Neo Energy and Octopus

Mstty

Perhaps you could post a picture of that letter with your personal details obscured 

Lenny333

@baser999

Thanks for your thoughts… I’ve checked the unit rates and the quantity (using the calculation below that Neo put in their final invoice) and the gas unit rates look correct over the 2 years. The unit rates start at 0.0253, then 0.0379, then 0.075. 

     gas calculation

     *Your energy usage is calculated from your gas consumption using a standard industry formula:

     Units Consumed (cubic meter)

     x Metric Conversion (convert to cubic meters)

     x Calorific Value (energy in each m of gas)

     ÷ 3.6 (convert from joules)

     = Usage (in kWh)

     = For example:

     3764 units x 1.02264 x 39.8÷ 3.6 = 42555.23 kwh

I’ve since been on to Octopus again and got a very clear email from them as I’ve copied below…

“Just emailing to let you know I have heard back from our NEO team and they have said that we are advising customers to not pay anything towards these notices you are receiving.”

I’ve also spoken with the case contact for the Administrators for UKEIH this morning and although he said he couldn’t directly advise what to do, he did say that he would be speaking with the administrators themselves this week and let them know that a number of people have been receiving these final demand emails as I wasn’t the first person to ring him over the last few days! He said he’d let me know any outcome before the end of the week. 

As this whole situation sounds very dodgy, the more I find out by lots of googling, I think I’m going to advise my parents to sit tight and not pay anything until either OFGEM, Octopus or the UKEIH Administrators advise to do so.  

What a mess!!

Qyburn

But assuming your parent's account is the same as mine, it will be Neo Energy Limited that is the (alleged) creditor.  They were not owned by UKEIH, they just had a trading relationship of some sort. However maybe you're right to wait a bit, and ignore anything except a formal Letter Before Action (assuming you're in England or Wales)

baser999

Since my original post, I’ve now had another chance today to thoroughly check the invoice that was sent ‘supposedly’ by Neo in September demanding some £2700+, for which I’d already had a subsequent reminder and then last week a threat to refer to debt collection. Glad to say, my findings concur with what I’d found initially - although I’m no longer able to locate the precise meter readings I’d sent Neo, I do have opening and closing balances, and they’ve charged me for an excessive amount for both utilities. Also, as far as the gas is concerned, they’ve charged me at the electric unit rate, something like 0.19 instead of 0.03. Lenny, check they’ve not done the same with your parents bill, assuming it’s genuine.

All in all, I reckon I could still owe them around £500, rather than their £2700, but will await a revised invoice before paying them anything. Ironically the figure of £500 equates to around 4 monthly direct debit payments which they didn’t claim from March to July

Having emailed Neo yesterday, they’ve today sent an amended invoice showing I owe just over £350, payable on 7 March, rather than the £2700 ! That’s a decent result, and probably correct, although not had chance to check their figures yet.
Couple of questions remain - am I dealing directly with Neo or an elaborate scammer? If they are the genuine article, do I pay up?

Lenny333

I’m considering sending the email below to Neo as every organisation I’ve looked at is saying not to pay…

Dear Neo Energy Accounts payable,

 

With reference to your email below regarding my Final outstanding energy bill from yourselves.

 

• I have checked on your website (21/2/2023) and on the front page, you state…
• “It goes without saying that for those customers who are in debt with us we will find a solution together. You then do not need to worry as we do not work with credit rating agencies not collection agencies currently.”
• You do not appear to have honoured this given your email below threatening me with debt collectors

 

• I have checked with OFGEM and in their latest statement made about UKEIH (U.K. Energy Incubation Hub) on the 7/9/2022, they state…
• “As Octopus Energy has confirmed, any customers contacted by anyone other than Octopus Energy, especially when being asked for payment, should get in touch with the Octopus Energy team immediately.”

 

• I have checked with Octopus and they have emailed me stating…
• “Just emailing to let you know I have heard back from our NEO team and they have said that we are advising customers to not pay anything towards these notices you are receiving.”

