Domestic Supply via Micro-Business Contract - end of 12 month fixed

macman

jonathangale said:

Ah, I didn't realise the Ombudsman was different to Ofgem. Have registered with them and had a look although same constraints as Ofgem in that have to have let the supplier have 8 weeks since official complaint and I have only raised this officially with them at the beginning of this week!

One of the reasons I came on here as don't want to sit about waiting until that time as my contract will expire in that time and want to know if I am likely to get the result I think I should or if I have missed something.

Thanks for all the help so far and grateful if anyone else has any further information!

Totally different. Ofgem is the regulator-they don't handle complaints from the public.
The Ombudsman is the point of contact for dispute resolution. But there is no way around the 8 week leadtime: you must either have a deadlock letter or wait the 8 weeks without resolution from the supplier. This is to avoid vexatious complaints, as the supplier is charged for every complaint taken on, whether it's upheld or not. So you must exhaust the supplier's own complaints procedure first.

pochase

What exactly was the domestic waiver you signed. From the definition 

Domestic Waiver. By accepting the Commercial General Terms and Conditions, you are therefore accepting that you will be classified as a ‘commercial customer’ for the duration of this agreement. By accepting the Commercial Terms and Conditions you will not be covered by our domestic customer codes of practice, domestic consumer protection laws or receive any of the protection or notifications afforded to vulnerable customer

it is the opposite from what you believe it is 

I just sign a Domestic waiver to confirm that the property is residential and the usage is domestic

Was the business rates offered to you maybe cheaper than domestic rates?

jonathangale

I can see something that says Premier Secure, property of EDF Energy CFS. I think this is the thing that auto-reads my meter?

For usage, it is high, around 150,000kWh.

I initially spoke with EDF residential and they told me I had to speak to EDF micro-business despite it being residential and they just get me to sign a Domestic use form each year. As EDF residential told me this was what I had to do I presumed that was the case.

jonathangale

pochase said:

What exactly was the domestic waiver you signed. From the definition 

Domestic Waiver. By accepting the Commercial General Terms and Conditions, you are therefore accepting that you will be classified as a ‘commercial customer’ for the duration of this agreement. By accepting the Commercial Terms and Conditions you will not be covered by our domestic customer codes of practice, domestic consumer protection laws or receive any of the protection or notifications afforded to vulnerable customer

it is the opposite from what you believe it is 

I just sign a Domestic waiver to confirm that the property is residential and the usage is domestic

Was the business rates offered to you maybe cheaper than domestic rates?

I don't believe the business rates in the past were cheaper (and they certainly aren't now), I just was told it was the only option.

I'm not expecting to get out of the 12 month contract I signed, it's just that that ends at the end of October though and am just looking at what is best to do after that and I would have thought there should be an option to get on a SVR protected by the price cap which would be substantially less than what I am now being offered for a new 12 month fix from 1st November.

I'll dig out the domestic waiver to see if it is as you say above. I also have to confirm in writing (by email) each year that the property is residential.

jonathangale

pochase said:

What exactly was the domestic waiver you signed. From the definition 

Domestic Waiver. By accepting the Commercial General Terms and Conditions, you are therefore accepting that you will be classified as a ‘commercial customer’ for the duration of this agreement. By accepting the Commercial Terms and Conditions you will not be covered by our domestic customer codes of practice, domestic consumer protection laws or receive any of the protection or notifications afforded to vulnerable customer

it is the opposite from what you believe it is 

The one I sign is not the one above.

It is a form titled "Domestic End User Form - Master" (name of document) or "Renewal Domestic End User Form" (Title inside document). Again, can't post the link here but it is on the EDF site.

MWT

jonathangale said:

I can see something that says Premier Secure, property of EDF Energy CFS. I think this is the thing that auto-reads my meter?

For usage, it is high, around 150,000kWh.

That is indeed high, around 400kWh a day is unusually high for a purely domestic property, is this a collective arrangement where multiple families are in occupation sharing the single supply to the building?

Just wondering if splitting the supply might make sense at some point...

At that level you wouldn't even meet the qualifications to be considered as a micro-business on your electricity consumption, but presumably you qualify on one or more of the other criteria. 

pochase

Here is the link

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/renewal_domestic_end_user_form_oct16.pdf

I read this that you are on a commercial contract and the form just asks information if some of the users you provide energy to are vulnerable. It has nothing to do with you being on a domestic contract.

That looks like a business account for a landlord supplying tenants with energy.

A "domestic waiver" is something different from the above "domestic end user form".

jonathangale

MWT said:

jonathangale said:

I can see something that says Premier Secure, property of EDF Energy CFS. I think this is the thing that auto-reads my meter?

For usage, it is high, around 150,000kWh.

That is indeed high, around 400kWh a day is unusually high for a purely domestic property, is this a collective arrangement where multiple families are in occupation sharing the single supply to the building?

Just wondering if splitting the supply might make sense at some point...

At that level you wouldn't even meet the qualifications to be considered as a micro-business on your electricity consumption, but presumably you qualify on one or more of the other criteria. 

It's a single dwelling, an old converted builder's yard so not the most efficient!

They've always been happy to classify as domestic and the property as residential, just I would have thought that that would mean they should also offer a standard variable rate subject to the domestic price cap.

The Ofgem piece does suggest even collective supplies (blocks of flats) where the freeholder pays singularly and then splits out amongst leaseholders, should be classified as domestic and then subject to price caps so I'd have thought ours would be covered by the same?

jonathangale

pochase said:

Here is the link

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I read this that you are on a commercial contract and the form just asks information if some of the users you provide energy to are vulnerable. It has nothing to do with you being on a domestic contract.

That looks like a business account for a landlord supplying tenants with energy.

A "domestic waiver" is something different from the above "domestic end user form".

Yes, you're right. Maybe the pertinent part is that each year they get me to confirm in writing that the property is residential, I'd quote that here but not sure I'd be allowed to copy direct email traffic from individual customer account managers.

MWT

I still think the problem is the classification as a business account, the Ofgem advice is what you should rely upon to get your account reclassified as residential, and once residential you should get access to the capped tariff.

I do still wonder if the nature of your metering is getting in the way, do you have any photos of the actual meter that you can post? (blank out MPAN etc.)