Energy Switch Error - Resulting in Debt

benjafields

This is one of those issues in life where you have to devote the right amount of energy and time on it as you know it's a heavy piece of investigating that needs to be done and sadly I just haven't been in the right mental space to tackle what I expect may be tricky to unpick, but I'm really grateful to anyone who has any advice that can help me.

Ill start with enough of the detail that I know of.

We had been with Octopus for many years, even with our old property.  However, after signing up to Look After Your Bills, they automatically switched us to Green Energy.  When the switch is taken care of without any of your input, you just expect it to be handled. However, once the majority of energy companies started to collapse, Green Energy moved us to Shell Energy.  It wasn't until then did I notice something wasn't quite right.  After then speaking with Octopus, it looked like the switch hadn't fully happened and either the gas or electricity stayed with Octopus, except we had no idea this had happened!  Our direct debit was ported over to Green Energy and we were paying them, which then we clearly fell into debit with Octopus because, as far as we assumed, we were with Green Energy and paying them for both gas and electricity - even giving them meter reading when we were switched over to them.

 

When I discovered this, I tried to seek help but Green Energy had collapsed, no one could help me.  We Look After Your Bills stopped trading back then so they couldn't help.  I was completely stuck.

 

I didn't want to stay with Shell once Green Energy collapsed and moved me, so I decided to move back to Octopus, which was when all this happened and we re-opened our account with a huge debit, because as far as Octopus were concerned, we still had our gas or electricity with them and hadn't been paying.  Since then we have extremely struggled to resolve this, find anyone who can help, pay the debt, and I really think there has been such a monumental admin mess that I'm sure someone has to hold their hands up, take the hit and admit that they need to help us.

 

With all the above, I've really struggled to get to grips with this, articulate it, try and find someone who can help us.  I've sent a message to Octopus today, more or less with the same details as above, but I'd really appreciate some advice. Should I seek help from the ombudsmen?  I'm really hoping that someone has advice as I am in complete panic about this debt that I feel is of no fault of mine, but as a result of this poorly managed switch.

 

Please help!

MattMattMattUK

First I think you need to get all thr paperwork together you have, both physical and digital and piece together as much as you can, you also need to establish which energy supply was moved and which was not. What do the accounts currently show? It seems odd you do not know which supply was not moved as that should be clear from your bills and your transfer back to Octopus. 

You then need to raise a formal complaint with Octopus, largely because it gets escalated to a team with greater ability to investigate and find out what potentially happened on their part, though they are not responsible for anything that Green Energy did. You might find that back billing applies if you were never billed for the usage more than a year ago, but it is not a get out of jail free card and does not apply in all cases. You cannot raise a complaint with the ombudsman until you have exhausted the supplier's process first and they will also only consider the evidence you present, if you just present the above your complaint would be rejected as there is no detail.

MWT

You are going to need to look at your bills from Green Energy, not just the direct debit but the actual bills...

... and similarly the bills from Shell.

This will confirm what you have been paying them for, and hence what you have not been paying them for...

When you were first moved to Green Energy from Octopus, did your Direct Debit go down by a noticeable amount?

ArbitraryRandom

One possible ray of hope is the direct debit guarantee... if your payments were transferred to Green Energy while responsibility for your supply remained with Octopus then it's possible you may be able to get an indemnity payment under the direct debit guarantee (AFAIK there's no time limit for making a claim).

The key point is that you're not trying to recoup lost credit from the now defunct business, but that the business should never have been taking your DD as your supply did not formally transfer. 

It's late, so that maybe gibberish, but worth exploring perhaps.  

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society

Reed_Richards

It seems barely credible that Octopus allowed you to mount up a big debt without any attempt to contact you about it.  Is that really what happened or were you getting communications from Octopus and ignoring them?  

BellaBlondykeTheThird

Reed_Richards said:

It seems barely credible that Octopus allowed you to mount up a big debt without any attempt to contact you about it.  Is that really what happened or were you getting communications from Octopus and ignoring them?  

Barely Credible? Way to go to make the OP feel like rubbish.

One thing I have read on this board is that strange things do happen and energy companies are fallible.

Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it hasn't happened to someone.

Mobtr

If only one supply left and the other remained with Octopus, Octopus would have continued to bill every month for the remaining fuel. 

The bills that were sent from Green & Shell, did they show both fuels or just one? 

Reed_Richards

Well then, what about the back billing rules?  If the OP thought they were paying Green Energy, and then Shell, for their gas and Octopus just forgot to bill them for gas once their electricity supply was moved, then they have a reasonable case to say that back billing rules should apply.  If the OP did not realise they were not being billed for gas then they had no reason to get in touch with Octopus about it.  And if Octopus really didn't try to contact the OP then maybe the OP is only liable for the last 12 months of gas? 

QrizB

Reed_Richards said:

Well then, what about the back billing rules?  If the OP thought they were paying Green Energy, and then Shell, for their gas and Octopus just forgot to bill them for gas ...

OP hasn't stated whether Octopus continued to bill them for gas or not, only that they stopped paying Octopus for gas.

Octopus might've still been billing them.

OP if you were paying a DD to Green, then Shell, that was meant to cover your gas bill, presumably you were significantly in credit? Did you receive a large refund when you switched back to Octopus?

EssexHebridean

Not wanting to repeat all the stuff that’s already been said, but getting together all the “paperwork” from details of the switch, the SoLR transfer to Shell, the switch back, is crucial I suspect. Also, see what your Octopus account has to show you on this too. We were with Octopus at our old property and used their “move home” service to switch the supply here when we moved in (it had been with EON) Not only did it work seamlessly, but all the past information stays put on the Octopus app which is handy, and in your case, means you should have access to all bills that were raised. I’d suggest screenshotting what it shows as well just in case any additional bills slide their way in later - although my gut feeling is that Octopus are less likely to play that game than some others would be. 

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

Reed_Richards said:

Well then, what about the back billing rules?  If the OP thought they were paying Green Energy, and then Shell, for their gas and Octopus just forgot to bill them for gas ...

OP hasn't stated whether Octopus continued to bill them for gas or not, only that they stopped paying Octopus for gas.

Octopus might've still been billing them.

Well exactly so.  But when I tried to suggest that the OP might not be telling us the full story i got criticised thus: 

BellaBlondykeTheThird said:

 Way to go to make the OP feel like rubbish.

So either way, I'm wrong.