Former Economy Energy customers furious over credit refund delays - MSE News

Former_MSE_Megan_F · 7 January 2019 at 11:59AM

Former Economy Energy customers have been struggling to get back credit worth £100+ from the supplier, months after switching away from it. If you've been left out of pocket, here's how to get your cash back...

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'Former Economy Energy customers furious over credit refund delays'

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Steve_xx · 7 January 2019 at 12:03PM

My mum is with this company and we note that we cannot login to the account this morning. In addition, I have noted that to date, that the Warm Home Discount amount has not appeared in mum's account, and this company is registered to pay that. So these things are worrying.

NB: I can now login to the account. However, I have noted that a meter reading from an unknown source, ie not an estimated reading or a customer reading, has appeared on the account that is just over 1000 units more than the actual reading. Therefore this would add £121 or more to the billing. These are worrying signs.

Sterlingtimes · 7 January 2019 at 1:50PM

I do wonder whether all Economy Energy statements and bills are now using estimated readings. Certainly, my own statement is based upon an estimate and customer reading and smart meter readings are no longer referenced.

It may be a systematic error that estimates are now being used instead of customer readings or smart meter readings. However, many ex-customers and customers are reporting that the estimated readings are very much on the high side.

Economy Energy now has a rather large amount of cash to repay to its creditors very quickly.

Consumerist · 7 January 2019 at 3:07PM

Usually, when a customer switches away from a supplier, Ofgem says any remaining credit should be refunded within 10 working days.

Oh how little Ofgem appears to understand its own licence conditions under which credit balances should be refunded within 10 working days of issuing the final bill.

Suppliers have got round this requirement by delaying the issue of a final bill for as long as they can get away with it.

wavelets · 7 January 2019 at 3:20PM

Usually, when a customer switches away from a supplier, Ofgem says any remaining credit should be refunded within 10 working days.

Are you sure about that? Do you have a link to that please?

Or is it really that the supplier has 10 working days (i.e. 2 weeks usually, unless there are extra non-working days involved) from after the final bill?
i.e as per the energyswitch guarantee

Day 21

Your switch is complete. Your account will have been transferred to your new provider and your old account will be closed.
Following the switch, your previous provider will send you a final bill no later than six weeks after your switching date.
Within 14 days from this point, any credit will be refunded.

matelodave · 7 January 2019 at 3:22PM

My suggestion would be to read your meter yourself regularly and keep your own record of the readings. Likewise, download and save any bills or statements whilst the website is still operating otherwise you'll have no evidence of what has been going on if (or when) they go bust.

You cannot rely on the data being available from their websites when you need it, so keep your own records. It helps to sort out the mess if you get transferred to another supplier

Sterlingtimes · 7 January 2019 at 3:37PM

matelodave wrote: »

My suggestion would be to read your meter yourself regularly and keep your own record of the readings. Likewise, download and save any bills or statements whilst the website is still operating otherwise you'll have no evidence of what has been going on if (or when) they go bust.

You cannot rely on the data being available from their websites when you need it, so keep your own records. It helps to sort out the mess if you get transferred to another supplier

Thank you. This is really good advice.

The website is presently up and down. I have noticed that meter readings can be manually input but that you may need to add leading zeros. Once updated readings appear then take screenshots as necessary.

This all seems very fragile and could crash at any time.

phillw · 7 January 2019 at 8:15PM

wavelets wrote: »

Are you sure about that? Do you have a link to that please?

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/switchguarantee2018/wp-content/uploads/20180531153431/Energy-Switch-Guarantee-June-2016.pdf

Billing – your current provider’s responsibility
9. Following the switch your current provider will send you a final bill no later than six
weeks after the switch.
10. If your current provider owes you any money, they will refund this to you no later than
14 days after sending you the final bill.

And they only guarantee that they'll achieve point 9 in 94.4% of cases and point 10 in 92.6% of cases.

https://www.energyswitchguarantee.com/about-the-energy-switch-guarantee/

phillw · 7 January 2019 at 8:18PM

wavelets wrote: »

i.e as per the energyswitch guarantee

FWIW the compliance level is only 90%.

https://www.energyswitchguarantee.com/about-the-energy-switch-guarantee/

The administrator of the Guarantee measures each supplier against three main KPIs.

These are:

KPI 2a: Proportion of valid switches that are completed within the 21 days as specified by the Guarantee. The compliance level for this indicator is 98%.
KPI 3a: Proportion of final bills issued within the 6 weeks as specified by the Guarantee. The compliance level for this indicator is 90%.
KPI 4a: Proportion of credit refunds issued within the 14 days as specified by the Guarantee. The compliance level for this indicator is 90%.

In 2018 the figures were 98.3%, 94.4%, 92.6% respectively.

Consumerist wrote: »

Suppliers have got round this requirement by delaying the issue of a final bill for as long as they can get away with it.

I'm still within the six weeks, but OFTM wouldn't answer how long it usually takes because they have to wait for the readings to be confirmed.. Which is kinda weird.

gt94sss2 · 7 January 2019 at 8:23PM

While I feel sorry for former customers in this position, they should relax in the knowledge that will get their money back - 'at worst', EE goes out of business and the Ofgem safety net then kicks in and the new supplier then (eventually) refunds any credit balances..

twhitehousescat · 7 January 2019 at 8:49PM

Economy Energy is understood to be planning to enter the supplier of last resort process shortly as indications it is in financial difficulty has sparked further concern the company is closer to going bust.

Utility Week received the tip-off after Elexon published a credit default notice for Economy Energy on the BM Reports website.

Parties trading on the balancing mechanism are required to post sufficient collateral to cover their outstanding balancing charges in case they go bust.

Elexon, as the administrator of the balancing and settlement code, will issue a warning if the amount owed exceeds a certain percentage of their credit cover.

Earlier this afternoon (7 January), Elexon published a level two credit default notice for Economy Energy indicating the supplier’s outstanding balancing charges amount to more than 90 per cent of its credit cover.

An industry source has since told Utility Week that Economy Energy has informed Elexon of its intention to enter Ofgem’s supplier of last resort process.

Utility Week has contacted Economy Energy for comment but at the time of writing had received no reply.

The supplier was last week banned from taking on new customers for at least three months until it resolves issues regarding its customer service.

Ofgem warned that if the company fails to improve it could result in the revocation of its supplier licence.

Economy Energy has also been banned from increasing existing customers’ direct debits and asking customers for one-off payments during the period.

In November 2018, Ofgem placed Economy Energy under investigation for failing to meet the 31 October deadline for late payments under the Renewables Obligation scheme. Shortly afterwards the company was revealed to owe more than £17 million.

According to Companies House, Economy Energy has extended its accounting reference period from the end of March to the end of September last year. An industry source has previously suggested the sudden change could be a sign the company is facing financial difficulties.

A statement published on the supplier’s website towards the end of last year said: “In response to the recent speculation and circulating misinformation, we would like to provide assurance that we at Economy Energy have no intention of closing our doors.

“We will pay our outstanding ROCs obligation in full, business will continue as usual for our customers.

“We would like to thank customers for their loyalty and continued support.”

Ofgem currently has three open investigations into Economy Energy. One which is considering whether the company breached competition law, one into its compliance with the Renewables Obligation and one observing its sales and marketing obligations.

Eight energy suppliers ceased trading last year.

https://utilityweek.co.uk/economy-energy-enter-solr-process-credit-default/

Former Economy Energy customers furious over credit refund delays - MSE News

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