British Gas removes guarantee dates from SoLR tariffs...

pochase

I don't see a court or Ofgem deciding so. Who made this decision?

MWT

paulbounty3 said:

British Gas must pay compensation over price guarantee shambles

 
Link: https://www.yourmoney.com/household-bills/british-gas-must-pay-compensation-over-price-guarantee-shambles

No, that is a misleading title, they want BG to pay compensation, but that is not their decision to make...

Gerry1

pochase said:

I don't see a court or Ofgem deciding so. Who made this decision?

It's not a decision, it 's a wish.

pochase

What I find "interesting" in the article is the poor pensioners where their son Brian gets 270£ based on his calculations awarded for them.

1. Who did award it? The most I have seen up to now were the 100£ Ofgem awarded and which is now used by BG themselves.
2. If they have 70£ more cost, they must have use in the region of 400KWh electricity per month and and 1400 KWh Gas per months, and that outside the heating period. That is based on the table below, which does not reflect the real increases and is just a quick and dirty check.

		Increase
Std Charge Electricity	91	25	£    22.75
Std Charge Gas	91	3	£       2.73
Gas	4200	3.5	£  147.00
Electricity	1200	8	£    96.00
			£  268.48

3. Why would BG go for assumptions, if they really pay the full difference it would be much easier to just charge for 3 months still the old rate.
4. While not impossible I think the above figures outside the heating period are extremely high for pensioners.

Mstty

I guess this is the dirty side of compensation?

Knowing you were getting cheap energy, too cheap from an unstable company (I did it too with Symbio) and then, knowing categorically from Ofgem that when you were moved to one of the Big 6 you would be on the capped standard rate. You go for the jugular for more money from a mistake in wording.

I just don't know it doesn't sit right with me.

brewerdave

Mstty said:

I guess this is the dirty side of compensation?

Knowing you were getting cheap energy, too cheap from an unstable company (I did it too with Symbio) and then, knowing categorically from Ofgem that when you were moved to one of the Big 6 you would be on the capped standard rate. You go for the jugular for more money from a mistake in wording.

I just don't know it doesn't sit right with me.

Did YOU get a personal communication from OFGEM ? No, thought not ! All we got were emails from BG welcoming us to a tariff with an end date of 31st July and with a guarantee til 31st July.
Been over this about 1000 times - I certainly made a decision not to attempt to move away on the basis of an offer (as I perceived it) of an extra 4 months at the October 21 capped rates, so I really don't care for your constant inferences that we are all chancers !!

Mstty

YES by law everyone was given the links to the Ofgem site explaining explicitly that any customer moved to Supplier Of Last Resort(SOLR) would be placed on the price capped standard variable tariff. This is what happened with me with Symbio by email,via letter and plastered all over their website front page.

As an example for some customers moved to British Gas they were directed here

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/ofgem-appoints-british-gas-take-customers-neon-reef-limited-and-social-energy-supply-ltd/

No doubt they made a mess up for wording it was ambiguous by Ofgem the people that protected your supply. When distributed to SOLR the terms were were crystal clear all users from a failed energy company move onto the price capped SVT.

As per the links posted above BG will claim this all off Ofgem and that will add a levy to the standing charges for everyone.

It is down to the conscience of the individual now.

MWT

Mstty said:

YES by law everyone was given the links to the Ofgem site explaining explicitly that any customer moved to Supplier Of Last Resort(SOLR) would be placed on the price capped standard variable tariff. This is what happened with me with Symbio by email,via letter and plastered all over their website front page.

Is this the part you are considering to be an explicit explanation that the customers would be placed on the capped standard variable tariff...?

If so then I'd have to agree with brewerdave, that is not what you claim it to be, it just confirms that the tariff they were to go on would be limited by the cap, it says nothing about the tariff beyond that...

On the flip side...

brewerdave said:

All we got were emails from BG welcoming us to a tariff with an end date of 31st July and with a guarantee til 31st July.

You missed out mentioning that the tariff was also described as 'variable' and with the tariff end date being the same as the guaranteed date the whole thing really made little sense...

I can certainly sympathise with those who really wanted it to be a fixed tariff but the language used was at best conflicting and certainly not definitive either way.

We've been talking on here about the confusion the wrong information on the tariff label was going to cause since it was first published and as predicted here we are...

BG certainly messed up, both on their external and internal communications and there will be a price to pay for that, but I would not assume that Ofgem are going to simply allow BG to recover the costs of those mistakes via the SoLR process.

jmsgld

This is copy and pasted from an e-mail I received from an individual in BG customer services

"As requested the following information is regarding the current unit rates and standing charge you are on as well as the new rates at the end of your current tariff. Just to reassure your current rates are locked in until the 30th of June 2022."

Please can you point out the ambiguity as I cannot quite see it. 

I have also checked my email form BG, and there is no link to ofgem, nor did I receive anything from them in the post. 

It is my opinion that everyone should take this to the ombudsman. 

MWT

jmsgld said:

This is copy and pasted from an e-mail I received from an individual in BG customer services

"As requested the following information is regarding the current unit rates and standing charge you are on as well as the new rates at the end of your current tariff. Just to reassure your current rates are locked in until the 30th of June 2022."

Please can you point out the ambiguity as I cannot quite see it. 

I have also checked my email form BG, and there is no link to ofgem, nor did I receive anything from them in the post. 

It is my opinion that everyone should take this to the ombudsman. 

It isn't ambiguous, it is wrong though, and yes BG are liable for the damage caused by the incorrect information.