Bristol Energy Refund

JHKeightley

Hi MoneySavingExpert Hivemind!

I'm after some help!

I moved out of my previous house on the 16th December 2021.

I had an account with Bristol Energy (who stopped trading on 23rd January 2022), at the time I closed the account (17th January or thereabouts) due to moving I was over £200 in credit. I have a final statement from Bristol Energy confirming this, but as they stopped trading I've never seen a penny.

I've written multiple times to British Gas, who state that they don't yet have the funds.

British Gas emailed in January to be saying I was now a British Gas customer (at my former address), but then backtracked on this - I then filed a complaint in may which was rejected, and appealed to the ombudsman (which was also rejected).

Can anyone help me get the money that was due back - do I have to take British Gas to court?

JHKeightley

Any thoughts appreciated!

MWT

JHKeightley said:

I've written multiple times to British Gas, who state that they don't yet have the funds.

You are going to have to raise a complaint with BG and stick with it even if they try to reject it, the excuse given above about 'not having the funds' is irrelevant, the appointed supplier of last resort almost never gets any funds from the failed supplier, they have to pay it out to you and then reclaim it via Ofgem...

morhen

Good luck with that, but don't hold your breath!  At the end of November the final wind up of the company will happen.  They have a very limited number of staff left.  I know because they are trying to bill me over £500 (based on estimated units) on a house I bought in December (it wasn't yours was it)?   Everything was turned off when I moved in, so the correct bill is no where near that amount. 

I don't have an online account, they aren't taking phone calls and the only point of contact is an email address they don't answer.  Have provided the correct units and a request for a re-calculated bill twice, but nothing has appeared.  I have even spoke to the appointed administrator by email, who promised to get the staff to look into it, and nothing but radio silence.

pochase

What was the reason the Ombudsman rejected your complaint?

If you take BG to court the decision of the Ombudsman will count against you.

MWT

pochase said:

What was the reason the Ombudsman rejected your complaint?

If you take BG to court the decision of the Ombudsman will count against you.

The Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about a failed supplier, and from the sound of things the BG complaint never got started. I doubt the Ombudsman rendered a decision, merely rejected the attempt to escalate...

Xbigman

There is a pecking order with failed supplier balances being paid out. I am currently a customer of BG having transferred over, like you, in February. I had an email at the end of October telling me my BE balance had been credited to my account. On checking it actually went in on the 10th of October. As you are not a customer of BG and were not a customer of BE when it went under you are going to be in the last group whose balances are sorted out.
If you have an acknowledgement from BG that you are indeed owed money then its just a case of waiting for them to get around to you. Realistic time scale - some time next year. Complaints won't speed up this process, you just have to wait.


Darren

[Deleted User]

JHKeightley said:

Hi MoneySavingExpert Hivemind!

I'm after some help!

I moved out of my previous house on the 16th December 2021.

I had an account with Bristol Energy (who stopped trading on 23rd January 2022), at the time I closed the account (17th January or thereabouts) due to moving I was over £200 in credit. I have a final statement from Bristol Energy confirming this, but as they stopped trading I've never seen a penny.

I've written multiple times to British Gas, who state that they don't yet have the funds.

British Gas emailed in January to be saying I was now a British Gas customer (at my former address), but then backtracked on this - I then filed a complaint in may which was rejected, and appealed to the ombudsman (which was also rejected).

Can anyone help me get the money that was due back - do I have to take British Gas to court?

You are in the worst possible situation - through no fault of your own. As an unsecured creditor of a failed company you are owed pennies in the £. Any credit protection offered is via the Ofgem Consumer Levy scheme; however, as you were no longer a customer of BE on the date of its failure, then your account would not have automatically been transferred across under the SoLR scheme.

The ‘good news’ is that you should eventually get your money. It would though be worth you contacting the Administrator of BE to get confirmation that he/she has passed a copy of your Final Bill onto the SoLR (ideally, get them to give you a date). Best of luck.

