Add your feedback on energy supplier Usio Energy

Posiden wrote: »

So Ive spoken to SSE today and they have told me that USIO have over estimated my reading by some 2458 units.
Ive raised a complaint with SSE and been onto First Utility but just get a page full of FAQ's from the 'live' chat !
Ive told SSE Im paying nothing until this is sorted out.

Before you get too excited, have a look at the tariff rates just to make sure that you are not shooting yourself in both feet. If an opening reading is greater than the reading on the meter, then the new supplier will only charge you for standing charges until the meter exceeds the opening reading. Agreed Readings Disputes can take months to resolve.

beefturnmail wrote: »

I spoke to a relative who had an Iresa account which was transferred to Octopus after Iresa went bust - Octopus insisted on setting up a dd simply to refund the credit balance - they wouldn't do it any other way e.g. bank transfer. Not sure if FU take the same approach

In the case of an Ofgem appointed SoLR, it is not physically possible to avoid paying the SoLR something. The SoLR takes over your supply as if it were a switch from the failed supplier. Databases etc are updated. Until this transfer goes through, no further switch/transfer of a supply can be initiated. Switches take anything from 17 to 35 days from application, so it follows that the SoLR will be able to claim for 17 through to 35 days of usage and standing charges. The 'risk' of moving away from the SoLR too soon is that people will get incorrect opening readings with their chosen supplier as reported on this forum. Personally, I would wait for the dust to settle before jumping away from a SoLR - particularly, if there is a credit balance involved. The cost difference will be minimal.

beefturnmail wrote: »

What about if the credit balance from the supplier going bust is greater than the cost of energy used with the SoLR? Then there should be no need to pay the SoLR anything as it can come out of the credit balance.

In my case it was not worth waiting for the dust to settle any longer as I had a time limited referral bonus that I wanted to take up with a new supplier and FU are now showing on databases as my current supplier. The delay appears to be simply with FU and Usio's administrators sorting out credit balances - I'm not too fussed so long as this is sorted eventually as I have taken photos of my own readings.

I don't quite understand why it should make any difference to the opening reading taken by the new supplier transferred to from the SoLR - surely this is just the reading taken at the point that switch occurs and is nothing to do with the switch from the supplier going bust to the SoLR

The transfer (opening/closing) reading has to be industry verified by a data collector. The ‘risk’ is that garbage in from a failed supplier can result in garbage out.

https://octopus.energy/blog/secret-life-opening-meter-reading/

The SoLR would, I would have thought, need confidence that it has an accurate opening reading and, in turn, the liquidators will want an accurate closing reading if there is a debt involved.

Edit:

Just posted on another forum which shows the mess that some failed suppliers leave behind:

'The case record management system of Future Energy (Supply) Limited was not retained by the Joint Administrators when the case was taken on the system had experienced failures in relation to ongoing customer billing and customer account information was thus held within Excel spreadsheets. When the accounts were taken over, Green Star Energy was provided with data by Ofgem which was prepared during late January prior to the final energy usage being applied and, consequently, there were errors in the initial balances notified to customers. Unfortunately, these errors were then duplicated by Contract Debt Solutions Global Limited (CDS), who were appointed to deal with the account balances and collections and with which we have been liaising in an effort to resolve the issues."