TOGETHER ENERGY TRADING AS BRISTOL ENERGY, WANT TO PUT MY D.D. UP BY 50% EVEN THOUGH I'M AHEAD

JULIANTHEBARBARIAN

I'm on a fixed rate deal with Bristol Energy, a trading name of Together Energy. Today they emailed to say that they want to put my DD up by about 50% (from about £80 to £140) even though I'm about £500 in credit (though with a bill due) and I'm on a fixed tariff, so the cost of the energy itself will not go up. I think this has nothing to do with my account and everything to do with their financial problems. I read recently in "Private Eye" that Together is only staying in business by hanging onto money it had collected and should have passed on to fund green power projects. So - what are my rights if they go ahead and take what I'm sure is much more money than they can justify in terms of my account itself? In normal times I'd flounce off to another supplier but as I'm on a 3 year fix I want to stay on it for as long as possible, which probably means "for as long as Together stays in business".

emmajones1976

I suspect you wont be making another payment to this company again anyway, so its moot. Just be prepared for the increase in unit rate which is coming round the corner, the new company wont be taking into account your £500 credit as that will take months to filter through.

JJ_Egan

You are entitled to ask for a refund on your excess credit .

Personally i would ask for £300- £400 now .

ihatetrump

before parting with any more of your hard earned cash, you might want to read this:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6324111/together-energy-update-sky-news

Looks like they won't be around very much longer and you should do all you can to make sure you owe them than the other way aound.

JULIANTHEBARBARIAN

Thank you very much, ihatetrump! (I hate Trump too, by the way).

spot1034

JJ_Egan said:

You are entitled to ask for a refund on your excess credit .

Personally i would ask for £300- £400 now .

No harm in asking but I doubt it will produce a result.

I would suggest that in some cases the SOLR process has been considerably more efficient at returning outstanding funds to customers (and sometimes even ex-customers) than trying to get the money back directly from a supplier in difficulty.

worrywart_3

If you have £500 in credit I wouldn’t be increasing at all, is the tarrif reliant on being paid by direct debit if not I would cancel it and use my credit to pay the bills I pressume you have rung them and asked for your credit to be returned? And queried the increase? How long are you fixed for? 

Xbigman

It's a shame but it does look like they are going under. Possibly as early as the 19th Jan I should think. Not many will shed a tear for Together but Bristol had reasonable prices and decent customer service. Plus, for me at least, they are a local company. 

The big question is what will happen next. With a lot of the big players saying they can't absorb more customers who is going to take on 150,000 loss making accounts? Are we looking at special administration or maybe the worst of all outcomes, SoLR to Bulb as only a govt. backed supplier can take them?

Darren

PennyForThem_2

When did you give them a reading from gas/elec meter?