So Energy - won't give me my money back and won't review my DD

Cautiouslyoptimistic

Dolor said:

I'm extremely pleased that you are so very confident that monies built up in credit balances with failed gas and electric suppliers will be honoured by companies taking over your new energy supply. Unfortunately, there are numerous recent cases where people have been left fighting to recover these amounts and remain out of pocket. 

The article quoted serves to demonstrate that customers who have switched away just before a supplier fails are the last in the queue to get their credit balance returned to them by the SoLR. 

You are the protector of credit consumer balances. Customers of a failed supplier are unsecured creditors owed pennies in the £. Credit balances are paid out by the SoLR and then recovered from all suppliers who, in turn, pass the cost on to you and me. The scheme is known as the Ofgem Consumer Levy.

Here's another article from Citizen's advice about people that are waiting for their credit refunds to be paid long after their energy companies have gone bust. If people believe (based upon the Ofgem guidance) that their replacement supplier is going to come immediately waltzing in with a chequebook to refund money owed from their previous supplier, then there might be a bit of surprise in store... 

Months on, some customers are still waiting for credit to be transferred from their old supplier | by Maisie Gibson | We are Citizens Advice

I think the point I'm making is why risk leaving a big credit balance with your energy supplier and then putting up with all the hassle of chasing your own money just to try and get it back after they have gone bust?  

QrizB

Cautiouslyoptimistic said:

Dolor said:

I'm extremely pleased that you are so very confident that monies built up in credit balances with failed gas and electric suppliers will be honoured by companies taking over your new energy supply. Unfortunately, there are numerous recent cases where people have been left fighting to recover these amounts and remain out of pocket. 

The article quoted serves to demonstrate that customers who have switched away just before a supplier fails are the last in the queue to get their credit balance returned to them by the SoLR. 

You are the protector of credit consumer balances. Customers of a failed supplier are unsecured creditors owed pennies in the £. Credit balances are paid out by the SoLR and then recovered from all suppliers who, in turn, pass the cost on to you and me. The scheme is known as the Ofgem Consumer Levy.

Here's another article from Citizen's advice ...

According to that article (written in April, note, when some of these failures were still recent), 2.3 million households were affected by supplier failures in 2021. (That includes me, I was SoLR'd twice last year).

Of those 2.3 million, I would guess that the vast majority - maybe 2.2 million - had no issues at all beyond having to wait 4-6 months for their refunds to be paid. I certainly had no problems with either of mine. The other 100k might have had more difficulties with their accounts but most of those will also have been sorted out by now.

The article even says:

If you’re a customer who is still waiting for a credit balance then please don’t worry — this money is protected and it will be refunded to you.

A large number of the users of this board have been SoLR'd and lmost all of us have received our refunds without taking any active steps of our own.

ariarnia

Cautiouslyoptimistic said:

Dolor said:

I'm extremely pleased that you are so very confident that monies built up in credit balances with failed gas and electric suppliers will be honoured by companies taking over your new energy supply. Unfortunately, there are numerous recent cases where people have been left fighting to recover these amounts and remain out of pocket. 

The article quoted serves to demonstrate that customers who have switched away just before a supplier fails are the last in the queue to get their credit balance returned to them by the SoLR. 

You are the protector of credit consumer balances. Customers of a failed supplier are unsecured creditors owed pennies in the £. Credit balances are paid out by the SoLR and then recovered from all suppliers who, in turn, pass the cost on to you and me. The scheme is known as the Ofgem Consumer Levy.

Here's another article from Citizen's advice about people that are waiting for their credit refunds to be paid long after their energy companies have gone bust. If people believe (based upon the Ofgem guidance) that their replacement supplier is going to come immediately waltzing in with a chequebook to refund money owed from their previous supplier, then there might be a bit of surprise in store... 

Months on, some customers are still waiting for credit to be transferred from their old supplier | by Maisie Gibson | We are Citizens Advice

I think the point I'm making is why risk leaving a big credit balance with your energy supplier and then putting up with all the hassle of chasing your own money just to try and get it back after they have gone bust?  

who other than you said immediately? and you dont need to 'chase'. just wait for the process to run its course. it will take longer now than if it had only been one supplier that failed because of the huge number of people that have to be refunded and ofgem needing to keep an eye on things to make sure everyone gets whats owed. so people who transferred to the SOLR will get there cash first. then those who transferred away before it went bust and didn't have there transfer complete before the SOLR process. then probably the people who transferred in the middle of the SOLR process will be last (and thats why people were told to just sit tight to avoid problems) because there records will be a mess and need more time to pick through. even the citizen advice article says balances are protected and people will get there money eventually. 

the problem essex had with your post wasnt that you were saying it could take a long time. it was you said the money could be 'lost'. and that's both wrong and scaremongering. 

SanguineOnSaturn

I asked for a refund today from SO via email. Their reply came back quite quick but asked for photos of meters as over £500. Sent these and again had a reply confirming £1000 refund in 2-3 days. I was not particularly worried about losing the credit balance if they go bust due to ofgem protection but may as well earn a little interest on it for the time being.

SpanishBlue

Apparently you could pay by debit card instead without incurring any extra charge. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6394681/energy-refunds#latest

So advise them you wish to do this, cancel your DD and once your credit has been used up, pay by debit card each month.