Energy Administration charging me for 11k units extra on final bill and refuse to amend

pyrobri

Hi,
So recently I was moved to EON Next from Symbio energy after they went bust.
Before the company ceased trading I tried to move to Neon Reef but the switch was halted by Symbio due to an outstanding amount.
I looked in to this and discovered the on a previous switch from Igloo our meter reading was incorrectly assigned from Igloo to the tune of about 11k units too much.
I had correctly Igloo at the time of that switch and they had issued a new bill which I always assumed Symbio had then used but it appears they hadn't and their administrators are now trying to charge me that additional amount!
I had all the evidence set with Symbio before the company actually folded and Symbio were about to adjust out billing to reflect the mistakes but they didn't do it in time.
I have since provided the case number which shows all the conversation and also provided all the same evidence to the administrators but they insist that they cannot amend bills and want to charge me £1,800. I stated that I will not be paying this extra 11k charge which amount to around £1k worth and that I can afford to pay the rest back at around £100 month. They just keep refusing and telling me that I need to pay the full amount and the maximum I can spread it over is 3 months at over £600/mo which is just ridiculous.
I contacted Ofgem about this a couple of weeks back but no response so far.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience like this where we are now dealing with administrators instead of the original company and what rights I have in this situation?
Anyone I should talk to or any avenue to explore?

CHeers

MWT

I just want to be sure I have understood the details correctly, as if the initial meter reading was increased by 11,000 units you would have had no bills to pay for quite some time when you moved to Symbio, and would have built up quite a large balance on your account, if you were paying via DD, that should have been obvious at the time.

If that is correct, and you do not appear to be suggesting that you do not owe the money, then regrettably, I don't think there is much that can be done to help you.

What happened to the large balance you would have had on your account, was it refunded to you?

The administrators are not bound by the rules of the supply licence and neither Ofgem (which doesn't handle individual cases) nor the Ombudsman are going to be able to help.

The administrators are obliged to recover the money owed to the company and cannot enter into a lengthy payment plan as they must conclude the affairs of the company in a timely manner, hence the 3 month limit.

Petriix

Ultimately they would have to pursue you in court if you refused to pay so, if you're certain that your numbers add up, you should be able to win without much difficulty.

The first thing is to make absolutely sure that your accounts with the other suppliers are fully correct. You say that you got an updated bill from Igloo so that's likely correct. Have Eon Next used the real reading to open your account or have they gone with a massively incorrect Symbio reading?

It's really not clear exactly what's occurred because, as @MWT says, if the Symbio start reading was *higher* than reality then you bill from them would be *lower* not higher.

Perhaps you can elucidate by clarifying:
Actual Symbio start reading
False start reading Symbio have used
Actual Symbio end reading
False end reading Symbio have used
Reading Eon Next have used.

Then we can help figure out what to do.

In the long run, the more units that you end up paying for at Symbio's low prices, the better off you'll be. As long as you only end up paying once for each unit, you might be better off keeping quiet and just settling with Symbio's administrators. But we won't know for sure until you fully explain the situation.

pyrobri

So Igloo's system basically kept refusing my manual meter reads because it insisted they were too high and kept falling back to an estimated one.
When we moved over to Symbio they sent this far lower opening meter read.
I got Igloo to correct their meter read and we paid up the difference to them.
Symbio however kept this low meter read.
They then continued to ignore my manual meter reads right from the opening of the account and used estimates based on the low read they were fed from Igloo.
So, we paid Igloo for the 11k units used.
Symbio used an initial meter read that was 11k low and over the period of the contract carried on using estimates.
When I tried to move to Neon reef they finally accepted my real meter read which now included the 11k units we already paid Igloo for.
Hope that makes more sense?
I basically came to the same conclusion as MWT mentioned and am assuming that it would only be able to be settled in court.

So my final reading on my final bill at Igloo is:
27,863
And opening reading for Symbio is:
15,087
So actually nearly 13k units double charged

MWT

pyrobri said:

So Igloo's system basically kept refusing my manual meter reads because it insisted they were too high and kept falling back to an estimated one.
When we moved over to Symbio they sent this far lower opening meter read.

Something was wrong there from the start as the losing provider does not send the meter reading to the gaining supplier, you provide the gaining supplier with the reading and the industry process validated that and returns it to the losing provider.

It sounds like the industry process was biased by the incorrect estimates from Igloo, and they failed to correct that once they had adjusted the final bill.

pyrobri said:

I got Igloo to correct their meter read and we paid up the difference to them.
Symbio however kept this low meter read.

That is good news though, as that means you do not owe the money to Symbio and you can prove it with the Igloo bill.

So I would suggest you provide a copy of the Igloo bill to the administrators and tell them you'll see them in court if necessary...

pyrobri

Yea I have already provided the administrators with all of that plus they have the records of the first time I provided this to Symbio before they actually went under so they know it wasn't something I cam up with since then. They also have me, on multiple occasions, stating that I am happy to pay the correct amount so it is not like I am refusing to pay anything.
So yes I guess it will be a court thing, was hoping it wouldn't need to go that far, my suit doesn't fit me anymore...
Thanks for the help

Petriix

That's clear then. Keep us updated with how things progress. I imagine that the skeleton Symbio staff dealing with the administration won't have a clue how to handle the issues. It might be worth asking Eon Next to intervene.

I've had some protracted dialogue with the Symbio collections team and they struggled with basic English comprehension.

pyrobri

Right sounds interesting, will have a chat with Eon and see if there is anything they can do then, not holding out hope but worth a go 👍

MWT

pyrobri said:

So yes I guess it will be a court thing, was hoping it wouldn't need to go that far, my suit doesn't fit me anymore...
Thanks for the help

Odds are it will never get to court, they will sell the debt off, so you'll have the irritation of dealing with debt collectors at some point, but just follow the advice you will get over on the 'debt free' forum here when you communicate with them and it should be fine in the end.

If you can work out what you do actually owe Symbio I'd be inclined to pay that part as it leaves you able to say that you owe them nothing.