Dispute with Energy provider

Lgriffo

I am looking to sense check something. I have sent 13 meter readings in past 11 months - despite this have received 5 estimated bills. I have accrued £1071 CR from bill up to 10th Dec. This was based on actual meter readings. Next bill was estimated. They tried to bill me for £674 for one month. The estimated bill generated reduced my credit to £464. They then issued a new bill 3 days later of £114. They tell me they have cancelled the estimated bill. However the new bill of £114 has a new balance carried forward of £464 and my new closing balance is now only £582.11 

I estimate that 

1. The bill on 10th December was accurate and based on meter readings. That bill had a closing balance of £1071.62

2. The next accurate bill based on meter readings was issued on 13th January. The bill was £114

3. I have paid £232 and the Government assistance of £67 means that a total of £299 has been paid against that bill

4. That means that a further £185 needs to be added to the closing balance. This therefore should be £1256.62 and not £582.11 that is recorded on my bill

my energy provider are insisting that I am wrong and their calculations are correct. I just want to get a sense of whether I am right to challenge this by contacting the energy ombudsman. 

Many thank 

Robin9

Who is that supplier please ?  Someone here will give you a good contact and details as to how they handle the £66 payments

Lgriffo

My supplier is SHELL 

[Deleted User]

Lgriffo said:

My supplier is SHELL 

You cannot just contact The Energy Ombudsman. You have to raise a formal complaint against Shell by following the supplier’s complaints procedure. You then wait for a resolution offer; a deadlock letter or 8 weeks before you can escalate your complaint.

You need to do all the legwork. It is a pretty simple exercise to work out your charges by ignoring estimates and recalculating from one actual meter reading to the next. 

Often suppliers use estimates when the actual reading received was not on your billing date. They estimate a reading for the billing date based on the actual meter reading provided. Some of the estimates may have been for the dates on which the capped tariff changed: 1 April and 1 October.

To repeat myself, YOU need to sit down and recalculate your bills based on the units used; tariffs and payments made on account. You cannot expect The Energy Ombudsman to do this for you. They just review complaints by looking at the evidence provided.

Nebulous2

How big is your house? How do you heat it? (Is this electric only) What were the readings in December and January? 

Unless you have a small house and are very frugal, £114 would be very low for one of the coldest months in the year, if you are all electric. 

pochase

Have you checked your invoice that the government grant has not been deducted from your usage as many of the suppliers do?

The suppliers were not prepared to show the £67, and so it is often completely hidden how they do it.

It is extremely unlikely that your account is the only one where the energy grant is not given. We see daily complaints about that happening, and each time it was pointed out where it was hidden, and that it was calculated correctly.

Your explanation what you believe has happened are not very clear, if you want to go to the Ombudsman you need to explain it in a way that is easy to follow.

For example you are saying what the credit was up to 10th December, but not what the bill was on this day and how much credit therefore is left.

deano2099

Lgriffo said:

I am looking to sense check something. I have sent 13 meter readings in past 11 months - despite this have received 5 estimated bills. I have accrued £1071 CR from bill up to 10th Dec. This was based on actual meter readings. Next bill was estimated. They tried to bill me for £674 for one month. The estimated bill generated reduced my credit to £464. They then issued a new bill 3 days later of £114. They tell me they have cancelled the estimated bill. However the new bill of £114 has a new balance carried forward of £464 and my new closing balance is now only £582.11 

This might be what happened. They billed you an estimate of £674. This will have been based on the actual reading you gave them on 10 December, then an estimate up to the date of the bill. You say this reduced your credit from £1071 to £464. But £1071-£674 is £397. 
So your balance should be £397. The difference here is £67 - the government subsidy. So they only actually charged you £607 for the estimated bill, as you got the government money.

When you then submitted (or they checked) the actual meter reading you sent, they discovered the estimate was a little bit too high. It sounds like the bill for £114 is actually a refund/correction (does it say CR next to it?). Your actual spend over that period was £674 (estimate) - £114 (refund) = £560 
This then tracks as £1071 (starting balance) -£560 (usage based on reading) +£67 (government subsidy) = £578 (close to the £582 you say your balance is).

£560 is quite high for one month, but not ridiculous, given how cold it was. The point of paying by fixed direct debit is to split your payments over 12 months, so it's to be expected that you build up credit over the months you don't have the heating on, then spend that credit over Dec-Feb. 

EssexHebridean

Deleted User said:

I wouldn’t waste my time with ombudsman. We had a long battle and they ruled in favour of the energy provider.

The Ombudsman service simply rules on the basis of the evidence they are presented. They do not “investigate” beyond that. The evidence you present is key, as it can make the difference between a decision in your favour, and one in favour of the energy company. 

For contrast, I recently took a case to the Ombudsman and was awarded £100 goodwill payment which I had not, in fact, expected. My complaint was simply in the hope that it would be highlighted to my ex supplier how appalling their customer service, and billing, was.  

As an aside to others, was Shell the one where there was a recent decision that complaints with no resolution could be escalated in 6 weeks, not 8? Or am I confusing them with someone else? 

[Deleted User]

Deleted User said:

I wouldn’t waste my time with ombudsman. We had a long battle and they ruled in favour of the energy provider.

It depends on the nature of your complaint and how you present your evidence. Even then, you have to think through any consequences of a Decision going against you (eg; the supplier could use the Decision in support of any Court claim).

Last year, I submitted what I knew was a well laid out case against a supplier for incorrect billing. The EO investigator took 10 days to agree my complaint. I accepted the Decision only to find out later that the supplier submitted an appeal based on a simple statement with no supporting evidence. The appeal was upheld and the interim Decision was changed and immediately turned to Final. 

My opinions were limited as a final Decision can only be accepted or rejected. I made a complaint against EOS itself. They are not great when it comes to dealing with complaints against their own service. My complaint ended up with their Independent Assessor. She agreed that the appeal should have been ignored: it offered no new evidence and what was in the appeal was countered by what was contained in the original evidence pack. As a Final Decision had been issued, it could not be changed. I was awarded £150 - paid for by EOS - as a goodwill gesture.