SO Energy - Huge credit balance of £1,300 that they just won't pay back!

CelticStar

I've been with SO Energy a couple of years and during the first year I was really ill so my direct debits were based on estimated bills.  In March of this year I entered a proper reading and there was a massive correction of my balance but no change to the direct debit.  Since then I've been entering regular meter readings and the difference between our consumption and what they are charging me for is massive, even with the rise in prices.  This is partly to do with the estimations but also because we've really cut consumption - my husband no longer works from home for a start and we're just being a lot more careful.  I've sent them a detailed spreadsheet showing the breakdown of our estimated consumption last year and our actual consumption.  I've taken photographs every time I've read the meters and we've had an independent meter read.  I've requested the balance back and they said they'd give us some of it but want two two months' worth of our direct debit (over £500 left as a balance).  This is despite the fact the direct debit is set far too high anyway.  I've asked them to reduce the direct debit to £150 to comfortably cover what we're using, retain a £300 balance and return the rest.  They just don't reply and now have over £1,300 of our money.  They have breached their own complaints policy on multiple occasions.  I can't contact the Energy Ombudsman for eight weeks.  Can I just cancel my direct debit?

[Deleted User]

You could just switch to a new supplier. Cancelling your DD payment will have contractual consequences: check your contract terms and conditions.

1. 3.4.9.

   if an instructed Direct Debit returns unpaid, we will attempt to contact you directly about this failed payment. This payment can be made over the phone on 0330 111 5050 or via your online account portal (so.energy/login);

2. 3.4.10.

   if no payment has been received within 5 (five) calendar days following the payment failure, we may re-instruct the Direct Debit payment to be taken;

3. 3.4.11.

   we can charge you £20 for each missed Direct Debit payment;

4. 3.4.12.

   you must pay us any bank charges that we have to pay as a result of cancelled or failed payments.

   
   

   
   

ariarnia

id say there are three different things that probably need sorting one at a time. trying to deal with everything at once is maybe confusing and slowing things down.

first thing is do you want to stay with so? if you dont then edf and octopus have both been accepting new customers if you phone them (i dont think anywhere is accepting online switches). theres no point sorting the dd issue with so if are going to leave them away and if you move then your credit will go with you. you give an opening reading to your new supplier and they will set a new dd. you can then talk to them if you think its too high or too low based on your photos. once thats sorted you can ask for a credit refund. 

if you do want to stay with so then the first thing is to get them to agree your estemate of annual use so you can set your dd to cover your use. bigest problem is that you say you only gave an accurate reading in march so won't have accurate readings from over last winter or a full 12 months so i'm guessing your using the opening reading and trying to get them to look at it over 2 years? but the computer might be set up to only average over 12. which might be why there system disagrees. your also saying your use has changed so theres a question of how reliable the previous year was anyway. you say you are using less but last year was also very mild so this year could be a lot colder. plus the rates will be going up in april. lots going on that makes accurate predictions harder. but once that's sorted then you can get a credit refund. because if they want to keep 2 months of dd then there computer probably wont let the agent refund more than what the system says is two months of your usage. getting the dd set to the right level is key for there computer to let you do that. 

finally is to keep everything for the ombudsman incase it needs to go that far. keep everything in writing if you can (lots of people like to talk on the phone but it just makes it harder to prove who said what).  

CelticStar

[Deleted User] said:

You could just switch to a new supplier. Cancelling your DD payment will have contractual consequences: check your contract terms and conditions.

1. 3.4.9.

   if an instructed Direct Debit returns unpaid, we will attempt to contact you directly about this failed payment. This payment can be made over the phone on 0330 111 5050 or via your online account portal (so.energy/login);

2. 3.4.10.

   if no payment has been received within 5 (five) calendar days following the payment failure, we may re-instruct the Direct Debit payment to be taken;

3. 3.4.11.

   we can charge you £20 for each missed Direct Debit payment;

4. 3.4.12.

   you must pay us any bank charges that we have to pay as a result of cancelled or failed payments.

   
   

   
   

Thank you, that is good advice.  I never even thought about changing providers.  For some reason I thought that with the energy crisis we weren't able to switch at the moment.  Now switched and very happy to have done so.  Thanks again.

MWT

ariarnia said:

... and if you move then your credit will go with you.

Just for the benefit of anyone else reading this, the credit does not move with you if you switch to a new provider, but it does have to be repaid to you by your old supplier...

ariarnia

MWT said:

ariarnia said:

... and if you move then your credit will go with you.

Just for the benefit of anyone else reading this, the credit does not move with you if you switch to a new provider, but it does have to be repaid to you by your old supplier...

sorry. its different for solr then? (well it would have to be wouldn't it) becuase i know then people get there refunds from the new supplier. 

Alnat1

The old energy supplier will refund the credit, but I think they have up to 6 weeks to issue the closing bill and make the refund.

MWT

ariarnia said:

MWT said:

ariarnia said:

... and if you move then your credit will go with you.

Just for the benefit of anyone else reading this, the credit does not move with you if you switch to a new provider, but it does have to be repaid to you by your old supplier...

sorry. its different for solr then?

Yes, even in that circumstance the money does not actually get transferred over to the SOLR by the failed supplier, it is funded by the SOLR and then reclaimed from Ofgem (... and eventually paid by the rest of us of course).

SAC2334

CelticStar said:

Dolor said:

You could just switch to a new supplier. Cancelling your DD payment will have contractual consequences: check your contract terms and conditions.

1. 3.4.9.

   if an instructed Direct Debit returns unpaid, we will attempt to contact you directly about this failed payment. This payment can be made over the phone on 0330 111 5050 or via your online account portal (so.energy/login);

2. 3.4.10.

   if no payment has been received within 5 (five) calendar days following the payment failure, we may re-instruct the Direct Debit payment to be taken;

3. 3.4.11.

   we can charge you £20 for each missed Direct Debit payment;

4. 3.4.12.

   you must pay us any bank charges that we have to pay as a result of cancelled or failed payments.

   
   

   
   

Thank you, that is good advice.  I never even thought about changing providers.  For some reason I thought that with the energy crisis we weren't able to switch at the moment.  Now switched and very happy to have done so.  Thanks again.

The two suppliers who are reported to be taking on new customers are Octopus and EDF.
My friend has been on the Octopus waiting list to join them for two weeks .With Octopus taking on Bulbs customers I don t think they are in a hurry to take on more. 
EDF would be a supplier to try to switch to, maybe the only one  

EssexHebridean

If you've had issues with poor customer service from So then I'm afraid I think moving to EDF would probably just put you from a rock to a hard place...