to work out how many months my credit balance would last at that rate of usage...

You may have good grounds for a compliant, but it is always good to get all the information lined up ready for taking it to the Ombudsman...

If your balance is currently £350 as of today, what date will your next bill be deducted from this balance and on what date will the next DD be added to the balance?

Merlin139

Gerry1 said:

Merlin139 said:

At the 8 week point escalate to OFGEM. Or if you are getting nowhere with your complaint request a deadlock letter then complain to OFGEM.

The Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

Ofgem is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. This is the Energy Ombudsman.   https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/making-complaint-about-your-energy-supplier-or-network-operator

Adeegee

Thanks Merlin139, I hadn't read their T&C's in detail but it does mention the £25 charge for not having a DD in place, whether allowed or not. I joined OFTM in June so have 6 months of usage data which works out to be 2356 kWh electricity and 3904 kWh gas. Their AEC is 5623 kWh electricity and 12968 kWh gas. Looks like I'll have to wait 8 weeks in any case before I can escalate to OFGEM so will see how thing look at end of February. Thanks for your response.

Merlin139

Adeegee said:

Thanks Merlin139, I hadn't read their T&C's in detail but it does mention the £25 charge for not having a DD in place, whether allowed or not. I joined OFTM in June so have 6 months of usage data which works out to be 2356 kWh electricity and 3904 kWh gas. Their AEC is 5623 kWh electricity and 12968 kWh gas. Looks like I'll have to wait 8 weeks in any case before I can escalate to OFGEM so will see how thing look at end of February. Thanks for your response.

Try this link:

https://www.resolver.co.uk/en-GB/

That will produce a much quicker response from OFTM. Resolver is recommended on the OFGEM website.

 

Gerry1

Merlin139 said:

Gerry1 said:

Merlin139 said:

At the 8 week point escalate to OFGEM. Or if you are getting nowhere with your complaint request a deadlock letter then complain to OFGEM.

The Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

Ofgem is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. This is the Energy Ombudsman.   https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/making-complaint-about-your-energy-supplier-or-network-operator

Not sure what point you're making.  Are you disagreeing that the OP would need to contact the Energy Ombudsman?

Ofgem's powers mean that they can’t investigate or help with individual complaints about energy companies.

Adeegee

Thanks, will give resolver a go.

MWT said:

Adeegee said:

...My account is now over £350 in credit and given we are about half way through winter, they got that wrong. I have tried twice tried to obtain a credit refund which they have flatly refused to do. ...

...My December usage was £15 above my current DD and it doesn't take a maths genius to work out how many months my credit balance would last at that rate of usage...

You may have good grounds for a compliant, but it is always good to get all the information lined up ready for taking it to the Ombudsman...

If your balance is currently £350 as of today, what date will your next bill be deducted from this balance and on what date will the next DD be added to the balance?

The next DD will be added on 13th January and the next bill will be 19th January.

MWT

Adeegee said:

Thanks, will give resolver a go.

MWT said:

Adeegee said:

...My account is now over £350 in credit and given we are about half way through winter, they got that wrong. I have tried twice tried to obtain a credit refund which they have flatly refused to do. ...

...My December usage was £15 above my current DD and it doesn't take a maths genius to work out how many months my credit balance would last at that rate of usage...

You may have good grounds for a compliant, but it is always good to get all the information lined up ready for taking it to the Ombudsman...

If your balance is currently £350 as of today, what date will your next bill be deducted from this balance and on what date will the next DD be added to the balance?

The next DD will be added on 13th January and the next bill will be 19th January.

Perfect, then you can make the point that you have more than a month in hand at all times and there should be no reason not to refund at least the amount over and above a month.

wild666

Add a months DD to the total credit then take your energy usage for January away from the total credit. At this point you will see how much your credit balance will possibly decrease in the next few months. 
Energy firms take DD payments about a week before the reading date, that's what Avro did, so you have at least two months payments in your account when the bill is produced and the amount is taken from the DD payments. As an example, if your DD is £100 and you have £350 credit they should refund £250 then another DD payment is taken a week before the reading putting £200 in the account and that should cover the bill.