Together Energy?

The ombudsman ruled on my case against Together Energy today - here's the full ruling.

Well done, Fromply. Let us know when you get your credit.

meherenow wrote: »

Sorry, good work, but no paragraphs just make that unreadable, so I didn't bother.

I agree - not the easiest to read - that's exactly how the ombudsman returns it (its a screenshot) - to be honest, their entire website is a bit basic with a weird user interface.

After I posted, I had an email that was ok. The original post was a screenshot from the website. Here's the text from the email


"[FONT=&quot]I have considered the information provided by both parties. This includes your complaint form, your correspondence with Together Energy and Avro Energy, and the copies of bills you have supplied. Together Energy has provided a file that includes its response to your complaint form and copies of bills.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]
A brief summary of your complaint is that Together Energy has used a different opening gas meter reading to your previous supplier!!!8217;s closing gas meter reading, leading to you being charged twice for 181 units. You have also received a lack of proper billing since joining Together Energy and the company has failed to respond to your complaints.

You have supplied a copy of your final bill from Avro Energy dated 1 January 2018, which demonstrates that the company billed you to a final gas reading of 6076 for 1 August 2017. This is 181 units greater than the reading of 5895 that Together Energy used for 2 August 2017 to open your account.

During the Change of Supplier (COS) process, the new supplier (in this case, Together Energy) is required to provide a meter reading within a defined window to the gas transporter. Where the gas transporter accepts that reading, this results in the gas transporter sending both the new and old supplier (in this case, Avro Energy) notification of the reading to use for the COS reading. If the new supplier is unable to obtain and provide an actual meter reading or the gas transporter rejects the reading provided, then the gas transporter may issue an estimated COS meter reading.

It is not clear if you provided Together Energy with an opening gas reading when you switched to it, but in this case it appears that the COS reading used was an estimated gas reading of 5895 from the gas transporter. This would have been sent by the gas transporter to both Together Energy and Avro Energy to finalise your account. After reviewing your correspondence with Avro Energy, it would appear that, whilst Together Energy used the estimated reading from the gas transporter, Avro Energy thought this reading was not in line with your previous usage so it used a different reading of 6076 to close your account. I understand from your correspondence with Avro Energy that it had already billed you to a reading higher than 5895 when you were its customer.

I understand that Avro Energy raised a dispute with Together Energy in an attempt to amend the COS reading to 6076. In your correspondence with Avro Energy dated 23 March 2018, the company advised that it had not received a response to its dispute from Together Energy. Together Energy has provided a screenshot of the COS dispute involved in this case. This screenshot suggests that Together Energy drafted a response to the dispute on 2 February 2018 but that this was not sent successfully. I consider this a shortfall in customer service as this would have delayed the settlement of the COS read dispute.

In order to amend its opening meter reading on your account, Together Energy would need to raise a further COS dispute and have this agreed with Avro Energy, which could be a time consuming process. In order to address this matter in a more timely and effective manner, I will instead recommend that Together Energy provides you with a refund of the additional monies you paid to Avro Energy for the 181 units of gas. 181 units of gas equates to approximately 5762.1 kWh gas (using the formula on your Avro Energy final bill). At a cost of £0.027250 per unit, this would equate to a cost of £164.87 including VAT. I will recommend that Together Energy provides you with this amount as a direct payment in order to ensure that you have not been charged twice for your energy consumption.

I note that one of the aspects of your complaint to Together Energy on 22 March 2018 was about the lack of regular billing on your account. You confirmed that you had only received one bill dated 31 December 2017 since switching to the company in August 2017. Together Energy has provided me with copies of bills it issued for your account between February 2018 and May 2018. Therefore, whilst I agree that you experienced a delay in receiving your first bill from the company, I am satisfied that it has subsequently began issuing regular bills.

You have also complained that you experienced a delay in receiving your final bill from Avro Energy, and you consider this delay was caused by Together Energy. I have not been able to establish if Together Energy was responsible for any delays in Avro Energy!!!8217;s receiving the COS data flows from the gas transporter. However, losing suppliers should usually send a final bill to their customers within 30 working days of the transfer in any event. If they have not received the COS readings by this time, losing suppliers can issue final estimated bills to their customers, which can be later replaced by amended bills if the COS readings differ from the estimates. Considering this, I am unable to criticise Together Energy for the delay you experienced in receiving your final bill from Avro Energy.

I note you have complained that Together Energy!!!8217;s published complaints procedure on its website differs from that on its bills. After reviewing the company!!!8217;s website and bills, I agree that the published complaints procedures are different on the respective formats. It is outside the remit of our service to require companies to make changes to their published materials, though I would make a non-binding suggestion to Together Energy that it might wish to address this issue for consistency.

After reviewing your correspondence, it is evident that Together Energy failed to respond to your emails of 22 March 2018 and 6 April 2018, which I consider a shortfall in customer service. The company later sent you an email on 26 April 2018, to which you responded on the same date. I cannot see that Together Energy responded to your email of 26 April 2018, which is a further shortfall. To address the shortfalls I have identified in my report, and your time and trouble, I consider it fair and reasonable that Together Energy should provide you with a written apology and apply a credit of £60 to your account as a gesture of goodwill. In the case of gestures of goodwill, our service always suggests that credits are applied to energy accounts rather than direct payments made to customers. If, after Together Energy has applied this credit, you would like a refund of some or all of your credit balance, I would direct you to Together Energy to request this.

I note you have requested that Together Energy cease gaining new customers until it can respond to its existing customers!!!8217; concerns within the correct timescales. Whilst I appreciate that the company did not respond to your emails in a timely manner in this case, it is outside the remit of our service to impose sales bans on energy companies as this would be a matter for the energy market regulator, Ofgem. Our service sends anonymised case data to Ofgem in order that it can assess the performance of all energy companies and take any action it deems appropriate. However, this would be a matter for Ofgem and I am unable to comment on this further.

Following my investigation of your complaint, my decision requires Together Energy to:

!!!8226; provide you with a direct payment of £164.87 in order to ensure that you have not been charged twice for your energy consumption;
!!!8226; provide a written apology for the shortfalls in customer service identified; and
!!!8226; apply a credit of £60 to your account for the shortfalls identified and your time and trouble.[/FONT]"

If you want to leave then why not do so - if they mess up your final bill you are going to have to dispute it whether or not you are a customer!