So Energy - Broken Company?

HUMBUG

I've had some horrendous experiences with So Energy for the last few years , although previous years were okay. I'll summarise my experience.

1. Aug'22 - Installed gas and electric smart meters with an IHD device.  Everything seemed to be working okay.
2. They were unable to produce any monthly bills for 10 months while taking my direct-debits. Ended up with over £1.2k in credit which I knew was false . Send a plethora of emails asking where my bills were over those 10 months .
3. All of a sudden they produced all the bills using the historical smart meter readings. Fine with me. I think they had to because if bills are over 12 months old, the customer does not need to pay them- they will have to be written off by the energy company.
4. As soon as they fixed the backbilling problems , my IHD stopped working for GAS usage (electricity fine) . Many emails going back and forth , photos taken , other checks done , etc etc . I ended up sending a complaint which was never responded to . Couldn't waste any more time with them, so unplugged the IHD and stored it away. 
5. My father died in Sept with a £500 +  credit on his account .  I have spent the last 3  months trying to get them to pay it back into my fathers estate (of which I am the executor) . I have provided everything they required . The meter readings (my father didn't have a smart meter) a few days after his death ,  copy of death certificate , copy of the will , my proof of id , my mothers death certificate (from 4 yrs ago - unsure why they wanted that). 
They kept sending automated emails saying they will be in touch but no response and I had to repeat sending them death certificates when I interacted with a different customer service person.
6.  I sent emails to the CEO and executive complaints dept  but no response.
7. Then I found out that ESB Energy was merging with So Energy and that the current CEO Simon Oscroft and their customer service director Shane Simpson were probably being replaced with others (no wonder they couldn't be bothered to respond).  I discovered that Monica Collings was going to be the new CEO , so guessed her email address and forwarded all my previous complaint emails to her.  Bingo ! It got to her and someone from the executive complaints department finally phoned me and said she would be owning all the issues. That a payment would be forthcoming in the next few days. 
8. The payment was never made even though I received a final statement for my father stating payment would be made by 6th Dec .  I had given them my bank details to make the credit payment to the estate (because I am the executor)  but apparently their internal systems tried to pay it into my fathers bank account (which was closed a few days after his death).
9. While all the above was going on I had to spend many hours to log an online case with the Energy Ombudsman . That in itself was a horrendous experience and I had to raise a separate complaint to their CEO for the incredibly drawn out internal processes before they will accept a case. Plus the fact that after an 8 week resolution deadline , the energy ombudsman case handler was going on leave for 8  days, giving So Energy even more time to do nothing.
10. Anyhow , after the case handler came back from holiday I spent 45 mins discussing the case with her before she pressed the button to accept the case.
11. I sent another email to Monica Collings saying payment had not been received.
11. The next day , that same executive complaints person who was supposed to be owning my issue phoned . Said that payment would be forthcoming by Wednesday 13th Dec . 
12. I've created this thread today because I haven't received the payment and to demonstrate that So Energy reneged on virtually every commitment to resolve the issues for the last 3 months . I think their internal systems are broken and previous experienced employees have left the company, leaving them in a state of chaos.

On top of all the above.

13.  My fathers dual energy supply was transferred to my sister who lives in his property (which she will inherit as per his will). But they have created 2  different backdated invoices covering the same billing period using different gas/electricity estimates. This would be usage from the date my father died to mid November 23 .  The problem is they raised 2 different accounts for my sister , each with an invoice covering that same billing period. The 1st account was some interim account and  my sister paid that 1st invoice by credit card over the phone .  The 2nd account was to be her real live account and that 2nd invoice is on there as if unpaid. Further, her payment for the other interim account invoice has not been credited to her real account . She checked with her bank and the money has been taken out.

So another mess that So Energy have created.

14. I also have an online account with So Energy and found out today that they haven't billed me for gas usage since May 23 .  I never bothered to look at the invoices for several months but downloaded them from my online account (which was strangely in credit).  It shows the gas smart meter reading stuck on 929 since 15th May 23.  I pressed the 'A' button on the gas smart meter and the screen doesn't light up , completely blank as if there is no power.  The meter was installed in Aug 22 and already something has gone wrong . 
So it seems that I may be owing So Energy several hundred pounds and will have to deal with another problem to waste my time, while also coping with all the bereavement issues.

I have sent an email to So Energy about the meter problem and asked them to urgently resolve as I wish to change suppliers asap. 

Addendum :  Just found out that Monica Collings stepped down as CEO on the 23rd November and now Simon Oscroft has taken over again  (ie. the person who ignored my previous emails). I will definitely be moving suppliers now.

See below:

Monica Collings, the Chief Executive Officer of So Energy, has announced her departure from the role after serving for two years.

Ms Collings assumed the position in August 2021, coinciding with Irish power supplier ESB’s acquisition of over 75% of So Energy, bringing the disruptor brand under its wing.

In a LinkedIn post, Simon Oscroft, named Interim CEO, extended thanks to Monica Collings for her dedicated efforts during a transformative period, particularly following the merger with ESB Energy.

Mr Oscroft said: “As of today, I will become interim Chief Executive Officer of So Energy as we are now coming out of the worst of the energy crisis and in a strong position to support our customers.

“I’m looking forward to working with our colleagues to deliver our mission in helping customers on their journey to net zero with outstanding service.

“Going into 2024 we are growing our customer base, we have exciting new customer products on the horizon, and we are uniquely positioned as one of the last remaining challenger suppliers to shape the future of energy.”

cm4ever

We were with So Energy for a lot of years and never had an issue until they installed our smart meters in 2019 and ongoing issues with just the IHD - which they could never rectify.

Moved to Octopus late 2022 and within 2hrs of talking to Octopus when switched across, Octopus corrected the mistakes and incorrect information that So Energy had made for both gas & electric meter databases entries, as well as fixing the IHD issue.

It just goes to show things were starting to unravel behind the scenes. It was around 2021/2022 that So Energy were also promoting their own solar & battery storage solutions, I'm glad we decided to go with someone else instead....