 

• I have tried ringing the number on your Final invoice (0808 168 4861) as advised by Octopus, but it is unobtainable so I am unable to speak with yourselves directly. 

 

• I have spoken with the administrators of UKEIH (Howard smith and Rick Harrison Accountants) and they advise that they are still in the process of administering the affairs of UKEIH and will contact me later this week with their advice.
• They also state in their latest progress report that the directors of UKEIH and Neo Energy are no longer cooperating in the administration process which concerns me somewhat. 

 

Given the above situation, I ask that you contact either OFGEM, Octopus or the UKEIH Administrators to ask that they change their advice to myself. 

 

I will pay this invoice if and when I am advised to do so by either OFGEM, Octopus or the administrators of UKEIH as currently all of these organisations are advising me that I shouldn’t pay this invoice. 

 

I do not expect any debt collection proceedings to take place until this matter has been concluded by one of the organisation that I have mentioned above.

Mstty

baser999 said:

Since my original post, I’ve now had another chance today to thoroughly check the invoice that was sent ‘supposedly’ by Neo in September demanding some £2700+, for which I’d already had a subsequent reminder and then last week a threat to refer to debt collection. Glad to say, my findings concur with what I’d found initially - although I’m no longer able to locate the precise meter readings I’d sent Neo, I do have opening and closing balances, and they’ve charged me for an excessive amount for both utilities. Also, as far as the gas is concerned, they’ve charged me at the electric unit rate, something like 0.19 instead of 0.03. Lenny, check they’ve not done the same with your parents bill, assuming it’s genuine.

All in all, I reckon I could still owe them around £500, rather than their £2700, but will await a revised invoice before paying them anything. Ironically the figure of £500 equates to around 4 monthly direct debit payments which they didn’t claim from March to July

Having emailed Neo yesterday, they’ve today sent an amended invoice showing I owe just over £350, payable on 7 March, rather than the £2700 ! That’s a decent result, and probably correct, although not had chance to check their figures yet.
Couple of questions remain - am I dealing directly with Neo or an elaborate scammer? If they are the genuine article, do I pay up?

I did say post the correspondence on here (as I have already said a few posts back), many with an eagle eye will spot grammatical errors that you have mentioned you were not happy with.

baser999

Can’t seem to get their email on here. Here’s a few of their expressions which just don’t seem right, mainly from a grammatical viewpoint
1. “ The following forced Ofgem bulk switch to the new Octopus industry systems has been executed between the 20th and 21th of July . . . . .”
2.  “ Neo Energy has neither ceased trading . . . . . . of any kind ! “
3. “ . . . . . we can now serve SMART meter points . . . . .  .customer service ! “
4. Constant references to ‘pay duty ?’ 

5. “ . . . . . we strongly advice . . . . . “
6. “Please keep going to send us your meter readings . . . . . to allow us to help identify optimal settings for you going forward . . . “
Too much use of exclamation marks, spelling error and so on. 

baser999

Since having the original bill of £2700 reduced to a more sensible £350, I’ve received a reminder that the bill is outstanding. I’m still not certain though if this is genuine in light of the observations in my last post. The only email contact I have for Neo (or whoever) is the one the bills are coming from and I’m getting no response on the phone. 

One part of me says it’s genuine, after all if the original demand was from scammers would they bother reducing it to my readings? Another part says yes they might, getting £350 is better than nothing? 

Would you settle the demand now? 

daveyjp

My advice remains the same.  Ignore.  By contacting them you become 'low hanging fruit' for potential scammers.

Qyburn

It's almost certainly genuine, but you can cross check by comparing their meter readings with your own records, and comparing their statement with your records of payments made.  Do the bank details match those on previous Neo invoices? Does their end meter reading match Octopus start reading? I don't see how a scammer could have those details.

My final bill was only £79 and their accounting actually looked correct in the end, so I just paid that right away, payee being the same as previous manual payments to Neo.

For a later sum, maybe wait until you get something formal that you can verify to your satisfaction, and meanwhile keep the cash tucked away somewhere.