Energy company haven't charged us a penny for 4 months

[Deleted User]

HampshireH said:

EdwardB said:

bartsimpson123 said:

Realised that So Energy haven't taken a payment from our account for roughly 4 months. Don't ask me how I didn't notice this but it happened - that's not the issue. 

Called them yesterday and they said that they have made an error somewhere, and that our account was closed down in May. We never requested to cancel or close our account or anything, so god knows why they did this. 

They have escalated this to a higher team within the company. 

Any advice on how to handle this? We won't be able to afford a whacking great bill if that's what they come back with. Is there scope for us to argue that due to this being their error in closing the account and causing this situation, we shouldn't have to pay some or all of what we've used?

Thanks in advance!

First ask for their firm proposals to compensate you, if it is anything less than £225 make a formal complaint and then if not resolved ask for a deadlock letter and escalate the complaint to the ombudsman.  If nothing else they get hit for the £450, but I suspect that they will make you an offer.

Compensate for what? OP isn't out of pocket - they are £400 up due to non payment. A gesture of apology £50 is more likely.

Are those amounts pie in the sky demands or do they have some basis?

More importantly OP needs a firm understanding of what tariff they will be put on with SO once set back up. Likely to be their standard variable (would make sense) but if OP was on another tariff which worked out cheaper then there is a conversation to be had about being reinstated on those terms/rates.

OP hasn't said either way

Possibly, this is an erroneous transfer of supply which is a recognised problem within the industry. There is an agreed compensation scheme. The OP should follow the advice in this link:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/youve-been-switched-to-a-new-energy-supplier-without-your-agreement/

A simple supplier check will reveal whether this is an ET or an internal supplier error.