JHKeightley

The complaint did progress to the ombudsman, and British Gas commented as follows:

British Gas don’t supply Mr x.  He was with Bristol Energy and has since moved out of the property.  The address is now supplied by Scottish Power (presumably at the request of the current occupiers)

Mr x advises that Bristol Energy did owe him a credit when they ceased trading, shortly after he moved out and although British Gas haven’t supplied him at the above address, they are responsible for getting his credit back to him, as they are the SOLR for Bristol Energy. 

British Gas has checked for this credit being received from the administrators of Bristol Energy, but at the time of writing it hasn’t been received.  Once it is received, British Gas will send a cheque to Mr x. 

British Gas is unable to give a timescale for this or influence when the credit will be received. 

JHKeightley

I then received a decision from the ombudsman:

Thank you for your patience while we looked at your complaint about British Gas.

You’ve told us that at your previous address, your energy was supplied by Bristol Energy and when they stopped trading, British Gas were appointed as the suppliers. You explain that you were in the process of moving at the time and Bristol Energy sent you a final statement showing a £203.13 balance to be credited to your account within 10 days which didn’t happen.

From 16 December 2021, you weren’t liable for the energy usage at the property and on 24 January 2022, you received an email from British Gas advising that you had become a British Gas customer. You advise that in February, you chased the missing credit with British Gas. When you chased this further, British Gas told you that you were never a customer of theirs but that your supply was with Scottish Power and seemed confused about the issue.

As a resolution to your complaint, you want British Gas to return your missing credit and interest, plus time spent chasing at your professional rates.

In response to your complaint, British Gas say that although they haven’t supplied you at the address in question, they’re responsible for getting your credit back to you as the Supplier of Last Resort for Bristol Energy. British Gas say that they’ve not yet received the credit but once they’ve got this, they’ll send a cheque out to you. They say they’re unable to give a timescale for this or influence when the credit will be received.

I can see that you received an email from Bristol Energy dated 17 January 2022 advising that they’d processed your home move and that you’d receive an amended final bill for your time at the property. The email explained that if there’s a credit balance left on your account, this would be refunded automatically after 10 working days. You’ve provided a copy of the final energy statement from Bristol Energy dated 17 January 2022. This confirms that your account is £203.13 in credit. There’s no dispute that you are owed this balance.

As you were no longer responsible for the property from 16 December 2021 and Bristol Energy didn’t cease trading until 23 January 2022, then technically, you’ve never been a customer of British Gas. While I appreciate you’ve received correspondence to the contrary, it’s likely that this was due to the delay in Bristol Energy updating your home move – since it’s clear that this wasn’t actioned until just six days before the company went into administration. I can’t fault British Gas for this. This might explain the confusion that arose when you raised this issue with British Gas in the first instance.

That said, as per the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) agreement with the energy regulator, then British Gas, as the SoLR will honour any outstanding credit you have. I can see that you chased the issue of the refund up with British Gas on 5 May 2022. Here, you explained the situation on your account. I can appreciate that it must be frustrating to wait for a refund of a credit that’s owed to you.

Unfortunately, there have been some delays in validating the credit from Bristol Energy. British Gas’ website explains that, for affected customers of Together Energy (including Bristol Energy); “You can expect to receive an email or letter from us to confirm when this has been applied - until this happens our agents won't have any more information to share with you. Any credit balance owing is protected and will be honoured. If you are not with British Gas this will take a little longer and we’ll be in touch once this has happened.” I can’t fault British Gas for this delay as it’s evident that this lies with the administrators for Bristol Energy.

I appreciate the concern and the frustration that this delay has caused you. However, I can’t ask British Gas to refund your credit balance as they haven’t yet received it from Bristol Energy. British Gas will pass the credit refund on to you as soon as they receive this.

Outcome: Not Upheld

molerat

All looks correct then.  There is no valid complaint against BG to uphold.  You will, as has been previously stated, get a refund of monies owed eventually.   Some refunds for those that didn't transfer to the SoLR in previous cases have taken well over a year, I seem to remember it taking 18 months before my daughter received one.